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Famous Derby Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...in from the terrible thorn-bit of Marriage.

 XII.
As the thriless gold of the babul, so is the gold that we spend
On a derby Sweep, or our neighbor's wife, or the horse that we buy from a friend.

 XIII.
The ways of man with a maid be strange, yet simple and tame
To the ways of a man with a horse, when selling or racing that same.

 XIV.
In public Her face turneth to thee, and pleasant Her smile when ye meet.
It is ill. The cold rocks of El-Gidar smile thus on the waves at t...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard



...that I was wearin'
    'Twas't long till we had got where talkin' ends,
  And he et his illbred chat, with a sauce of derby hat,
    While my merry pardners entertained his friends.

  Sing 'er out, my buckeroos! Let the desert hear the news.
    Tell the stars the way we rubbed the haughty down.
  We're the fiercest wolves a-prowlin' and it's just our night for howlin'
    When we're ridin' up the rocky trail from town.

  Since the days that Lot and Abram split th...Read more of this...
by Clark, Badger
...-centimeter projectile,

I flash to the form of a man to his hips in snow drifts of Manitoba and Minnesota—in the 
sled derby run from Winnipeg to Minneapolis.

He is beaten in the race the first day out of Winnipeg—the lead dog is eaten by four team 
mates—and the man goes on and on—running while the other racers ride—running while the 
other racers sleep—

Lost in a blizzard twenty-four hours, repeating a circle of travel hour after hour—fighting 
the dogs who dig holes in ...Read more of this...
by Sandburg, Carl
...ile in the red-rouged knee.
The dowagers are no longer fat.
Radio now makes safe the sea—
And the Turk has bought him a derby hat.

Even our sauerkraut now is canned.
Verse is a dangsight more than free.
A “highboy” now is the old dish stand.
Ev’ry flapper has her night key.
Chopin is jazzed into melody.
A child is a “kiddie” and not a “brat.”
Bosses and miners at last agree—
And the Turk has bought him a derby hat.

All firewaters are bravely banned.
There is a ballot for ev...Read more of this...
by Butler, Ellis Parker
...As I was going to Derby all on a market-day,I met the finest ram, sir, that ever was fed upon hay;  Upon hay, upon hay, upon hay;I met the finest ram, sir, that ever was fed upon hay.This ram was fat behind, sir; this ram was fat before;This ram was ten yards round, sir; indeed, he was no more;  No more, no more, no more;This ram was ten yards round, sir; ...Read more of this...
by Goose, Mother



...ania (German. "Litthauen"), Russia, &c.

8. Algesiras was taken from the Moorish king of Grenada, in
1344: the Earls of Derby and Salisbury took part in the siege.
Belmarie is supposed to have been a Moorish state in Africa;
but "Palmyrie" has been suggested as the correct reading. The
Great Sea, or the Greek sea, is the Eastern Mediterranean.
Tramissene, or Tremessen, is enumerated by Froissart among
the Moorish kingdoms in Africa. Palatie, or Palathia, in
Anatolia, was a fi...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...A little old man of Derby,How do you think he served me?He took away my bread and cheese,And that is how he served me. ...Read more of this...
by Goose, Mother
...evening beyond the barriers
Gentlemen of practiced wit and charm
Go strolling beside the drainage ditches -- 
A tilted derby and a lady at the arm. 

The squeak of oarlocks comes over the lake water
A woman's shriek assaults the ear
While above, in the sky, inured to everything,
The moon looks on with a mindless leer. 

And every evening my one companion
Sits here, reflected in my glass.
Like me, he has drunk of bitter mysteries.
Like me, he is broken, dulled, downcast.


Th...Read more of this...
by Blok, Aleksandr
...ress for its removal
or thought the sign, in wartime, rude at all.

These Vs are all the versuses of life
From LEEDS v. DERBY, Black/White
and (as I've known to my cost) man v. wife,
Communist v. Fascist, Left v. Right,

Class v. class as bitter as before,
the unending violence of US and THEM,
personified in 1984
by Coal Board MacGregor and the NUM,

Hindu/Sikh, soul/body, heart v. mind,
East/West, male/female, and the ground
these fixtures are fought on's Man, resigned
to ho...Read more of this...
by Harrison, Tony

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry