Famous Confinement Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A poem on the rising glory of America

...crown of glory for the just prepar'd. 
From life's high verge he hail'd th' eternal shore 
And, freed at last from his confinement, rose 
An infant seraph to the worlds on high. 



EUGENIO. 
For him we sound the melancholy lyre, 
The lyre responsive to each distant sigh; 
No grief like that which mourns departing souls 
Of holy, just and venerable men, 
Whom pitying Heav'n sends from their native skies 
To light our way and bring us nearer God. 
But come Leander since we kn...Read more of this...
by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry


Narva and Mored

...
His sacred vestment and his mystic lot. 
Long had the mutual sigh, the mutual tear, 
Burst from the breast and scorn'd confinement there. 
Existence was a torment! O my breast! 
Can I find accents to unfold the rest! 
Lock'd in each others arms, from Hyga's cave, 
They plung'd relentless to a wat'ry grave; 
And falling murmured to the powers above, 
"Gods! take our lives, unless we live to love."...Read more of this...
by Chatterton, Thomas

Snapshots of a Daughter-In-Law

...tion,
every lapse forgiven, our crime
only to cast too bold a shadow
or smash the mold straight off.
For that, solitary confinement,
tear gas, attrition shelling.
Few applicants for that honor.

 10

 Well,
she's long about her coming, who must be
more merciless to herself than history.
Her mind full to the wind, I see her plunge
breasted and glancing through the currents,
taking the light upon her
at least as beautiful as any boy
or helicopter,
 poised, still coming,
her fin...Read more of this...
by Rich, Adrienne

Song of the Open Road

...and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though
 it
 has
 been built for you. 

Allons! out of the dark confinement! 
It is useless to protest—I know all, and expose it. 

Behold, through you as bad as the rest, 
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those wash’d and trimm’d faces, 
Behold a secret silent loathing and despair. 

No husband, no wife, no friend, trusted to hear the confession; 
Anot...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Age

...ak of life
Like a sacrificial lamb,
Like a child's supple cartilage—
The age of infant earth.

To free the age from its confinement,
To instigate a brand new world,
The discordant, tangled days
Must be linked, as with a flute.
It's the age that rocks the swells
With humanity's despair,
And in the undergrowth a serpent breathes
The golden measure of the age.

Still the shoots will swell
And the green buds sprout
But your spinal cord is crushed,
My fantastic, wretched age!
And ...Read more of this...
by Mandelstam, Osip


The Christmas Goose

...bother'd
By a set of juvenile prigs. 

So the naughty boy was put in prison
For stealing the goose.,
And got ten days' confinement
Before he got loose. 

So Smiggs ran home to his dear Peggy,
Saying, "Hurry, and get this fat goose ready,
That I have bought for one crown;
So, my darling, you need not frown." 

"Dear Mr Smiggs, I will not frown:
I'm sure 'tis cheap for one crown,
Especially at Christmas time --
Oh! Mr Smiggs, it's really fine." 

"Peggy. it is Christmas time,
...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Duties of an Aide-de-camp

...ntain 
That he feels real pain when he's drunk it. 

Then our horses bestriding 
We go out a-riding 
Lest our health by confinement we'd injure; 
You can notice the glare 
Of the Governor's hair 
When the little boys say, "Go it, Ginger!" 

Then some wandering lords -- 
They so often are frauds -- 
This out-of-way country invading, 
If a man dresses well 
And behaves like a swell, 
Then he's somebody's cook masquerading. 

But an out-an-out ass 
With a thirst for the glass 
A...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Ivy Crown

...The whole process is a lie,
 unless,
 crowned by excess,
It break forcefully,
 one way or another,
 from its confinement—
or find a deeper well.
 Antony and Cleopatra
 were right;
they have shown
 the way. I love you
 or I do not live
at all.

Daffodil time
 is past. This is
 summer, summer!
the heart says,
 and not even the full of it.
 No doubts
are permitted—
 though they will come
 and may
before our time
 overwhelm us.
 We are only mortal
but being mortal
 can...Read more of this...
by Williams, William Carlos (WCW)

The Walk

...ite measure extending
Round the dusky-hued mount, over the forest so green,--
Round about me, who now from my chamber's confinement escaping,
And from vain frivolous talk, gladly seek refuge with thee.
Through me to quicken me runs the balsamic stream of thy breezes,
While the energetical light freshens the gaze as it thirsts.
Bright o'er the blooming meadow the changeable colors are gleaming,
But the strife, full of charms, in its own grace melts away
Freely the plain receiv...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Wreck of the Abercrombie Robinson

...they came on deck, a most pitiful sight. 

Alas! sad and dejected, sickly looking, pale and forlorn,
Owing to the close confinement during the storm;
And for a time attempts were made to send a rope ashore,
But these proved futile owing to the raging billows which loudly did roar. 

Then one of the ship's cutters was carefully lowered over the side,
And her crew towards the shore merrily did glide,
And succeeded in reaching the shore with a leading line,
And two boats were co...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

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