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Famous Despise Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...e farmer ploughs the manor;
But glory is the sodger’s prize,
 The sodger’s wealth is honor:
The brave poor sodger ne’er despise,
 Nor count him as a stranger;
Remember he’s his country’s stay,
 In day and hour of danger....Read more of this...



by Bradstreet, Anne
...your redemption's nigh.
284 The scales shall fall from your long blinded eyes,
285 And him you shall adore who now despise.
286 Then fullness of the Nations in shall flow,
287 And Jew and Gentile to one worship go.
288 Then follows days of happiness and rest.
289 Whose lot doth fall to live therein is blest.
290 No Canaanite shall then be found 'n th' land,
291 And holiness on horses' bells shall stand.
292 If this make way thereto, then sigh no more,...Read more of this...

by Du Bois, W. E. B.
...il us, Lord of Lands and Seas!
We are but weak and wayward men,
Distraught alike with hatred and vainglory;
Prone to despise the Soul that breathes within—
High visioned hordes that lie and steal and kill,
Sinning the sin each separate heart disclaims,
Clambering upon our riven, writhing selves,
Besieging Heaven by trampling men to Hell!
We be blood-guilty! Lo, our hands be red!
Not one may blame the other in this sin!
But here—here in the white Silence of the Dawn,...Read more of this...

by Wilmot, John
...this we know,
From the pathetic pen of Ingelo;
From Patrlck's Pilgrim, Sibbes' Soliloquies,
And 'tis this very reason I despise,
This supernatural gift that makes a mite
Think he's an image of the infinite;
Comparing his short life, void of all rest,
To the eternal, and the ever-blessed.
This busy, pushing stirrer-up of doubt,
That frames deep mysteries, then finds them out;
Filling with frantic crowds of thinking fools
The reverend bedlam's, colleges and schools;
Borne o...Read more of this...

by Dryden, John
...ould whet my memory, though once forgot,
To make him an appendix of my plot.
His zeal to Heav'n made him his prince despise,
And load his person with indignities:
But Zeal peculiar privilege affords,
Indulging latitude to deeds and words.
And Corah might for Agag's murther call,
In terms as coarse as Samuel us'd to Saul.
What others in his evidence did join,
(The best that could be had for love or coin,)
In Corah's own predicament will fall:
For Witness is a commo...Read more of this...



by Pope, Alexander
...things seem large which we thro' Mists descry,
Dulness is ever apt to Magnify.

Some foreign Writers, some our own despise;
The Ancients only, or the Moderns prize:
(Thus Wit, like Faith by each Man is apply'd
To one small Sect, and All are damn'd beside.)
Meanly they seek the Blessing to confine,
And force that Sun but on a Part to Shine;
Which not alone the Southern Wit sublimes,
But ripens Spirits in cold Northern Climes;
Which from the first has shone on Ages pas...Read more of this...

by Sidney, Sir Philip
...,
That poison foul of bubbling pride doth lie
So in my swelling breast, that only I
Fawne on my selfe, and others do despise.
Yet pride I thinke doth not my soule possesse
(Which looks too oft in his vnflatt'ring glasse):
But one worse fault, ambition, I confesse,
That makes me oft my best friends ouerpasse,
Vnseene, vnheard, while thought to highest place
Bends all his powers, euen vnto Stellaes grace. 
XXVIII 

You that with Allegories curious frame
Of ...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...ies of our church 
Cost us a little--oh, they pay the price, 
You take me--amply pay it! Now, we'll talk. 

So, you despise me, Mr. Gigadibs. 
No deprecation,--nay, I beg you, sir! 
Beside 't is our engagement: don't you know, 
I promised, if you'd watch a dinner out, 
We'd see truth dawn together?--truth that peeps 
Over the glasses' edge when dinner's done, 


And body gets its sop and holds its noise 
And leaves soul free a little. Now's the time: 
'T is br...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...trength within.

Far as this earth may be
From yonder starry skies;
Remoter still am I from Thee:
Yet Thou wilt not despise.

I need not fear my foes,
I need not yield to care,
I need not sink beneath my woes:
For Thou wilt answer prayer.

In my Redeemer's name,
I give myself to Thee;
And all unworthy as I am
My God will cherish me.

O make me wholly Thine!
Thy love to me impart,
And let Thy holy spirit shine
For ever on my heart!...Read more of this...

by Gray, Thomas
...l, guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes,

Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined;
Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the Gates of Mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...Dim erst, dilated spirits, ampler heart, 
And growing up to Godhead; which for thee 
Chiefly I sought, without thee can despise. 
For bliss, as thou hast part, to me is bliss; 
Tedious, unshared with thee, and odious soon. 
Thou therefore also taste, that equal lot 
May join us, equal joy, as equal love; 
Lest, thou not tasting, different degree 
Disjoin us, and I then too late renounce 
Deity for thee, when Fate will not permit. 
Thus Eve with countenance blithe ...Read more of this...

by Spenser, Edmund
...his tumbling streams doth bear aboard 
The plowman's hope, and shepherd's labor vain; 
And as the coward beasts use to despise 
The noble lion after his life's end 
Whetting their teeth, and with vain foolhardise 
Daring the foe, that cannot him defend: 
And as at Troy most dastards of the Greeks 
Did brave about the corpse of Hector cold; 
So those which whilome wont with pallid cheeks 
The Roman triumphs glory to behold, 
Now on these ashy tombs show boldness vain, 
And co...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...r vices brought to servitude,
Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, 
Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty;
And to despise, or envy, or suspect
Whom God hath of his special favour rais'd
As thir Deliverer; if he aught begin,
How frequent to desert him, and at last
To heap ingratitude on worthiest deeds?

Chor: Thy words to my remembrance bring
How Succoth and the Fort of Penuel
Thir great Deliverer contemn'd,
The matchless Gideon in pursuit 
Of Madian and her vanquisht K...Read more of this...

by Schiller, Friedrich von
...freest mother's children free,
With steadfast countenance then rise
To highest beauty's radiancy,
And every other crown despise!
The sisters who escaped you here,
Within your mother's arms ye'll meet;
What noble spirits may revere,
Must be deserving and complete.
High over your own course of time
Exalt yourselves with pinion bold,
And dimly let your glass sublime
The coming century unfold!
On thousand roads advancing fast
Of ever-rich variety,
With fond embraces meet at l...Read more of this...

by Wilde, Oscar
...ing eyes,
Waits for the holy hands that took
The Thief to Paradise;
And a broken and a contrite heart
The Lord will not despise.

The man in red who reads the Law
Gave him three weeks of life,
Three little weeks in which to heal
His soul of his soul's strife,
And cleanse from every blot of blood
The hand that held the knife.

And with tears of blood he cleansed the hand,
The hand that held the steel:
For only blood can wipe out blood,
And only tears can heal:
And the ...Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...e beauty gay 
All eaten out and fallen away, 
By drunken days and weary tramps 
From pub to pub by city lamps 
Till men despise the game they started 
Till health and beauty are departed, 
and in a slum the reeking hag 
Mumbles a crust with toothy jag, 
Or gets the river's help to end 
The life too wrecked for man to mend. 
We spat and smoked and took our swipe 
Till Silas up and tap his pipe, 
And begged us all to pay attention 
Because he'd several things to mention.Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...ught is fine
Unto the sick, nor doth it burden grief
That the house perish when the soul doth pine.
Thus I my state despise, slain by a sting
So slight 'twould not have hurt a meaner thing. 

15
Who builds a ship must first lay down the keel
Of health, whereto the ribs of mirth are wed:
And knit, with beams and knees of strength, a bed
For decks of purity, her floor and ceil.
Upon her masts, Adventure, Pride, and Zeal,
To fortune's wind the sails of purpose spread...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
..."

Hearken what is the sentence of the wise:
Better to die than to have indigence.
*Thy selve* neighebour will thee despise, *that same*
If thou be poor, farewell thy reverence.
Yet of the wise man take this sentence,
Alle the days of poore men be wick'*, *wicked, evil
Beware therefore ere thou come to that prick*. *point

If thou be poor, thy brother hateth thee,
And all thy friendes flee from thee, alas!
O riche merchants, full of wealth be ye,
O noble, prudent ...Read more of this...

by Baudelaire, Charles
...ding gleam, 
The nightly shades assume their power. 

From their still attitude the wise 
Will learn with terror to despise 
All tumult, movement, and unrest; 

For he who follows every shade, 
Carries the memory in his breast, 
Of each unhappy journey made....Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...nks yelling from that sword there, engine-hung. 
He too amongst my ancestors! I hate 
The despot, but the dastard I despise. 
Was he our countryman?' 
'Alas, O king! 
Iberia bore him, but the breed accurst 
Inclement winds blew blighting from north-east.' 
'He was a warrior then, nor fear'd the gods?' 
'Gebir, he fear'd the demons, not the gods, 
Though them indeed his daily face adored: 
And was no warrior, yet the thousand lives 
Squander'd, as stones to exercis...Read more of this...

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