Famous Class Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Class poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous class poems. These examples illustrate what a famous class poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Marriott Edgar
I'll tell of the Magna Charter
As were signed at the Barons' command
On Runningmead Island in t' middle of t' Thames
By King John, as were known as "Lack Land."
Some say it were wrong of the Barons
Their will on the King so to thrust,
But you'll see if you look at both sides of the case
That...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXXXIII. L' aspettata virtù che 'n voi fioriva. TO PAUDOLFO MALATESTA, LORD OF RIMINI. Sweet virtue's blossom had its promise shedWithin thy breast (when Love became thy foe);Fair as the flower, now its fruit doth glow,And not by visions hath my hope been fed.To hail thee thus, I by my...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XVIII. Vergognando talor ch' ancor si taccia. THE PRAISES OF LAURA TRANSCEND HIS POETIC POWERS. Ashamed sometimes thy beauties should remainAs yet unsung, sweet lady, in my rhyme;When first I saw thee I recall the time,Pleasing as none shall ever please again.But no fit polish can my verse attain,Not...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCXXIV. Cara la vita, e dopo lei mi pare. HONOUR TO BE PREFERRED TO LIFE. Methinks that life in lovely woman first,And after life true honour should be dear;Nay, wanting honour—of all wants the worst—Friend! nought remains of loved or lovely here.And who, alas! has honour's barrier burst,Unsex'd and...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXVIII. Conobbi, quanto il ciel gli occhi m' aperse. HER PRAISES ARE, COMPARED WITH HER DESERTS, BUT AS A DROP TO THE OCEAN. So far as to mine eyes its light heaven show'd,So far as love and study train'd my wings,Novel and beautiful but mortal thingsFrom every star I found on...Read more of this...
by
Robert William Service
Bob Briggs went in for Government,
And helps to run the State;
Some day they say he'll represent
His party in debate:
But with punk politics his job,
I do not envy Bob.
Jim Jones went in for writing books,
Best sellers were his aim;
He's ten years younger than he looks,
And licks the heels of Fame:
Though shop-girls make a fuss of...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LVII. L' ultimo, lasso! de' miei giorni allegri. HE REVERTS TO THEIR LAST MEETING. The last, alas! of my bright days and glad—Few have been mine in this brief life below—[Pg 285]Had come; I felt my heart as tepid snow,Presage, perchance, of days both dark and sad.As...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXXXIV. Non veggio ove scampar mi possa omai. AFTER FIFTEEN YEARS HER EYES ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN AT FIRST. No hope of respite, of escape no way,Her bright eyes wage such constant havoc here;Alas! excess of tyranny, I fear,My doting heart, which ne'er has truce, will slay:Fain would I flee,...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 206] SONNET CXCVIII. O cameretta che già fosti un porto. HE NO LONGER FINDS RELIEF IN SOLITUDE. Thou little chamber'd haven to the woesWhose daily tempest overwhelms my soul!From shame, I in Heaven's light my grief control;Thou art its fountain, which each night o'erflows.My couch! that oft...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET IX. S' Amor novo consiglio non n' apporta. HE DESCRIBES HIS SAD STATE. If Love to give new counsel still delay,My life must change to other scenes than these;My troubled spirit grief and terror freeze,Desire augments while all my hopes decay.Thus ever grows my life, by night and day,Despondent,...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 26] SONNET XXIII. Il successor di Carlo, che la chioma. ON THE MOVEMENT OF THE EMPEROR AGAINST THE INFIDELS, AND THE RETURN OF THE POPE TO ROME. The high successor of our Charles,[P] whose hairThe crown of his great ancestor adorns,Already has ta'en arms, to...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XIV. Movesi 'l vecchierel canuto e bianco. HE COMPARES HIMSELF TO A PILGRIM. The palmer bent, with locks of silver gray,Quits the sweet spot where he has pass'd his years,Quits his poor family, whose anxious fearsPaint the loved father fainting on his way;And trembling, on his aged limbs slow borne,Read more of this...
by
Charles Bukowski
good weather
is like
good women-
it doesn't always happen
and when it does
it doesn't
always last.
man is
more stable:
if he's bad
there's more chance
he'll stay that way,
or if he's good
he might hang
on,
but a woman
is changed
by
children
age
diet
conversation
sex
the moon
the absence or
presence of sun
or good times.
a woman must be nursed
into subsistence
by love
where a man can become
stronger
by being hated.
I am drinking tonight in Spangler's Bar
and I remember the cows
I...Read more of this...
by
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee. We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee,
O thou whose qualities are comely! Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls,
that we should remain...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 317] SONNET LXXXIX. Deh porgi mano all' affannato ingegno. HE BEGS LOVE TO ASSIST HIM, THAT HE MAY WORTHILY CELEBRATE HER. Ah, Love! some succour to my weak mind deign,Lend to my frail and weary style thine aid,To sing of her who is immortal made,A citizen of the...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCVI. Il mal mi preme, e mi spaventa il peggio. TO A FRIEND, IN LOVE LIKE HIMSELF, HE CAN GIVE NO ADVICE BUT TO RAISE HIS SOUL TO GOD. Evil oppresses me and worse dismay,To which a plain and ample way I find;Driven like thee by frantic passion, blind,Urged by harsh...Read more of this...
by
John Betjeman
The first-class brains of a senior civil servant
Shiver and shatter and fall
As the steering column of his comfortable Humber
Batters in the bony wall.
All those delicate re-adjustments
"On the one hand, if we proceed
With the ad hoc policy hitherto adapted
To individual need...
On the other hand, too rigid an arrangement
Might, of itself, perforce...
I would like to submit for the Minister's concurrence
The following...Read more of this...
by
Robert William Service
Although I have a car of class,
A limousine,
I also have a jenny ass
I call Titine.
And if I had in sober sense
To choose between,
I know I'd give the preference
To sleek Titine.
My chauffeur drives my Cadillac
In uniform.
I wear a worn coat on my back
That he would scorn.
He speeds with umpty equine power,
Like an express;
I...Read more of this...
by
Barry Tebb
I want a true history of my city
**** THE DE LACY FAMILY AND DOUBLE
**** JOHN OF GAUNT ESPECIALLY
And all his descendants
With their particular vilenesses -
I met one in the sixties
Who had all the coldness of Himmler
So svelte and adored by the cognoscenti.
I want a history responsive
To the needs of the working-class
One that will minute the back-to-backs
Spread over the city...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 34] SESTINA II Giovane donna sott' un verde lauro. THOUGH DESPAIRING OF PITY, HE VOWS TO LOVE HER UNTO DEATH. A youthful lady 'neath a laurel greenWas seated, fairer, colder than the snowOn which no sun has shone for many years:Her sweet speech, her bright face, and flowing...Read more of this...
by
Barry Tebb
Alone in Sutton with Fynbos my orange cat
A long weekend of wind and rain drowning
The tumultuous flurry of mid-February blossom
A surfeit of letters to work through, a mountain
Of files to sort, some irritation at the thought
Of travelling to Kentish Town alone when
My mind was flooded with the mellifluous voice
Of Heath-Stubbs on tape reading ‘The Divided Ways’
In memory of Sidney...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CLXV. L' aura soave ch' al sol spiega e vibra. HIS HEART LIES TANGLED IN HER HAIR. The pleasant gale, that to the sun unplaitsAnd spreads the gold Love's fingers weave, and braidO'er her fine eyes, and all around her head,Fetters my heart, the wishful sigh creates:No nerve but thrills,...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XI. Se lamentar augelli, o Verdi fronde. SHE IS EVER PRESENT TO HIM. If the lorn bird complain, or rustling sweepSoft summer airs o'er foliage waving slow,Or the hoarse brook come murmuring down the steep,Where on the enamell'd bank I sit belowWith thoughts of love that bid my numbers flow;Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XXVII. Soleano i miei pensier soavemente. HE COMFORTS HIMSELF WITH THE HOPE THAT SHE HEARS HIM. My thoughts in fair alliance and arrayHold converse on the theme which most endears:Pity approaches and repents delay:E'en now she speaks of us, or hopes, or fears.Since the last day, the terrible hour when...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 175] SONNET CLX. Pasco la mente d' un sì nobil cibo. TO SEE AND HEAR HER IS HIS GREATEST BLISS. I feed my fancy on such noble food,That Jove I envy not his godlike meal;I see her—joy invades me like a flood,And lethe of all other bliss I...Read more of this...
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