Famous Disdains Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Cruel Mistress

...t overflow their banks. 
A slaughter'd bull will appease angry Jove, 
A horse the Sun, a lamb the god of love, 
But she disdains the spotless sacrifice 
Of a pure heart, that at her altar lies. 
Vesta is not displeased, if her chaste urn 
Do with repaired fuel ever burn ; 
But my saint frowns, though to her honour'd name 
I consecrate a never-dying flame. 
Th' Assyrian king did none i' th' furnace throw 
But those that to his image did not bow ; 
With bended knees I daily wor...Read more of this...
by Carew, Thomas


Absalom And Achitophel

...ll her treasure lent,
And then betray'd it to a mean descent.
I find, I find my mounting spirits bold,
And David's part disdains my mother's mold.
Why am I scanted by a niggard-birth?
My soul disclaims the kindred of her earth:
And made for empire, whispers me within;
Desire of greatness is a god-like sin.

Him staggering so when Hell's dire agent found,
While fainting virtue scarce maintain'd her ground,
He pours fresh forces in, and thus replies:

Th'eternal God, supremely ...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

Byzantium

...soldiery are abed;
Night resonance recedes, night walkers' song
After great cathedral gong;
A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains
All that man is,
All mere complexities,
The fury and the mire of human veins.

Before me floats an image, man or shade,
Shade more than man, more image than a shade;
For Hades' bobbin bound in mummy-cloth
May unwind the winding path;
A mouth that has no moisture and no breath
Breathless mouths may summon;
I hail the superhuman;
I call it death-in-li...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

Duino Elegies

...is nothing
but the beginning of terror which we still are just able to endure
and we are so awed because it serenely disdains
to annihilate us. Every angel is terrifying.
And so I hold myself back and swallow the call-note
Of my dark sobbing. Ah whom can we ever turn to
in our need? Not angels not humans
and already the knowing animals are aware
that we are not really at home in
our interpreted world. Perhaps there remains for us
some tree on a hillside which every...Read more of this...
by Rilke, Rainer Maria

Duino Elegies: The First Elegy

....
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
And so I force myself, swallow and hold back
the surging call of my dark sobbing.
Oh, to whom can we turn for help?
Not angels, not humans;
and even the knowing animals are aware that we feel
little secure and at home in our interpreted world.
There remains perhaps some tree on a hillside
daily for ...Read more of this...
by Rilke, Rainer Maria


EPISTLE II: TO A LADY (Of the Characters of Women)

...ccepting, by submitting sways, 
Yet has her humour most, when she obeys; 
Let Fops or Fortune fly which way they will; 
Disdains all loss of Tickets, or Codille; 
Spleen, Vapours, or Smallpox, above them all, 
And Mistress of herself, though China fall. 

And yet, believe me, good as well as ill, 
Woman's at best a Contradiction still. 
Heav'n, when it strives to polish all it can 
Its last best work, but forms a softer Man; 
Picks from each sex, to make the Favorite blest, 
...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Imitations of Horace: The First Epistle of the Second Book

...ep;
Till earth's extremes your mediation own,
And Asia's tyrants tremble at your throne--
But verse, alas! your Majesty disdains;
And I'm not us'd to panegyric strains:
The zeal of fools offends at any time,
But most of all, the zeal of fools in rhyme,
Besides, a fate attends on all I write,
That when I aim at praise, they say I bite.
A vile encomium doubly ridicules:
There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools;
If true, a woeful likeness; and if lies,
"Praise undeserv'd i...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Last Instructions to a Painter

...he fatal bark him boards with grappling fire, 
And safely through its port the Dutch retire. 
That precious life he yet disdains to save 
Or with known art to try the gentle wave. 
Much him the honours of his ancient race 
Inspire, nor would he his own deeds deface, 
And secret joy in his calm soul does rise 
That Monck looks on to see how Douglas dies. 
Like a glad lover, the fierce flames he meets, 
And tries his first embraces in their sheets. 
His shape exact, which the b...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Monody to the Memory of Chatterton

...now, thy soul, immers'd in purest air 
Smiles at the triumphs of supreme Despair; 
Or bath'd in seas of endless bliss, disdains 
The vengeful memory of mortal pains; 
Yet shall the MUSE a fond memorial give 
To shield thy name, and bid thy GENIUS live. 

Too proud for pity, and too poor for praise, 
No voice to cherish, and no hand to raise; 
Torn, stung, and sated, with this "mortal coil," 
This weary, anxious scene of fruitless toil; 
Not all the graces that to youth belon...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby

Ode on Adversity

...s round her rise, 
And hang their mischiefs on her brow; 
The ruffian winds, her limbs expose; 
Still, still, her heart disdains to bow, 
She cherishes her woes. 

NOW FAMINE spreads her sable wings; 
INGRATITUDE insults her pangs; 
While from a thousand eager fangs, 
Madd'ning she flies;­The recreant crew 
With taunting smiles her steps pursue; 
While on her burning, bleeding heart, 
Fresh wounded by Affliction's dart, 
NEGLECT, her icy poison flings; 
From HOPE's celestial ...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby

Sonnet III: Look In Thy Glass and Tell the Face Thou Viewest

...now thou not renewest, 
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. 
For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb 
Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? 
Or who is he so fond will be the tomb 
Of his self-love, to stop posterity? 
Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee 
Calls back the lovely April of her prime: 
So thou through windows of thine age shall see 
Despite of wrinkles this thy golden time. 
But if thou live, remember'd not to be, 
Die single, and thine ...Read more of this...
by Shakespeare, William

Sonnet XLII

...PAN class=i0>And spring assumes her robe of various dye;The meadows smile, heaven glows, nor Jove disdainsTo view his daughter with delighted eye;While Love through universal nature reigns,And life is fill'd with amorous sympathy!But grief, not joy, returns to me forlorn,And sighs, which from my inmost heart proceedFor her, ...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Christian

...,
Salvation shines upon His face;
His robe is of the ethereal dye,
His steps are dignity and grace.

Inferior honors He disdains,
Nor stoops to take applause from earth;
The King of kings Himself maintains
The expenses of His heavenly birth.

The noblest creature seen below,
Ordain'd to fill a throne above;
God gives him all He can bestow,
His kingdom of eternal love!

My soul is ravished at the thought!
Methinks from earth I see Him rise!
Angels congratulate His lot,
And sho...Read more of this...
by Cowper, William

The Everlasting Gospel

...ling of the Holy Ghost, 
Or of Christ and His Father, it’s all a boast 
And pride, and vanity of the imagination, 
That disdains to follow this world’s fashion.’ 
To teach doubt and experiment 
Certainly was not what Christ meant. 
What was He doing all that time, 
From twelve years old to manly prime? 
Was He then idle, or the less 
About His Father’s business? 
Or was His wisdom held in scorn 
Before His wrath began to burn 
In miracles throughout the land, 
That quite unne...Read more of this...
by Blake, William

The Giaour

...tand to bleed
Beneath the shaft of foes unseen,
Who dare not quit their craggy screen.
Stern Hassan only from his horse
Disdains to light, and keeps his course,
Till fiery flashes in the van
Proclaim too sure the robber-clan
Have well secured the only way
Could now avail the promised prey;
Then curled his very beard with ire,
And glared his eye with fiercer fire:
‘Though far and near the bullets hiss,
I've 'scaped a bloodier hour than this.'
And now the foe their covert quit,...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Rape of the Lock

...
Who cause the Proud their Visits to delay,
And send the Godly in a Pett, to pray.
A Nymph there is, that all thy Pow'r disdains,
And thousands more in equal Mirth maintains.
But oh! if e'er thy Gnome could spoil a Grace,
Or raise a Pimple on a beauteous Face,
Like Citron-Waters Matron's Cheeks inflame,
Or change Complexions at a losing Game; 
If e'er with airy Horns I planted Heads,
Or rumpled Petticoats, or tumbled Beds,
Or caus'd Suspicion when no Soul was rude,
Or discomp...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4

...
Who cause the proud their visits to delay,
And send the godly in a pet to pray.
A nymph there is, that all thy pow'r disdains,
And thousands more in equal mirth maintains.
But oh! if e'er thy gnome could spoil a grace,
Or raise a pimple on a beauteous face,
Like citron waters matrons' cheeks inflame,
Or change complexions at a losing game;
If e'er with airy horns I planted heads,
Or rumpled petticoats, or tumbled beds,
Or caus'd suspicion when no soul was rude,
Or...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Seasons: Winter

...of Love,
And Peace, that thinks no Ill: But These, the Muse,
Whose Charity, unlimited, extends
As wide as Nature works, disdains to sing, 
Returning to her nobler Theme in view --

FOR, see! where Winter comes, himself, confest,
Striding the gloomy Blast. First Rains obscure
Drive thro' the mingling Skies, with Tempest foul;
Beat on the Mountain's Brow, and shake the Woods, 
That, sounding, wave below. The dreary Plain
Lies overwhelm'd, and lost. The bellying Clouds
Combine, ...Read more of this...
by Thomson, James

The Triumph of Life

...Corruption would not now thus much inherit
Of what was once Rousseau--nor this disguise
Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.--
"If I have been extinguished, yet there rise
A thousand beacons from the spark I bore."--
"And who are those chained to the car?" "The Wise,
"The great, the unforgotten: they who wore
Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light,
Signs of thought's empire over thought; their lore
"Taught them not this--to know themselves; their might
...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Upon Appleton House to My Lord Fairfax

...look;
But, since She would not have them seen,
The Wood about her draws a Skreen.

For She, to higher Beauties rais'd,
Disdains to be for lesser prais'd.
She counts her Beauty to converse
In all the Languages as hers;
Not yet in those her self imployes
But for the Wisdome, not the Noyse;
Nor yet that Wisdome would affect,
But as 'tis Heavens Dialect.

Blest Nymph! that couldst so soon prevent
Those Trains by Youth against thee meant;
Tears (watry Shot that pierce the Mind;)
...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

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