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Famous Canny Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Canny poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous canny poems. These examples illustrate what a famous canny poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Service, Robert William
...h chiels, just take my word on trust,
 A bonny kilt's the only wear.

'Twill save a lot of siller too,
 (And here a canny Scotsman speaks),
For one good kilt will wear you through
 A half-a-dozen pairs of breeks.
And how it's healthy in the breeze!
 And how it swings with saucy tilt!
How lassies love athletic knees
 Below the waggle of a kilt!

True, I just wear one in my mind,
 Since sent to school by Celtic aunts,
When girls would flip it up behind,
 Until I begged ...Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...ollowed where adventure led,
Beneath a brazen sky.

And as I tramped the railway track
I owned a single shirt;
Like canny Scot I bought it black
So's not to show the dirt;
A handkerchief held all my gear,
My razor and my comb;
I was a freckless lad, I fear,
With all the world for home.

Yet oh I thought the life was grand
And loved my liberty!
Romance was my bed-fellow and
The stars my company.
And I would think, each diamond dawn,
"How I have forged my fate!
Wher...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...hed the starry way,
 But O what feet of clay!

Well, all are dust, of fame bereft;
 They bore a cruel cross,
And I, the canny one, am left,--
 Yet as I grieve their loss,
I deem, because they loved me well,
 They'll welcome me in Hell....Read more of this...

by Berryman, John
...fe called; us do.

In a madhouse heard I an ancient man
tube-fed who had not said for fifteen years
(they said) one canny word,
senile forever, who a heart might pierce,
mutter 'O come on down. O come on down.'
Clear whom he meant....Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...till may fly them, O;
An' though at last they catch them fast,
Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O.

But gi'e me a canny hour at e'en,
My arms about my dearie, O,
An' warl'ly cares an' warl'ly men
May a' gae tapsalteerie, O!

For you sae douce, ye sneer at this,
Ye're nought but senseless asses, O;
The wisest man the warl' e'er saw,
He dearly loved the lasses, O.

Auld Nature swears the lovely dears
Her noblest work she classes, O;
Her 'prentice han' she tried on man...Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...er on the way,
But oh the postal fuss was frantic;
They sent me here, they sent me there,
They were so courteous yet so canny;
Then as I wilted in despair
A Frenchman flipped me on the fanny.

'Twas only juts a gentle pat,
Yet oh what sympathy behind it!
I don't let anyone do that,
But somehow then I didn't mind it.
He seemed my worry to divine,
With kindly smile, that foreign mannie,
And as we stood in waiting line
With tender touch he tapped my fanny.

It brough...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...get it from the devil; 
Yes, we'll get it from the devil deeper down. 
Now, our engine's built in Glasgow by a very canny Scot, 
And he marked it twenty horse-power, but he don't know what is what: 
When Canadian Bill is firing with the sun-dried gidgee logs, 
She can equal thirty horses and a score or so of dogs. 
Sinking down, deeper down, 
Oh, we're going deeper down: 
If we fail to get the water, then it's ruin to the squatter, 
For the drought is on the station a...Read more of this...

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