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Famous Canterbury Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Lowell, Amy
...ow-ball bush,
And the ground behind them is strewn with white petals;
They swirl round a corner,
And jar a bee out of a Canterbury bell;
They cast their shadows for an instant
Over a bed of pansies,
Catch against the spurs of a columbine,
Jostle the quietness from a cluster of monk's-hood.
Pat! Pat! behind them come the little criss-cross shoes,
And the blue and pink sashes stream out in flappings of colour.
Stella sings:
"Hoop, hoop,
Roll along,
Faster bowl along,
Ho...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...h and he laugheth at the sound, 
Then writeth in a book like any clerk. 
He is the poet of the dawn, who wrote 
The Canterbury Tales, and his old age 
Made beautiful with song; and as I read 
I hear the crowing cock, I hear the note 
Of lark and linnet, and from every page 
Rise odors of ploughed field or flowery mead....Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...She was a worthy woman Al hir life
Housebondes at church Dore she hadde five...Read more of this...

by Smart, Christopher
...which always keeps his work in view has paited a Bullfinch in the heart of a stone. God be gracious to Gosling and Canterbury. 

For the Bluecap is under Bull. 

For the Humming Bird is under Bull. 

For Beetle is under Bull. 

For Toad is under bull. 

For Frog is under Bull, which he has a delight to look at. 

For the Pheasant-eyed Pink is under Bull. Blessed Jesus R4NK EL. 

For Bugloss is under Bull. 

For Bugle is under Bull....Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...and ten, 
Had but begun his "Characters of Men." 
Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales, 
At sixty wrote the Canterbury Tales; 
Goethe at Weimar, toiling to the last, 
Completed Faust when eighty years were past. 
These are indeed exceptions; but they show 
How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow 
Into the arctic regions of our lives, 
Where little else than life itself survives. 
As the barometer foretells the storm 
While still the skies are clear, ...Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...they've done to give me this
Brief bit of comfort, ease and bliss;
My pathway edged with cockle shells,
And bright with Canterbury bells,
That leads to where my humble thatch is,
It, too, adorned with straw-bright patches....Read more of this...

by Austen, Jane
...haste from Thanet,
Lovely couple, side by side;
They've left behind them Richard Kennet
With the Parents of the Bride! 
Canterbury they have passed through;
Next succeeded Stamford-bridge;
Chilham village they came fast through;
Now they've mounted yonder ridge. 

Down the hill they're swift proceeding,
Now they skirt the Park around;
Lo! The Cattle sweetly feeding
Scamper, startled at the sound! 

Run, my Brothers, to the Pier gate!
Throw it open, very wide!
Let it not b...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ue jest is no jest.

3. It may be remembered that each pilgrim was bound to tell
two stories; one on the way to Canterbury, the other returning.

4. Made cheer: French, "fit bonne mine;" put on a pleasant
countenance.



THE TALE.


A prentice whilom dwelt in our city,
And of a craft of victuallers was he:
Galliard* he was, as goldfinch in the shaw**, *lively **grove
Brown as a berry, a proper short fellaw:
With lockes black, combed full fetisly.* ...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...*ferne hallows couth* in sundry lands; *distant saints known*
And specially, from every shire's end
Of Engleland, to Canterbury they wend,
The holy blissful Martyr for to seek,
That them hath holpen*, when that they were sick. *helped

Befell that, in that season on a day,
In Southwark at the Tabard  as I lay,
Ready to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devout corage,
At night was come into that hostelry
Well nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry folk, *by ...Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...ines he penned;
And here, gadzooks, ben honge ye prynte of marvaillous renowne
Yt shameth Chaucers gallaunt knyghtes in Canterbury towne;
And still more books and pictures. I'm dazed, bewildered, vexed;
Since I've broke the tenth commandment, why not break the eighth one next?

And, furthermore, in confidence inviolate be it said
Friend Stoddard owns a lock of hair that grew on Milton's head;
Now I have Gladstone axes and a lot of curious things,
Such as pimply Dresden te...Read more of this...

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