Famous Dare Poems by Famous Poets

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

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To M

by George (Lord) Byron
 Oh! did those eyes, instead of fire,
With bright, but mild affection shine:
Though they might kindle less desire,
Love, more than mortal, would be thine.

For thou art form'd so heavenly fair,
Howe'er those orbs may wildly beam,
We must admire, but still despair;
That fatal glance forbids esteem.

When Nature stamp'd thy beauteous birth,
So much perfection in thee shone,
She fear'd that, too divine for earth,
The...Read more of this...

Dare You?

by Edward Rowland Sill
Doubting Thomas and loving John,
Behind the others walking on:—

“Tell me now, John, dare you be
One of the minority?
To be lonely in your thought,
Never visited nor sought,
Shunned with secret shrug, to go
Thro’ the world, esteemed its foe;
27To be singled out and hissed,
Pointed at as one unblessed,
Warned against in whispers faint,
Lest the children catch a taint;
To bear off your titles well,—
Heretic and...Read more of this...

No Thank You John

by Christina Rossetti
 I never said I loved you, John:
Why will you tease me day by day,
And wax a weariness to think upon
With always "do" and "pray"?

You Know I never loved you, John;
No fault of mine made me your toast:
Why will you haunt me with a face as wan
As shows an hour-old ghost?

I dare say Meg or Moll would take
Pity upon you,...Read more of this...

The Loneliness One dare not sound --

by Emily Dickinson
 The Loneliness One dare not sound --
And would as soon surmise
As in its Grave go plumbing
To ascertain the size --

The Loneliness whose worst alarm
Is lest itself should see --
And perish from before itself
For just a scrutiny --

The Horror not to be surveyed --
But skirted in the Dark --
With Consciousness suspended --
And Being under Lock --

I fear me this --...Read more of this...

Dream Song 55: Peters not friendly. He gives me sideways looks

by John Berryman
 Peter's not friendly. He gives me sideways looks.
The architecture is far from reassuring.
I feel uneasy.
A pity,-”the interview began so well:
I mentioned fiendish things, he waved them away
and sloshed out a martini

strangely needed. We spoke of indifferent matters-”
God's health, the vague hell of the Congo,
John's energy,
anti-matter matter. I felt fine.
Then a change came backward. A chill fell.
Talk slackened,

died, and began...Read more of this...

268. Song—I Love my Love in Secret

by Robert Burns
 MY Sandy gied to me a ring,
Was a’ beset wi’ diamonds fine;
But I gied him a far better thing,
I gied my heart in pledge o’ his ring.


Chorus.—My Sandy O, my Sandy O,
 My bonie, bonie Sandy O;
 Tho’ the love that I owe
 To thee I dare na show,
Yet I love my love in secret, my Sandy O.


My Sandy...Read more of this...

The Three Songs

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 The poet sang of a battle-field
Where doughty deeds were done,
Where stout blows rang on helm and shield
And a kingdom's fate was spun
With the scarlet thread of victory,
And honor from death's grim revelry
Like a flame-red flower was won!
So bravely he sang that all who heard
With the sting of the fight and the triumph were stirred,
And they cried, "Let us blazon...Read more of this...

O Thou whose lips secrete the water of life, permit

by Omar Khayyam
O Thou whose lips secrete the water of life, permit
not those of the cup to come and kiss them! [Oh, if
Thou shouldst permit it], may I lose the name of man
if I am not soaked in the blood of the flask, for what is
it, this cup, to dare to touch its lips to Thine?
367...Read more of this...

The Things We Dare Not Tell

by Henry Lawson
 The fields are fair in autumn yet, and the sun's still shining there, 
But we bow our heads and we brood and fret, because of the masks we wear; 
Or we nod and smile the social while, and we say we're doing well, 
But we break our hearts, oh, we break our hearts! for the things we must not...Read more of this...

Fridolin (The Walk To The Iron Factory)

by Friedrich von Schiller
 A gentle was Fridolin,
And he his mistress dear,
Savern's fair Countess, honored in
All truth and godly fear.
She was so meek, and, ah! so good!
Yet each wish of her wayward mood,
He would have studied to fulfil,
To please his God, with earnest will.

From the first hour when daylight shone
Till rang the vesper-chime,
He lived but for her will alone,
And deemed e'en that scarce...Read more of this...

Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?

by Emily Dickinson
 Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
Then crouch within the door --
Red -- is the Fire's common tint --
But when the vivid Ore
Has vanquished Flame's conditions,
It quivers from the Forge
Without a color, but the light
Of unanointed Blaze.
Least Village has its Blacksmith
Whose Anvil's even ring
Stands symbol for the finer Forge
That soundless tugs -- within --
Refining these impatient Ores
With...Read more of this...

Why the Jackass Laughs

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 The Boastful Crow and the Laughing Jack 
Were telling tales of the outer back: 
"I've just been travelling far and wide, 
At the back of Bourke and the Queensland side; 
There isn't a bird in the bush can go 
As far as me," said the old black crow. 
"There isn't a bird in the bush can fly 
A course...Read more of this...

How dare the robins sing

by Emily Dickinson
 How dare the robins sing,
When men and women hear
Who since they went to their account
Have settled with the year! --
Paid all that life had earned
In one consummate bill,
And now, what life or death can do
Is immaterial.
Insulting is the sun
To him whose mortal light
Beguiled of immortality
Bequeaths him to the night.
Extinct be every hum
In deference to him
Whose garden wrestles with the...Read more of this...

Where Roses would not dare to go

by Emily Dickinson
 Where Roses would not dare to go,
What Heart would risk the way --
And so I send my Crimson Scouts
To sound the Enemy --...Read more of this...

I should not dare to leave my friend

by Emily Dickinson
 I should not dare to leave my friend,
Because -- because if he should die
While I was gone -- and I -- too late --
Should reach the Heart that wanted me --

If I should disappoint the eyes
That hunted -- hunted so -- to see --
And could not bear to shut until
They "noticed" me -- they noticed me --

If I should...Read more of this...

280. The Kirk of Scotland's Alarm: A Ballad

by Robert Burns
 ORTHODOX! orthodox, who believe in John Knox,
 Let me sound an alarm to your conscience:
A heretic blast has been blown in the West,
 That what is no sense must be nonsense,
Orthodox! That what is no sense must be nonsense.


Doctor Mac! Doctor Mac, you should streek on a rack,
 To strike evil-doers wi’ terror:
To join Faith and Sense, upon any...Read more of this...

The Sick God

by Thomas Hardy
 I 

 In days when men had joy of war, 
A God of Battles sped each mortal jar; 
 The peoples pledged him heart and hand, 
 From Israel's land to isles afar. 

II 

 His crimson form, with clang and chime, 
Flashed on each murk and murderous meeting-time, 
 And kings invoked, for rape and raid, 
 His...Read more of this...

To a Little Girl That Has Told a Lie

by Ann Taylor
 AND has my darling told a lie? 
Did she forget that GOD was by? 
That GOD, who saw the things she did, 
From whom no action can be hid;
Did she forget that GOD could see
And hear, wherever she might be? 

He made your eyes, and can discern
Whichever way you think to turn; 
He made your ears, and he can...Read more of this...

London Bridge

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 “Do I hear them? Yes, I hear the children singing—and what of it? 
Have you come with eyes afire to find me now and ask me that? 
If I were not their father and if you were not their mother, 
We might believe they made a noise…. What are you—driving at!” 

“Well, be glad that you can hear them,...Read more of this...

If He were living -- dare I ask --

by Emily Dickinson
 If He were living -- dare I ask --
And how if He be dead --
And so around the Words I went --
Of meeting them -- afraid --

I hinted Changes -- Lapse of Time --
The Surfaces of Years --
I touched with Caution -- lest they crack --
And show me to my fears --

Reverted to adjoining Lives --
Adroitly turning out
Wherever I...Read more of this...

The Voices in the Dream (Ryton Firs)

by Lascelles Abercrombie
Follow my heart, my dancing feet,
Dance as blithe as my heart can beat.
Only can dancing understand
What a heavenly way we pass
Treading the green and golden land,
Daffodillies and grass.

I had a song, too, on my road,
But mine was in my eyes;
For Malvern Hills were with me all the way,
Singing loveliest visible melodies
Blue as a south-sea bay;
And ruddy as wine of France
Breadths...Read more of this...

To confidants like you I dare to say

by Omar Khayyam
To confidants like you I dare to say
What mankind really are—moulded of clay,
Affliction's clay, and kneaded in distress,
They taste the world awhile, then pass away....Read more of this...

Canzone XV

by Francesco Petrarch
CANZONE XV. In quella parte dov' Amor mi sprona. HE FINDS HER IMAGE EVERYWHERE.  When Love, fond Love, commands the strain,The coyest muse must sure obey;Love bids my wounded breast complain,And whispers the melodious lay:Yet when such griefs restrain the muse's wing,How shall she dare to soar, or how attempt...Read more of this...

The Eagle The Sow And The Cat

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 THE Queen of Birds, t'encrease the Regal Stock, 
Had hatch'd her young Ones in a stately Oak, 
Whose Middle-part was by a Cat possest, 
And near the Root with Litter warmly drest, 
A teeming Sow had made her peaceful Nest. 
(Thus Palaces are cramm'd from Roof to Ground, 
And Animals, as various, in them found.) 
When to the Sow,...Read more of this...

I should not dare to be so sad

by Emily Dickinson
 I should not dare to be so sad
So many Years again --
A Load is first impossible
When we have put it down --

The Superhuman then withdraws
And we who never saw
The Giant at the other side
Begin to perish now....Read more of this...

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