Famous Circumscribed Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard

...in to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the Gates of Mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's i...Read more of this...
by Gray, Thomas


Little Tear-Vase

...Other vessels hold wine, other vessels hold oil
inside the hollowed-out vault circumscribed by their clay.
I, as smaller measure, and as the slimmest of all,
humbly hollow myself so that just a few tears can fill me.

Wine becomes richer, oil becomes clear, in its vessel.
What happens with tears?-They made me blind in my
 glass,
made me heavy and made my curve iridescent,
made me brittle, and left me empty at last....Read more of this...
by Rilke, Rainer Maria

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...
With him the points of liberty, who made 
Thee what thou art, and formed the Powers of Heaven 
Such as he pleased, and circumscribed their being? 
Yet, by experience taught, we know how good, 
And of our good and of our dignity 
How provident he is; how far from thought 
To make us less, bent rather to exalt 
Our happy state, under one head more near 
United. But to grant it thee unjust, 
That equal over equals monarch reign: 
Thyself, though great and glorious, dost thou co...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

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