Famous Default Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Inferno (English)

..., and so loudly that I shrank for fear, 
 "Medusa! let her from her place appear, 
 To change him into stone! Our first default 
 That venged no wrath on Theseus' deep assault, 
 So brings him." 
 "Turn thou from their sight," my guide 
 Enjoined, nor wholly on my fear relied, 
 But placed his hands across mine eyes the while 
 He told me further "Risk no glance. The sight 
 Of Gorgon, if she cometh, would bring thee night 
 From which were no returning." 
 Ye
 that read 
 Wi...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante


Modern Love XXXVIII: Give to Imagination

...allen have earth's greatest Gogmagogs, 
Who dazzle us, whom we can not revere: 
Imagination is the charioteer 
That, in default of better, drives the hogs. 
So, therefore, my dear Lady, let me love! 
My soul is arrowy to the light in you. 
You know me that I never can renew 
The bond that woman broke: what would you have? 
'Tis Love, or Vileness! not a choice between, 
Save petrifaction! What does Pity here? 
She killed a thing, and now it's dead, 'tis dear. 
Oh, when you cou...Read more of this...
by Meredith, George

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...hom, soon moved with touch of blame, thus Eve. 
What words have passed thy lips, Adam severe! 
Imputest thou that to my default, or will 
Of wandering, as thou callest it, which who knows 
But might as ill have happened thou being by, 
Or to thyself perhaps? Hadst thou been there, 
Or here the attempt, thou couldst not have discerned 
Fraud in the Serpent, speaking as he spake; 
No ground of enmity between us known, 
Why he should mean me ill, or seek to harm. 
Was I to have ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Pelleas And Ettarre

...
As though it were the beauty of her soul: 
For as the base man, judging of the good, 
Puts his own baseness in him by default 
Of will and nature, so did Pelleas lend 
All the young beauty of his own soul to hers, 
Believing her; and when she spake to him, 
Stammered, and could not make her a reply. 
For out of the waste islands had he come, 
Where saving his own sisters he had known 
Scarce any but the women of his isles, 
Rough wives, that laughed and screamed against the...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Phyllis

...
you'd have the woman you pursue
be Thais when you're courting her,
Lucretia once she falls to you.

    For plain default of common sense,
could any action be so *****
as oneself to cloud the mirror,
then complain that it's not clear?

    Whether you're favored or disdained,
nothing can leave you satisfied.
You whimper if you're turned away,
you sneer if you've been gratified.

    With you, no woman can hope to score;
whichever way, she's bound to lose;
sp...Read more of this...
by Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor


Samson Agonistes

...et stay, let me not rashly call in doubt
Divine Prediction; what if all foretold
Had been fulfilld but through mine own default,
Whom have I to complain of but my self?
Who this high gift of strength committed to me,
In what part lodg'd, how easily bereft me,
Under the Seal of silence could not keep,
But weakly to a woman must reveal it 
O'recome with importunity and tears.
O impotence of mind, in body strong!
But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom, vast, unwie...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

She sped as Petals of a Rose

...sped as Petals of a Rose
Offended by the Wind --
A frail Aristocrat of Time
Indemnity to find --
Leaving on nature -- a Default
As Cricket or as Bee --
But Andes in the Bosoms where
She had begun to lie --...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Song of the Broad-Axe

...nt deed!
How the floridness of the materials of cities shrivels before a man’s or woman’s look! 

All waits, or goes by default, till a strong being appears; 
A strong being is the proof of the race, and of the ability of the universe; 
When he or she appears, materials are overaw’d, 
The dispute on the Soul stops,
The old customs and phrases are confronted, turn’d back, or laid away. 

What is your money-making now? what can it do now? 
What is your respectability now? 
What...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Female of the Species

...rides unchained to claim
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is the same.

She is wedded to convictions -- in default of grosser ties;
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him who denies! --
He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, white-hot, wild,
Wakened female of the species warring as for spouse and child.

Unprovoked and awful charges -- even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons -- even so the cobra bites,
Scientif...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

To Certain Critics

...Then call me traitor if you must, 
Shout reason and default! 
Say I betray a sacred trust 
Aching beyond this vault. 
I'll bear your censure as your praise, 
For never shall the clan 
Confine my singing to its ways 
Beyond the ways of man. 

No racial option narrows grief, 
Pain is not patriot, 
And sorrow plaits her dismal leaf 
For all as lief as not. 
With blind sheep groping every hill, 
Searching an orif...Read more of this...
by Cullen, Countee

Two Graves

...ten,
To come to grips with sterling men;
And now a cross in weeds to rot,
Is all to show how fierce I fought.

The old default, the young must pay;
My life was wasted, thrown away.
While people gladden, to forget
The bitterness of vein regret,
With not a soul to morn for me
My skull grins up in mockery.
. . . Pale crosses greet the grieving stars,
And always will be - War and Wars....Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

You Men

...ief,
you'd have the woman you pursue
be Thais when you're courting her,
Lucretia once she falls to you.

For plain default of common sense,
could any action be so *****
as oneself to cloud the mirror,
then complain that it's not clear?

Whether you're favored or disdained,
nothing can leave you satisfied.
You whimper if you're turned away,
you sneer if you've been gratified.

With you, no woman can hope to score;
whichever way, she's bound to lose;
spurning y...Read more of this...
by Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor

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