Get Your Premium Membership

Famous Commander Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...be bickerin’ there;
For Murray’s light horse are to muster,
 And O how the heroes will swear!
And there will be Murray, Commander,
 And Gordon, the battle to win;
Like brothers they’ll stand by each other,
 Sae knit in alliance and kin.


And there will be black-nebbit Johnie,
 The tongue o’ the trump to them a’;
An he get na Hell for his haddin’,
 The Deil gets na justice ava.
And there will be Kempleton’s birkie,
 A boy no sae black at the bane;
But as to his fine N...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert



...re
 The other side's concealed.
When the blackbird bolts from the copse,
 Or the cattle are staring about,
The wise commander stops
 And (chorus) All Patrols look out!


Look out when your front is clear,
 And you feel you are bound to win.
Look out for your flank and your rear--
 That's where surprises begin.
For the rustle that isn't a rat,
 For the splash that isn't a trout,
For the boulder that may be a hat
(Chorus) All Patrols look out!


For the innocent kne...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard
...rank, and his, and what I ought to be doing: 
And I rode nearer, and added, "I can only suppose 
You have not seen the Commander-in-Chief's order 
Forbidding English officers to annoy their Allies 
By hunting and shooting." 
But he stood and saluted 
And said earnestly, "I beg your pardon, Sir, 
I was only going out to shoot a sparrow 
To feed my cat with." 
So there was the whole picture, 
The lovely early morning, the occasional shell 
Screeching and scattering pas...Read more of this...
by Newbolt, Sir Henry
...
Or do the souls of soldiers tried and true
Come at the bugle call, and march in grand review? 



LXI.
The pleased Commander watches in surprise
This splendid pageant surge before his eyes.
Not in those mighty battle days of old
Did scenes like this upon his sight unfold.
But now it passes. Drums and bugles cease
To dash war billows on the shores of Peace.
The victors smile on fair broad bosomed Sleep
While in her soothing arms, the vanquished cease to we...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...t one's face I often 
set out on foot to a monument cast in molten
lengthy bad dreams. And it says on the plinth "commander
in chief." But it reads "in grief " or "in brief "
or "in going under."
1985 translated by the author....Read more of this...
by Brodsky, Joseph



...nd slowly the ponderous portal
Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the soldiers.
Then uprose their commander, and spoke from the steps of the altar,
Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal commission.
"You are convened this day," he said, "by his Majesty's orders.
Clement and kind has he been; but how you have answered his kindness,
Let your own hearts reply! To my natural make and my temper
Painful the task is I do, which to you I k...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...forms will stand 
 The grades confronting—one on either hand. 
 While in advance beyond, with haughty head— 
 As if commander of this squadron dread— 
 All waiting signal of the Judgment Day, 
 In stone was seen in olden sculptors' way 
 Charlemagne the King, who on the earth had found 
 Only twelve knights to grace his Table Round. 
 
 The crests were an assembly of strange things, 
 Of horrors such as nightmare only brings. 
 Asps, and spread eagles without beak...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor
...term of all that was mine own
With nothingness before me, and alone;
Then to what hope of answer shall I turn?
Comrade-Commander whom I dared not earn,
What said You then to trembling friends and
few?
"A moment, and I drink it with you new:
But in my Father's Kingdom." So, my Friend,
Let not Your cup desert me in the end.
But when the hour of mine adventure's near
Just and benignant, let my youth appear
Bearing a Chalice, open, golden, wide,
With benediction graven o...Read more of this...
by Belloc, Hilaire
...he feud
Between the Flemings and Walloons grew vicious,

So out of hand the army could barely function.
Finally one commander assembled his men
In one great room, to deal with things directly.

They stood before him at attention. "All Flemings,"
He ordered, "to the left wall." Half the men
Clustered to the left. "Now all Walloons," he ordered,

"Move to the right." An equal number crowded
Against the right wall. Only one man remained
At attention i...Read more of this...
by Pinsky, Robert
...hy way,
With well tim'd oars before the royal barge,
Swell'd with the pride of thy celestial charge;
And big with hymn, commander of an host,
The like was ne'er in Epsom blankets toss'd.
Methinks I see the new Arion sail,
The lute still trembling underneath thy nail.
At thy well sharpen'd thumb from shore to shore
The treble squeaks for fear, the basses roar:
Echoes from Pissing-Alley, Shadwell call,
And Shadwell they resound from Aston Hall.
About thy boat the li...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John
...Of a Ministry pitiful, angry, mean,
A gallant commander the victim is seen.
For promptitude, vigour, success, does he stand
Condemn'd to receive a severe reprimand!
To his foes I could wish a resemblance in fate:
That they, too, may suffer themselves, soon or late,
The injustice they warrent. But vain is my spite
They cannot so suffer who never do right....Read more of this...
by Austen, Jane
...t the Terrors of that Night, 
When you, fierce Winds, such Desolations wrought, 
When you from out his Stores the Great Commander brought, 
Cou'd the most Righteous stand upright; 
Scarcely the Holiest Man performs 
The Service, that becomes it best, 
By ardent Vows, or solemn Pray'rs addrest; 
Nor finds the Calm, so usual to his Breast, 
Full Proof against such Storms. 
How shou'd the Guilty then be found, 
The Men in Wine, or looser Pleasures drown'd, 
To fix a stedfast...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...sands. 
Forthwith, form every squadron and each band, 
The heads and leaders thither haste where stood 
Their great Commander--godlike Shapes, and Forms 
Excelling human; princely Dignities; 
And Powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones, 
Though on their names in Heavenly records now 
Be no memorial, blotted out and rased 
By their rebellion from the Books of Life. 
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve 
Got them new names, till, wandering o'er the earth, 
Through G...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...yphoid exhalation,
Or, with a simple tale prepared by you
(And known by all to the point of nausea), take me
Before the commander of the blue caps and let me
glimpse
The house administrator's terrified white face.
I don't care anymore. The river Yenisey
Swirls on. The Pole star blazes.
The blue sparks of those much-loved eyes
Close over and cover the final horror.
[19 August 1939. Fontannyi Dom]

IX

Madness with its wings
Has covered half my soul
It f...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna
...ng promotion,
Last come, last served... see what I mean?"

Said Sam, "Wasn't I at Corunna,
And when company commander got shot,
Didn't I lead battalion to victory?"
Said the old fella, "No... you did not."

"I didn't?" said Sam quite indignent,
"Why, in every fight Wellington fought,
Wasn't I at his right hand to guard him?"
Said old chap, "You were nowt of the sort."

"What do you know of Duke and his battles?"
Said Sam, with a whithering look...Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott
...he Duke of Edinburgh,
And during his service there he felt but little sorrow. 

And from that he was promoted to be commander of the Britannia,
And was well liked by the men, for what he said was law;
And by him Prince Albert Victor and Prince George received a naval education.
Which met with the Prince of Wales' roost hearty approbation. 

'Twas in the year 1877 he married the Lady Ada Louisa Bennett,
And by marrying that noble lady he ne'er did regret;
And he wa...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...annoye land and sea,
Both north and south, and also west and east,
Annoye neither sea, nor land, nor tree?
Soothly the commander of that was he
That from the tempest aye this woman kept,
As well when she awoke as when she slept.

Where might this woman meat and drinke have?
Three year and more how lasted her vitaille*? *victuals
Who fed the Egyptian Mary in the cave
Or in desert? no wight but Christ *sans faille.* *without fail*
Five thousand folk it was as great mar...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...the inscription thereon most beautiful seems:
"Thou art alone the Queen of earthly Queens." 

The welcome given to Commander-in-Chief Lord Wolseley was very flattering,
The people cheered him until the streets did ring;
And the foreign princes were watched with rivetted admiration,
And caused among the sight-seers great consternation, 

And private householders seemed to vie with each other,
In the lavishness of their decorations, and considered it no bother;
And never b...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...
 ("Zim-Zizimi, Soudan d'Égypte.") 
 
 {Bk. XVI. i.} 


 Zim Zizimi—(of the Soudan of burnt Egypt, 
 The Commander of Believers, a Bashaw 
 Whose very robes were from Asia's greatest stript, 
 More powerful than any lion with resistless paw) 
 A master weighed on by his immense splendor— 
 Once had a dream when he was at his evening feast, 
 When the broad table smoked like a perfumed censer, 
 And its grateful odors the appetite increased. 
 The banquet...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor
...on thee, fearing my love's decease.

"'Tis not my fault: the boar provok'd my tongue;
Be wreak'd on him, invisible commander;
'Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong;
I did but act, he's author of thy slander:
Grief hath two tongues, and never woman yet
Could rule them both without ten women's wit."

Thus hoping that Adonis is alive,
Her rash suspect she doth extenuate;
And that his beauty may the better thrive,
With Death she humbly doth insinuate;
Tells h...Read more of this...
by Shakespeare, William

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Commander poems.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things