Famous Defection Poems by Famous Poets

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

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John Brown

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 Though for your sake I would not have you now 
So near to me tonight as now you are, 
God knows how much a stranger to my heart 
Was any cold word that I may have written; 
And you, poor woman that I made my wife,
You have had more of loneliness, I fear, 
Than I—though I have been the...Read more of this...

The Wandering Jew

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 I saw by looking in his eyes 
That they remembered everything; 
And this was how I came to know 
That he was here, still wandering. 
For though the figure and the scene
Were never to be reconciled, 
I knew the man as I had known 
His image when I was a child. 

With evidence at every turn, 
I should have...Read more of this...

Perfection

by Robert William Service
 If I could practise what I preach,
Of fellows there would few be finer;
If I were true to what I teach
My life would be a lot diviner.
If I would act the way I speak,
Of halo I might be a winner:
The spirit wills, the flesh is weak,--
 I'm just a simple sinner.

Six days I stray,--on number seven
I try to be a...Read more of this...

The Lapse

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
This poem must be done to-day;
Then, I 'll e'en to it.
I must not dream my time away,—
I 'm sure to rue it.
The day is rather bright, I know
The Muse will pardon
My half-defection, if I go
Into the garden.
It must be better working there,—
I 'm sure it's sweeter:
And something in the balmy air
May clear my metre.
[In the Garden.]
Ah this is noble, what...Read more of this...

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