Famous Constrain Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Faerie Queene: Book I Canto I

by Edmund Spenser
Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,
As time her taught in lowly Shepheards weeds,
Am now enforst a far unfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose prayses having slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds
To blazon broad emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithful loves shall...Read more of this...

To King James

by Ben Jonson
XXXIV. ? TO KING JAMES.  (II)    Who would not be thy subject, JAMES, t'obey  A prince that rules by' example, more than sway ? Whose manners draw, more than thy powers constrain.  And in this short time of thy happiest reign, Hast purg'd thy realms, as we have now no cause  Left us of fear, but first our crimes,...Read more of this...

The Interpreter

by Aleister Crowley
 Mother of Light, and the Gods! Mother of Music, awake!
Silence and speech are at odds; Heaven and Hell are at
stake.
By the Rose and the Cross I conjure; I constrain by the
Snake and the Sword;
I am he that is sworn to endure -Bring us the word of the
Lord!

By the brood of the Bysses of Brightening, whose God was
my sire;
By the...Read more of this...

On Receipt Of My Mothers Picture

by William Cowper
 Oh that those lips had language! Life has pass'd
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.
Those lips are thine--thy own sweet smiles I see,
The same that oft in childhood solaced me;
Voice only fails, else, how distinct they say,
"Grieve not, my child, chase all thy fears away!"
The meek intelligence of those dear eyes
(Blest be the art that can immortalize,
The...Read more of this...

With a Copy of Shakespeares Sonnets on Leaving College

by Alan Seeger
 As one of some fat tillage dispossessed, 
Weighing the yield of these four faded years, 
If any ask what fruit seems loveliest, 
What lasting gold among the garnered ears, -- 
Ah, then I'll say what hours I had of thine, 
Therein I reaped Time's richest revenue, 
Read in thy text the sense of David's line, 
Through thee achieved the...Read more of this...

The Good Man

by Gwendolyn Brooks
 The good man.
He is still enhancer, renouncer.
In the time of detachment,
in the time of the vivid heather and affectionate evil,
in the time of oral
grave grave legalities of hate - all real
walks our prime registered reproach and seal.
Our successful moral.
The good man.

Watches our bogus roses, our rank wreath, our
love's unreliable cement, the gray
jubilees of our demondom.
Coherent
Counsel! Good man.
Require of us...Read more of this...

54. Man was made to Mourn: A Dirge

by Robert Burns
 WHEN chill November’s surly blast
 Made fields and forests bare,
One ev’ning, as I wander’d forth
 Along the banks of Ayr,
I spied a man, whose aged step
 Seem’d weary, worn with care;
His face furrow’d o’er with years,
 And hoary was his hair.


“Young stranger, whither wand’rest thou?”
 Began the rev’rend sage;
“Does thirst of wealth thy step constrain,
 Or youthful pleasure’s rage?
Or...Read more of this...

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