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Famous Darn Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Service, Robert William
...rror enough, I guess.

I'm gay! You bet I AM gay;
 But I wasn't a while ago.
If you'd seen me even to-day,
 The darndest picture of woe,
With this Caliban mug of mine,
 So ravaged and raw and red,
Turned to the wall -- in fine,
 Wishing that I was dead. . . .
What has happened since then,
 Since I lay with my face to the wall,
The most despairing of men?
 Listen! I'll tell you all.

That poilu across the way,
 With the shrapnel wound in his head,
H...Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...I: "The form they posted me
 I filled and sent - so what?"

I searched the essies," dour with doubt . . .
 Darn! It was plain as day
The scurvy knaves had left me out . . .
 Oh was I mad? I'll say.

Then all at once I sensed the clue;
 'Twas simple, you'll allow . . .
The book I held was Who WAS Who -
 Oh was I glad - and how!...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...t lost
But speaking from deaths frost,
Like fiery tongues at Pentecost!

Glimmer, as funeral lamps,
Amid the chills and darn ps
Of the vast plain where Death encamps!...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...we searched that place, but never a trace of the little beast we found.
So I shook my head, and I glumly said: "Gol darn the saucy cuss!
It's mighty *****, but she isn't here; so . . . she must be on one of us.
You'll pardon me if I make so free, but -- there's just one thing to do:
If you'll kindly go for a half a mo' I'll search me garments through."
Then all alone on the shiny throne I stripped from head to heel;
In vain, in vain; it was very plain ...Read more of this...

by Hughes, Langston
...-
Else you'll take out my phone?
You better let
My phone alone.

I didn't ask him
To telephone me.
Roscoe knows darn well
LONG DISTANCE
Ain't free.

If I ever catch him,
Lawd, have pity!
Calling me up
From Kansas City.

Just to say he loves me!
I knowed that was so.
Why didn't he tell me some'n
I don't know?

For instance, what can
Them other girls do
That Alberta K. Johnson
Can't do--and more, too?

What's that, Central?
You say you don't care
Nothing...Read more of this...



by Browning, Robert
...Jurien and Just---
Order things back to their place,
Have a sharp eye lest the candlesticks rust,
Rub the church-plate, darn the sacrament-lace,
Clear the desk-velvet of dust.)

VII.

Here's your book, younger folks shelve!
Played I not off-hand and runningly,
Just now, your masterpiece, hard number twelve?
Here's what should strike, could one handle it cunningly:
HeIp the axe, give it a helve!

VIII.

Page after page as I played,
Every bar's rest, where one wipes...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...)
The motor roared and the road was level,
The old chap laughed like an impish boy,
And as I drove like the very devil,
Darn him! he peed his pants with joy.

And so I crowned his long existence
By showing him how our modern speed
Easily can annihilate distance,
And answer to all our modern need.
And I went on my way but little caring,
Until I heard to mild dismay,
His drive had thrilled him beyond all bearing . . .
The poor old devil! - He died next day.<...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...rk;
Guess ma time's about up:
Don't seem to hear him bark,
Poor, broken-hearted pup! . . .
Why, here he is, darn his skin!
Lickin' ma face once more:
How did the cuss get in?
Musta' busted the door.

God, I'm an ol' black coon,
But You ain't conscious o' race.
I gotta be goin' soon,
I'll be meetin' You face to face.
I'se been sinful, dice an' hooch,
But Lordy, before I die
I'se a-prayin': "Be good to ma pooch" . . .
That's all - little mutt...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
... 

It is my face yellow and wrinkled, instead of the old woman’s, 
I sit low in a straw-bottom chair, and carefully darn my grandson’s stockings. 

It is I too, the sleepless widow, looking out on the winter midnight,
I see the sparkles of starshine on the icy and pallid earth. 

A shroud I see, and I am the shroud—I wrap a body, and lie in the coffin, 
It is dark here under ground—it is not evil or pain here—it is blank here, for
 reasons. 

It seems to me th...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...b's so steady here."
These are his words; so meek and mild,
He looks just like a simple child . . .
Go! darn it! Suddenly I'm riled. 

And so I say: "That's just too bad.
But Mister Jones. it's very sad,
You know what losses we have had.
We must cut down in times like these,
So here's a cheque, Oh take it please -
'Twill help to pay your doctor's fees. 

"And just to show how I appraise
Your work - despite these doleful days
I'm giving you ...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...nce more!

I wish that I might see them,
 My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
 An' the hog-darn passin' down; [Cigar-lighter.]
An' the old khansamah snorin' [Butler.]
 On the bottle-khana floor, [Pantry.]
Like a Master in good standing
 With my Mother-Lodge once more!

Outside -- "Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!"
Inside -- "Brother", an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deaco...Read more of this...

by Tolkien, J R R
...hands had hold of naught.
Before he could mind, Tom slipped behind
And gave him the boot to larn him.
Warn him! Darn him!
A bump o' the boot on the seat, Tom thought,
Would be the way to larn him.

But harder than stone is the flesh and bone
Of a troll that sits in the hills alone.
As well set your boot to the mountain's root,
For the seat of a troll don't feel it.
Peel it! Heal it!
Old Troll laughed, when he heard Tom groan,
And he knew his toes could fee...Read more of this...

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