Get Your Premium Membership

Famous Collector Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

by Burns, Robert
...FRIEND of the Poet, tried and leal,
Wha, wanting thee, might beg or steal;
Alake, alake, the meikle deil
 Wi’ a’ his witches
Are at it skelpin jig and reel,
 In my poor pouches?


I modestly fu’ fain wad hint it,
That One-pound-one, I sairly want it;
If wi’ the hizzie down ye sent it,
 It would be kind;
And while my heart wi’ life-blood dunted,
 I’d bear’t...Read more of this...



by Moore, Marianne
...s their contours, saying nothing;
repression, however, is not the most obvious characteristic of
 the sea;
the sea is a collector, quick to return a rapacious look.
There are others besides you who have worn that look—
whose expression is no longer a protest; the fish no longer
 investigate them
for their bones have not lasted:
men lower nets, unconscious of the fact that they are
 desecrating a grave,
and row quickly away-the blades of the oars
moving together like the f...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...ou believe me if I put it there 
Right on the counterpane--that I do trust you?" 
"You'd say so, Mister Man.--I'm a collector. 
My ninety isn't mine--you won't think that. 
I pick it up a dollar at a time 
All round the country for the Weekly News, 
Published in Bow. You know the Weekly News?" 
"Known it since I was young." 
"Then you know me. 
Now we are getting on together--talking. 
I'm sort of Something for it at the front. 
My business is ...Read more of this...

by Plath, Sylvia
...>
Overhead, the clouds sit tasseled and fancy

As Victorian cushions. This family
Of valentine faces might please a collector:
They ring true, like good china.

Elsewhere the landscape is more frank.
The light falls without letup, blindingly.

A woman is dragging her shadow in a circle
About a bald hospital saucer.
It resembles the moon, or a sheet of blank paper
And appears to have suffered a sort of private blitzkrieg.
She lives quietly

With no atta...Read more of this...

by Gregory, Rg
...akers is keepers
it won't hurt you to bleed
it's a good colour - red

give of your blood
you're not having mine
i'm the collector
santa looks after himself

your birthright - get lost
when i'm on my rounds
what i see i snaffle
that's today's lesson

give to santa - or
i'll cut your throat
that's today's christmas
the future looks good...Read more of this...



by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...rrumbidgee, 
And the Booleroi and Bumble get their letters twice a year, 
Also that the post inspector, when he visited Collector, 
Closed the office up instanter, and re-opened Dungalear. 

But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me; 
Quite by chance I came across it -- "Come-by-Chance" was what I read; 
No location was assigned it, not a thing to help one find it, 
Just an N which stood for northward, and the rest was all unsaid. 

I shall leav...Read more of this...

by Nash, Ogden
...d,
The more you earn, the less you keep,
And now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If the tax-collector hasn’t got it before I wake....Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...ated layers of halibut in the hold; 
The Missourian crosses the plains, toting his wares and his cattle; 
As the fare-collector goes through the train, he gives notice by the jingling of
 loose change;
The floor-men are laying the floor—the tinners are tinning the
 roof—the masons are calling for mortar; 
In single file, each shouldering his hod, pass onward the laborers; 
Seasons pursuing each other, the indescribable crowd is gather’d—it is
 the Fourth of Seventh-mo...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...My worldly wealth I hoard in albums three,
My life collection of rare postage stamps;
My room is cold and bare as you can see,
My coat is old and shabby as a tramp's;
Yet more to me than balances in banks,
My albums three are worth a million francs.

I keep them in that box beside my bed,
For who would dream such treasures it could hold;
But every day ...Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...Down south there is a curio-shop
Unknown to many men;
Thereat do I intend to stop
When I am south again;
The narrow street through which to go--
Aha! I know it well!
And may be you would like to know--
But no--I will not tell!

'T is there to find the loveliest plates
(The bluest of the blue!)
At such surprisingly low rates
You'd not believe it true!
And t...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...My walk and talk changed over-night.
I bought black glasses, grew a beard -
Abysmally I dropped from sight;
Old Tax Collector, Mister Smith
Became a memory, a myth.

I see my wife in widow's weeds;
She's gained in weight since I have gone.
My pension serves her modest needs,
She keeps the old apartment on;
And living just a block away
I meet her nearly every day.

I hope she doesn't mourn too much;
She has a sad and worried look.
One day we passed and chan...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Collector poems.


Book: Shattered Sighs