Famous Comprehension Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Was not was all the Statement

by Emily Dickinson
 "Was not" was all the Statement.
The Unpretension stuns --
Perhaps -- the Comprehension --
They wore no Lexicons --

But lest our Speculation
In inanition die
Because "God took him" mention --
That was Philology --...Read more of this...

No man saw awe nor to his house

by Emily Dickinson
 No man saw awe, nor to his house
Admitted he a man
Though by his awful residence
Has human nature been.

Not deeming of his dread abode
Till laboring to flee
A grasp on comprehension laid
Detained vitality.

Returning is a different route
The Spirit could not show
For breathing is the only work
To be enacted now.

"Am not consumed," old Moses wrote,
"Yet saw him face to face" --
That very...Read more of this...

87. The Twa Dogs

by Robert Burns
 ’TWAS 1 in that place o’ Scotland’s isle,
That bears the name o’ auld King Coil,
Upon a bonie day in June,
When wearin’ thro’ the afternoon,
Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame,
Forgather’d ance upon a time.
 The first I’ll name, they ca’d him Caesar,
Was keepit for His Honor’s pleasure:
His hair, his size, his mouth, his lugs,
Shew’d he was nane o’...Read more of this...

Arrival At Santos

by Elizabeth Bishop
 Here is a coast; here is a harbor; 
here, after a meager diet of horizon, is some scenery: 
impractically shaped and--who knows?--self-pitying mountains, 
sad and harsh beneath their frivolous greenery,

with a little church on top of one. And warehouses,
some of them painted a feeble pink, or blue, 
and some tall, uncertain palms. Oh, tourist,
is this how this country is...Read more of this...

Pullman Porter

by Robert William Service
 The porter in the Pullman car
Was charming, as they sometimes are.
He scanned my baggage tags: "Are you
The man who wrote of Lady Lou?"
When I said "yes" he made a fuss -
Oh, he was most assiduous;
And I was pleased to think that he
Enjoyed my brand of poetry.

He was forever at my call,
So when we got to Montreal
And he had brushed...Read more of this...

Safety-Clutch

by Ambrose Bierce
 Once I seen a human ruin
In a elevator-well.
And his members was bestrewin'
All the place where he had fell.

And I says, apostrophisin'
That uncommon woful wreck:
"Your position's so surprisin'
That I tremble for your neck!"

Then that ruin, smilin' sadly
And impressive, up and spoke:
"Well, I wouldn't tremble badly,
For it's been a fortnight broke."

Then, for further comprehension 
Of his attitude, he begs
I will focus...Read more of this...

Perhaps they do not go so far

by Emily Dickinson
 Perhaps they do not go so far
As we who stay, suppose --
Perhaps come closer, for the lapse
Of their corporeal clothes --

It may be know so certainly
How short we have to fear
That comprehension antedates
And estimates us there --...Read more of this...

Phantasmagoria CANTO II ( Hys Fyve Rules )

by Lewis Carroll
 "MY First - but don't suppose," he said,
"I'm setting you a riddle -
Is - if your Victim be in bed,
Don't touch the curtains at his head,
But take them in the middle, 

"And wave them slowly in and out,
While drawing them asunder;
And in a minute's time, no doubt,
He'll raise his head and look about
With eyes of wrath and wonder. 

"And...Read more of this...

A Man Young And Old: II. Human Dignity

by William Butler Yeats
 Like the moon her kindness is,
If kindness I may call
What has no comprehension in't,
But is the same for all
As though my sorrow were a scene
Upon a painted wall.

So like a bit of stone I lie
Under a broken tree.
I could recover if I shrieked
My heart's agony
To passing bird, but I am dumb
From human dignity....Read more of this...

the wounded angel

by Rg Gregory
 (from a painting by hugo simberg)

those who bear the wounded angel
are they honoured or destroyed
far beyond their comprehension
are the warfares of the void

angels have a sheen to lift them
well above the bloody battles
human beings give their hurts to
divines don't need such tittle-tattles

yet this angel has been wounded
here on earth its presence is
two young boys (the stretcher bearers)
are flung immensely...Read more of this...

A man went before a strange God

by Stephen Crane
 A man went before a strange God --
The God of many men, sadly wise.
And the deity thundered loudly,
Fat with rage, and puffing.
"Kneel, mortal, and cringe
And grovel and do homage
To My Particularly Sublime Majesty."

The man fled.

Then the man went to another God --
The God of his inner thoughts.
And this one looked at him
With soft eyes
Lit with infinite comprehension,
And said, "My...Read more of this...

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