Famous Dishonour Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Task: Book VI The Winter Walk at Noon (excerpts)

by William Cowper
 Thus heav'nward all things tend. For all were once
Perfect, and all must be at length restor'd.
So God has greatly purpos'd; who would else
In his dishonour'd works himself endure
Dishonour, and be wrong'd without redress.
Haste then, and wheel away a shatter'd world,
Ye slow-revolving seasons! We would see
(A sight to which our eyes are strangers yet)
A world that does not dread and...Read more of this...

The Old Issue

by Rudyard Kipling
 Here is nothing new nor aught unproven," say the Trumpets,
 "Many feet have worn it and the road is old indeed.
"It is the King--the King we schooled aforetime! "
 (Trumpets in the marshes-in the eyot at Runnymede!)

"Here is neither haste, nor hate, nor anger," peal the Trumpets,
 "Pardon for his penitence or pity for his fall.
"It is the King!"--inexorable...Read more of this...

277. Song—My Eppie Adair

by Robert Burns
 Chorus.—An’ O my Eppie, my jewel, my Eppie,
 Wha wad na be happy wi’ Eppie Adair?


BY love, and by beauty, by law, and by duty,
I swear to be true to my Eppie Adair!
By love, and by beauty, by law, and by duty,
I swear to be true to my Eppie Adair!
 And O my Eppie, &c.


A’ pleasure exile me, dishonour...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXVII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXXVII. Orso, al vostro destrier si può ben porre. HE SYMPATHISES WITH HIS FRIEND ORSO AT HIS INABILITY TO ATTEND A TOURNAMENT.  Orso, a curb upon thy gallant horseWell may we place to turn him from his course,But who thy heart may bind against its willWhich honour courts and shuns dishonour...Read more of this...

227. Verses on Friars' Carse Hermitage (First Version)

by Robert Burns
 THOU whom chance may hither lead,
Be thou clad in russet weed,
Be thou deckt in silken stole,
Grave these maxims on thy soul.


Life is but a day at most,
Sprung from night, in darkness lost:
Hope not sunshine every hour,
Fear not clouds will always lour.


Happiness is but a name,
Make content and ease thy aim,
Ambition is a meteor-gleam;
Fame, an idle restless dream;


Peace, the tend’rest...Read more of this...

Trooper Campbell

by Henry Lawson
 One day old Trooper Campbell 
Rode out to Blackman's Run, 
His cap-peak and his sabre 
Were glancing in the sun. 
'Twas New Year's Eve, and slowly 
Across the ridges low 
The sad Old Year was drifting 
To where the old years go. 

The trooper's mind was reading 
The love-page of his life -- 
His love for Mary Wylie 
Ere...Read more of this...

What adds my service to Thy majesty?

by Omar Khayyam
What adds my service to Thy majesty?
Or how can sin of mine dishonour Thee?
O pardon, then, and punish not, I know
Thou'rt slow to wrath, and prone to clemency....Read more of this...

Be Not Sad

by James Joyce
 Be not sad because all men 
Prefer a lying clamour before you: 
Sweetheart, be at peace again -- - 
Can they dishonour you? 

They are sadder than all tears; 
Their lives ascend as a continual sigh. 
Proudly answer to their tears: 
As they deny, deny....Read more of this...

57. Holy Willie's Prayer

by Robert Burns
 O THOU, who in the heavens does dwell,
Who, as it pleases best Thysel’,
Sends ane to heaven an’ ten to hell,
 A’ for Thy glory,
And no for ony gude or ill
 They’ve done afore Thee!


I bless and praise Thy matchless might,
When thousands Thou hast left in night,
That I am here afore Thy sight,
 For gifts an’ grace
A burning and a...Read more of this...

The Bridge of Sighs

by Thomas Hood
 One more Unfortunate, 
Weary of breath, 
Rashly importunate, 
Gone to her death! 

Take her up tenderly, 
Lift her with care; 
Fashion'd so slenderly 
Young, and so fair! 

Look at her garments 
Clinging like cerements; 
Whilst the wave constantly 
Drips from her clothing; 
Take her up instantly, 
Loving, not loathing. 

Touch her not scornfully; 
Think of her mournfully, 
Gently and...Read more of this...

Eleu Loro

by Sir Walter Scott
 Where shall the lover rest 
Whom the fates sever 
From his true maiden’s breast 
Parted for ever? 
Where, through groves deep and high 
Sounds the far billow, 
Where early violets die 
Under the willow. 
Eleu loro 
Soft shall be his pillow. 

There through the summer day 
Cool streams are laving: 
There, while the tempests sway, 
Scarce are boughs waving;...Read more of this...

Desmonds Song

by Thomas Moore
 By the Feal's wave benighted, 
No star in the skies, 
To thy door by Love lighted, 
I first saw those eyes. 
Some voice whisper'd o'er me, 
As the threshold I cross'd, 
There was ruin before me, 
If I loved, I was lost. 

Love came, and brought sorrow 
Too soon in his train; 
Yet so sweet, that to-morrow 
'Twere welcome...Read more of this...

The Song of ORuark Prince of Breffni

by Thomas Moore
 The valley lay smiling before me, 
Where lately I left her behind; 
Yet I trembled, and something hung o'er me, 
That sadden'd the joy of my mind. 
I look'd for the lamp which, she told me, 
Should shine when her Pilgrim return'd; 
But, though darkness began to infold me, 
No lamp from the battlements burn'd! 

I flew to her...Read more of this...

Run to Death

by Amy Levy
 A True Incident of Pre-Revolutionary French History.


Now the lovely autumn morning breathes its freshness in earth's face,
In the crowned castle courtyard the blithe horn proclaims the chase;
And the ladies on the terrace smile adieux with rosy lips
To the huntsmen disappearing down the cedar-shaded groves,
Wafting delicate aromas from their scented finger tips,
And the gallants wave in answer, with their gold-embroidered...Read more of this...

A Song of the English

by Rudyard Kipling
 Fair is our lot -- O goodly is our heritage!
(Humble ye, my people, and be fearful in your mirth!)
 For the Lord our God Most High
 He hath made the deep as dry,
He hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the Earth!

Yea, though we sinned -- and our rulers went from righteousness --
Deep in all...Read more of this...

Sonnet CCXXII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCXXII. In tale Stella duo begli occhi vidi. THE BEAUTY OF LAURA IS PEERLESS.  In one fair star I saw two brilliant eyes,With sweetness, modesty, so glistening o'er,That soon those graceful nests of Love beforeMy worn heart learnt all others to despise:Equall'd not her whoever won the prizeIn ages...Read more of this...

The Last Berkshire Eleven

by William Topaz McGonagall
 'Twas at the disastrous battle of Maiwand, in Afghanistan,
Where the Berkshires were massacred to the last man;
On the morning of July the 27th, in the year eighteen eighty,
Which I'm sorry to relate was a pitiful sight to see. 

Ayoub Khan's army amounted to twelve thousand in all,
And honestly speaking it wasn't very small,
And by such a great force the...Read more of this...

Psalm 07

by John Milton
 Aug. 14. 1653.
Upon The Words Of Chush The Benjamite Against Him.


Lord my God to thee I flie
Save me and secure me under
Thy protection while I crie
Least as a Lion (and no wonder)
He hast to tear my Soul asunder
Tearing and no rescue nigh.

Lord my God if I have thought
Or done this, if wickedness
Be in my hands, if I have wrought
Ill...Read more of this...

S. I. W

by Wilfred Owen
 "I will to the King,
 And offer him consolation in his trouble,
 For that man there has set his teeth to die,
 And being one that hates obedience,
 Discipline, and orderliness of life,
 I cannot mourn him."
 W. B. Yeats.


Patting goodbye, doubtless they told the lad
He'd always show the Hun a brave man's face;
Father would sooner him dead than...Read more of this...

Canzone XX

by Francesco Petrarch
CANZONE XX. Ben mi credea passar mio tempo omai. HE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT SEEING HER, BUT WOULD NOT DIE THAT HE MAY STILL LOVE HER.  As pass'd the years which I have left behind,To pass my future years I fondly thought,Amid old studies, with desires the same;But, from my lady since I...Read more of this...

88. The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer

by Robert Burns
 YE Irish lords, ye knights an’ squires,
Wha represent our brughs an’ shires,
An’ doucely manage our affairs
 In parliament,
To you a simple poet’s pray’rs
 Are humbly sent.


Alas! my roupit Muse is hearse!
Your Honours’ hearts wi’ grief ’twad pierce,
To see her sittin on her ****
 Low i’ the dust,
And scriechinh out prosaic verse,
 An like to brust!


Tell them wha hae the...Read more of this...

The Task: Book II The Time-Piece (excerpts)

by William Cowper
 England, with all thy faults, I love thee still--
My country! and, while yet a nook is left
Where English minds and manners may be found,
Shall be constrain'd to love thee. Though thy clime
Be fickle, and thy year most part deform'd
With dripping rains, or wither'd by a frost,
I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies,
And fields without a flow'r, for warmer...Read more of this...

Anarchy

by John McCrae
 I saw a city filled with lust and shame,
Where men, like wolves, slunk through the grim half-light;
And sudden, in the midst of it, there came
One who spoke boldly for the cause of Right.

And speaking, fell before that brutish race
Like some poor wren that shrieking eagles tear,
While brute Dishonour, with her bloodless face
Stood by and smote his lips that moved...Read more of this...

The Second EPIGRAM. (On BILLINDA)

by Anne Killigrew
 WAnton Bellinda loudly does complain, 
I've chang'd my Love of late into disdain: 

Calls me unconstant, cause I now adore
The chast Marcella, that lov'd her before. 
 Sin or Dishonour, me as well may blame, 
 That I repent, or do avoid a shame....Read more of this...

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