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Famous Dine Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...Bring me a quart of colonial beer 
And some doughy damper to make good cheer, 
I must make a heavy dinner; 
Heavily dine and heavily sup, 
Of indigestible things fill up, 
Next month they run the Melbourne Cup, 
And I have to dream the winner. 
Stoke it in, boys! the half-cooked ham, 
The rich ragout and the charming cham., 
I've got to mix my liquor; 
Give me a gander's gaunt hind leg, 
Hard and tough as a wooden peg, 
And I'll keep it down with a hard-boiled egg...Read more of this...



by Field, Eugene
...mixing of ye two
Ben soche a piece of foolishness as only ejiots do.
Ye wine is plaisaunt bibbing whenas ye gentles dine,
And beer will do if one hath not ye wherewithal for wine,
But in ye drinking of ye same ye wise are never floored
By taking what ye tipplers call too big a jag on board.
Right hejeous is it for to see soche dronkonness of wine
Whereby some men are used to make themselves to be like swine;
And sorely it repenteth them, for when they wake next day
Ye...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus.
"If this should stay to dine," he said,
"There won't be much for us!"

He thought he saw a Kangaroo
That worked a Coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-Pill.
"Were I to swallow this," he said,
"I should be very ill!"

He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four
That stood beside his bed:
He looked again, and found it was
A Bear without a Head.
"Poor thing," he s...Read more of this...

by Hughes, Langston
...MALL ONIONS IN CREAM
 WATERCRESS SALAD
 PEACH MELBA

Have luncheon there this afternoon, all you jobless.
 Why not?
Dine with some of the men and women who got rich off of
 your labor, who clip coupons with clean white fingers
 because your hands dug coal, drilled stone, sewed gar-
 ments, poured steel to let other people draw dividends
 and live easy.
(Or haven't you had enough yet of the soup-lines and the bit-
 ter bread of charity?)
Walk through Peacock Alley toni...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...years and years to come, 
Hints of the bishop,--names me--that's enough: 
"Blougram? I knew him"--(into it you slide) 
"Dined with him once, a Corpus Christi Day, 
"All alone, we two; he's a clever man: 
"And after dinner,--why, the wine you know,-- 
"Oh, there was wine, and good!--what with the wine . . 
"'Faith, we began upon all sorts of talk! 
"He's no bad fellow, Blougram; he had seen 
"Something of mine he relished, some review: 
"He's quite above their humbug i...Read more of this...



by Ginsberg, Allen
...time pusher for a decade turned grey
Working for the CIA

Touby Lyfong he worked for the French
A big fat man liked to dine & wench
Prince of the Meos he grew black mud
Till opium flowed through the land like a flood

Communists came and chased the French away
So Touby took a job with the CIA

The whole operation fell in to chaos
Till U.S. Intelligence came into Laos
I'll tell you no lie I'm a true American
Our big pusher there was Phoumi Nosovan

All them Princes in...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...ll'd me--"but here's a letter
Informs you, sir, 'twas when he knew no better.
Dare you refuse him? Curll invites to dine,
He'll write a Journal, or he'll turn Divine."

Bless me! a packet--"'Tis a stranger sues,
A virgin tragedy, an orphan muse."
If I dislike it, "Furies, death and rage!"
If I approve, "Commend it to the stage."
There (thank my stars) my whole commission ends,
The play'rs and I are, luckily, no friends.
Fir'd that the house reject him, "'S...Read more of this...

by Marvell, Andrew
...he nation that we read 
Spent with both wars, under a captain dead, 
Yet rig a navy while we dress us late, 
And ere we dine, raze and rebuild their state? 
What oaken forests, and what golden mines! 
What mints of men, what union of designs! 
(Unless their ships, do, as their fowl proceed 
Of shedding leaves, that with their ocean breed). 
Theirs are not ships, but rather arks of war 
And beak?d promontories sailed from far; 
Of floating islands a new hatch?d nest; 
A fl...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...what say ye, shall we strip him there 
Your lover? has your palfrey heart enough 
To bear his armour? shall we fast, or dine? 
No?--then do thou, being right honest, pray 
That we may meet the horsemen of Earl Doorm, 
I too would still be honest.' Thus he said: 
And sadly gazing on her bridle-reins, 
And answering not one word, she led the way. 

But as a man to whom a dreadful loss 
Falls in a far land and he knows it not, 
But coming back he learns it, and the loss ...Read more of this...

by Bishop, Elizabeth
...arms for the expected:

***** cupids of all persons getting up,
whose evening meal they will prepare all day,
 you will dine well
 on his heart, on his, and his,

so send them about your business affectionately,
dragging in the streets their unique loves.
 Scourge them with roses only,
 be light as helium,

for always to one, or several, morning comes
whose head has fallen over the edge of his bed,
 whose face is turned
 so that the image of

the city grows down into his ...Read more of this...

by Trumbull, John
...The Sun, who never stops to dine,
Two hours had pass'd the mid-way line,
And driving at his usual rate,
Lash'd on his downward car of state.
And now expired the short vacation,
And dinner o'er in epic fashion,
While all the crew, beneath the trees,
Eat pocket-pies, or bread and cheese,
(Nor shall we, like old Homer, care
To versify their bill of fare)
Each active party, feasted wel...Read more of this...

by Seeger, Alan
...ves: 
Come out under the lights and leaves 
to the Reine Blanche on Saint Germain. . . . 


Now crowded diners fill the floor of brasserie and restaurant. 
Shrill voices cry "L'Intransigeant," and corners echo "Paris-Sport." 


Where rows of tables from the street are screened with shoots of box and bay, 
The ragged minstrels sing and play and gather sous from those that eat. 


And old men stand with menu-cards, inviting passers-by to dine 
On the...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...ce, hating vice, 
Where the Devil combs his lice. 
He turn’d the devils into swine 
That He might tempt the Jews to dine; 
Since which, a pig has got a look 
That for a Jew may be mistook. 
“Obey your parents.”—What says He? 
“Woman, what have I to do with thee? 
No earthly parents I confess: 
I am doing my Father’s business.” 
He scorn’d Earth’s parents, scorn’d Earth’s God, 
And mock’d the one and the other’s rod; 
His seventy Disciples sent 
Against Religio...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...tting up late you'll agree
 That it carries too far, when I say
That it frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea,
 And dines on the following day.

"The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
 Should you happen to venture on one,
It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
 And it always looks grave at a pun.

"The fourth is its fondness for bathing-machines,
 Which is constantly carries about,
And believes that they add to the beauty of scenes--
 A sen...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...Two favorite greyhounds should pull down,
     That venison free and Bourdeaux wine
     Might serve the archery to dine.
     But Lufra,—whom from Douglas' side
     Nor bribe nor threat could e'er divide,
     The fleetest hound in all the North,—
     Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth.
     She left the royal hounds midway,
     And dashing on the antlered prey,
     Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank,
     And deep the flowing life-blood drank.
     The King'...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...a Banker's Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus.
'If this should stay to dine,' he said,
'There won't be much for us!'

He thought he saw a Kangaroo
That worked a coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-Pill.
'Were I to swallow this,' he said,
'I should be very ill!'

He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four
That stood beside his bed:
He looked again, and found it was
A Bear without a Head.
'Poor thing,' he s...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...How durst he look upon thy dreadful face?
Well may men see it was but Godde's grace.

Who gave Judith courage or hardiness
To slay him, Holofernes, in his tent,
And to deliver out of wretchedness
The people of God? I say for this intent
That right as God spirit of vigour sent
To them, and saved them out of mischance,
So sent he might and vigour to Constance.

Forth went her ship throughout the narrow mouth
Of *Jubaltare and Septe,* driving alway, *Gibraltar and Ceuta*...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...he Sun obliquely shoots his burning Ray; 
The hungry Judges soon the Sentence sign,
And Wretches hang that Jury-men may Dine;
The Merchant from th'exchange returns in Peace,
And the long Labours of the Toilette cease ----
Belinda now, whom Thirst of Fame invites,
Burns to encounter two adventrous Knights,
At Ombre singly to decide their Doom;
And swells her Breast with Conquests yet to come.
Strait the three Bands prepare in Arms to join,
Each Band the number of the Sacre...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...d,* *forbidden
And thereof will I speak a word or two."
"Now, master," quoth the wife, "ere that I go,
What will ye dine? I will go thereabout."
"Now, Dame," quoth he, "je vous dis sans doute, 
Had I not of a capon but the liver,
And of your white bread not but a shiver,* *thin slice
And after that a roasted pigge's head,
(But I would that for me no beast were dead,)
Then had I with you homely suffisance.
I am a man of little sustenance.
My spirit hath its ...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...short of being rude: 

For it had lost its shape and shine,
And it had cost him four-and-nine,
And he was going out to dine. 

"To dine!" she sneered in acid tone.
"To bend thy being to a bone
Clothed in a radiance not its own!" 

The tear-drop trickled to his chin:
There was a meaning in her grin
That made him feel on fire within. 

"Term it not 'radiance,'" said he:
"'Tis solid nutriment to me.
Dinner is Dinner: Tea is Tea." 

And she "Yea so? Yet where...Read more of this...

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