Famous Condense Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Song To David

...k, 
 With fear eldues offence: 
The sable, with his glossy pride, 
For ADORATION is describ'd, 
 Where frosts the waves condense. 

 LXIII 
The cheerful holly, pensive yew, 
And holy thorn, their trim renew; 
 The squirrel hoards his nuts; 
All creatures batten o'er their stores, 
And careful nature all her doors 
 For ADORATION shuts. 

 LXIV 
For ADORATION, DAVID's psalms 
Life up the heart to deeds of alms; 
 And he, who kneels and chants, 
Prevails his passions to control...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher


Alphonso Of Castile

...ot to work on the clean jump,
Nor wine nor brains perpetual pump;

Men and gods are too extense,—
Could you slacken and condense?
Your rank overgrowths reduce,
Till your kinds abound with juice;
Earth crowded cries, "Too many men,"—
My counsel is, Kill nine in ten,
And bestow the shares of all
On the remnant decimal.
Add their nine lives to this cat;
Stuff their nine brains in his hat;
Make his frame and forces square
With the labors he must dare;
Thatch his flesh, and even h...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Fit the Fifth ( Hunting of the Snark )

...think it keeps best in an ivory jar, 
And some, in mahogany kegs) 

"You boil it in sawdust: you salt it in glue: 
You condense it with locusts and tape: 
Still keeping one principal object in view-- 
To preserve its symmetrical shape." 

The Butcher would gladly have talked till next day, 
But he felt that the lesson must end, 
And he wept with delight in attempting to say 
He considered the Beaver his friend. 

While the Beaver confessed, with affectionate looks 
More eloq...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

From Loves First Fever To Her Plague

...double,
The two-framed globe that spun into a score;
A million minds gave suck to such a bud
As forks my eye;
Youth did condense; the tears of spring
Dissolved in summer and the hundred seasons;
One sun, one manna, warmed and fed....Read more of this...
by Thomas, Dylan

Limitations

...
And Adam’s trustful eyes as he looks up 
From carving eagles on his beechwood cup. 

Young Adam knew his job; he could condense 
Life to an eagle from the unknown immense.... 
Go on, whoever you are; your lines can be 
A whisper in the music from the weirs 
Of song that plunge and tumble toward the sea 
That is the uncharted mercy of our tears. 

. . . . 
I told you it was easy! ... Words are fools 
Who follow blindly, once they get a lead. 
But thoughts are kingfishers that...Read more of this...
by Sassoon, Siegfried


Lines On A Young Ladys Photograph Album

...consequence)
You, balanced on a bike against a fence;
To wonder if you'd spot the theft
Of this one of you bathing; to condense,

In short, a past that no one now can share,
No matter whose your future; calm and dry,
It holds you like a heaven, and you lie
Unvariably lovely there,
Smaller and clearer as the years go by....Read more of this...
by Larkin, Philip

Now!

...moment!
All of your life that has gone before,
All to come after it, -- so you ignore,
So you make perfect the present, condense,
In a rapture of rage, for perfection's endowment,
Thought and feeling and soul and sense,
Merged in a moment which gives me at last
You around me for once, you beneath me, above me --
Me, sure that, despite of time future, time past,
This tick of life-time's one moment you love me!
How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet,
The moment eternal ...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Pan and Luna

...fluff 
Fitting as close as fits the dented spine 
Its flexible ivory outside-flesh: enough! 
The plumy drifts contract, condense, constringe, 
Till she is swallowed by the feathery springe. 

As when a pearl slips lost in the thin foam 
Churned on a sea-shore, and, o'er-frothed, conceits 
Herself safe-housed in Amphitrite's dome,-- 
If, through the bladdery wave-worked yeast, she meets 
What most she loathes and leaps from,--elf from gnome 
No gladlier,--finds that safest of ...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Paradise Lost: Book 06

...tellect, all sense; and, as they please, 
They limb themselves, and colour, shape, or size 
Assume, as?kikes them best, condense or rare. 
Mean while in other parts like deeds deserved 
Memorial, where the might of Gabriel fought, 
And with fierce ensigns pierced the deep array 
Of Moloch, furious king; who him defied, 
And at his chariot-wheels to drag him bound 
Threatened, nor from the Holy One of Heaven 
Refrained his tongue blasphemous; but anon 
Down cloven to the waist...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Protus

...young Greek sculptors, gazing on the child,
``Because with old Greek sculptore reconciled.
``Already sages laboured to condense
``In easy tomes a life's experience:
``And artists took grave counsel to impart
``In one breath and one hand-sweep, all their art---
``To make his graces prompt as blossoming
``Of plentifully-watered palms in spring:
``Since well beseems it, whoso mounts the throne,
``For beauty, knowledge, strength, should stand alone,
``And mortals love the letter...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Hunting Of The Snark

...think it keeps best in an ivory jar,
 And some, in mahogany kegs:)

"You boil it in sawdust: you salt it in glue:
 You condense it with locusts and tape:
Still keeping one principal object in view--
 To preserve its symmetrical shape."

The Butcher would gladly have talked till next day,
 But he felt that the Lesson must end,
And he wept with delight in attempting to say
 He considered the Beaver his friend.

While the Beaver confessed, with affectionate looks
 More eloquent...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

To A Young Lady

...ounding tempest shakes the plain,
And lifts in billowy surge the main.
The Cloud's gay dies in darkness fade,
Its folds condense in thicker shade,
And borne by rushing blasts, its form
With lowering vapour joins the storm....Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

to be a poet

...have  claws and wings of condor!

It is hunger, thirst of Infinite!
By elmo, the golden satin mornings ...
It is to condense the world into a single cry!

And is to love you, like that, madly ...
You being soul and blood, and life in me
And saying this singing it to everyone!...Read more of this...
by Espanca, Florbela

To Brooklyn Bridge

...'s cry,--

Again the traffic lights that skim thy swift
Unfractioned idiom, immaculate sigh of stars,
Beading thy path--condense eternity:
And we have seen night lifted in thine arms.

Under thy shadow by the piers I waited;
Only in darkness is thy shadow clear.
The City's fiery parcels all undone,
Already snow submerges an iron year . . .

O Sleepless as the river under thee,
Vaulting the sea, the prairies' dreaming sod,
Unto us lowliest sometime sweep, descend
And of the cu...Read more of this...
by Crane, Hart

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