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Famous Cos Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Piercy, Marge
...s my box of new crayons at your feet. 

Green as mint jelly, green 
as a frog on a lily pad twanging, 
the green of cos lettuce upright 
about to bolt into opulent towers, 
green as Grand Chartreuse in a clear 
glass, green as wine bottles. 

Blue as cornflowers, delphiniums, 
bachelors' buttons. Blue as Roquefort, 
blue as Saga. Blue as still water. 
Blue as the eyes of a Siamese cat. 
Blue as shadows on new snow, as a spring 
azure sipping from a pud...Read more of this...



by Pound, Ezra
...assuredly, alabaster
Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

III
The tea-rose tea-gown, etc.
Supplants the mousseline of Cos,
The pianola "replaces"
Sappho's barbitos.

Christ follows Dionysus,
Phallic and ambrosial
Made way for macerations;
Caliban casts out Ariel.

All things are a flowing
Sage Heracleitus say;
But a tawdry cheapness
Shall outlast our days.

Even the Christian beauty
Defects--after Samothrace;
We see to kalon
Decreed in the market place.

Fau...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...ys when they turned out one short. 

He’d been member of club for three seasons 
And had grumbled again and again, 
Cos he found only time that they’d used him, 
Were when it were pouring with rain! 

He felt as his talents were wasted 
When each week his job seemed to be 
No but minding the clothes for the others 
And chucking clods at referee! 

So next time selection committee 
Came round to ask him for his sub 
He told them if they didn’t play him, 
He’d transfer to s...Read more of this...

by Pound, Ezra
...ly, alabaster
Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

III. 

The tea-rose, tea-gown, etc.
Supplants the mousseline of Cos,
The pianola "replaces"
Sappho's barbitos.

Christ follows Dionysus,
Phallic and ambrosial
Made way for macerations;
Caliban casts out Ariel.

All things are a flowing,
Sage Heracleitus says;
But a tawdry cheapness
Shall reign throughout our days.

Even the Christian beauty
Defects -- after Samothrace;
We see to kalon
Decreed in the market pl...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...in di nostra vita

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura

ch? la diritta via era smarrita.

 Ahi quanto a dir qual era ? cosa dura

esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte

che nel pensier rinova la paura!

 Tant'? amara che poco ? pi? morte;

ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,

dir? de l'altre cose ch'i' v'ho scorte.

 Io non so ben ridir com'i' v'intrai,

tant'era pien di sonno a quel punto

che la verace via abbandonai.

 Ma poi ch'i' fui al pi? d'un colle giunto,...Read more of this...



by Alighieri, Dante
...I found myself within a shadowed forest,
for I had lost the path that does not stray.


Ahi quanto a dir qual era ? cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura !

Ah, it is hard to speak of what it was,
that savage forest, dense and difficult,
which even in recall renews my fear:


Tant'? amara che poco ? pi? morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,
dir? de l'altre cose ch'i' v'ho scorte .

so bitter-death is hardly more severe...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...come the sacred place, 
the seat of the successor of great Peter. 


Per quest'andata onde li dai tu vanto, 
intese cose che furon cagione 
di sua vittoria e del papale ammanto . 

And through the journey you ascribe to him, 
he came to learn of things that were to bring 
his victory and, too, the papal mantle. 


Andovvi poi lo Vas d'elezione, 
per recarne conforto a quella fede 
ch'? principio a la via di salvazione . 

Later the Chosen Vessel travelled ther...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...HIGH ARTIFICER; 
MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY, 
THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE. 


Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create 
se non etterne, e io etterno duro. 
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate ". 

BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS 
WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY. 
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE. 


Queste parole di colore oscuro 
vid'io scritte al sommo d'una porta; 
per ch'io: «Maestro, il senso lor m'? duro ». 

These words-thei...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...walks around with his elephant troupe,
He got them patched up at the vet's,
But Aggie won't walk at the back any more,
'Cos an elephant never forgets....Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...bits of freedom we’ve got"

"At the end of the day she shopped me and all I’d done

Was take a few pound from the till ’cos Jenny was ill

And I didn’t have thirteen quid to get the bloody prescription done" 

To-morrow I’ll be back in the Great Wen,

Two days of manic catching up and then

Thistledown, wild wheat, a dozen kinds of grass,

The mass of beckoning hills I’d love to make

A poet’s map of but never will.

"Oh to break loose" Lowell’s magic lines

Entice me sti...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...ndsome bloke.
Me, I'm 'andsome as a chunk o' coke.
Did I give it 'im? Not 'arf!
Why, it fairly made me laugh,
 'Cos 'is bloomin' bellows wasn't sound.
Couldn't fight for monkey nuts.
Soon I gets 'im in the guts,
 There 'e lies a-floppin' on the ground.

In I goes to finish up the job.
Quick 'e throws 'is 'ands above 'is nob;
Speakin' English good as me:
"'Tain't no use to kill," says 'e;
 "Can't yer tyke me prisoner instead?"
"Why, I'd like to, sir," s...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...iverso penetra, e risplende
in una parte pi? e meno altrove.
 Nel ciel che pi? de la sua luce prende
fu' io, e vidi cose che ridire
n? sa n? pu? chi di l? s? discende;
 perch? appressando s? al suo disire,
nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non pu? ire.
 Veramente quant'io del regno santo
ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,
sar? ora materia del mio canto.
 O buono Appollo, a l'ultimo lavoro
fammi del tuo valor s? fatto vaso,
come dimandi a da...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...e'd worked out his passage from England 
In search of his Master and Lord, 
And had swum the last part of the journey 
'Cos his tune got 'im thrown overboard. 

This meeting filled Richard with panic: 
He rode off and never drew rein 
Till he got past the Austrian border 
And felt he could breathe once again. 

He hid in a neighbouring Castle,
But he hadn't been there very long 
When one night just outside his window 
Stood Blondel, still singing his song. 

This ...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...d to his soldiers, 
He lifted his big Nonnan voice,
Shouting - 'Hands up who's coming to England.' 
That was swank 'cos they hadn't no choice.

They started away about tea-time - 
The sea was so calm and so still,
And at quarter to ten the next morning 
They arrived at a place called Bexhill.

King 'Arold came up as they landed - 
His face full of venom and 'ate - 
He said 'lf you've come for Regatta 
You've got here just six weeks too late.'

At this William ...Read more of this...

by Lawrence, D. H.
...you could call.

Let be that; there's some o' th' bad as we
  Like better nor all your good, an' 'e was one.
--An' cos I liked him best, yi, bett'r nor thee,
  I canna bide to think where he is gone.

Ah know tha liked 'im bett'r nor me. But let
  Me tell thee about this lass. When you had gone
Ah stopped behind on t' pad i' th' drippin wet
  An' watched what 'er 'ad on.

Tha should ha' seed her slive up when we'd gone,
  Tha should ha' seed her kneel an' look i...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs