Get Your Premium Membership

Famous Dissent Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

by Gregory, Rg
...to grass
flatten about me as soft-soaked boards 
matting me to this parent place

and then i'm easeful - a hand scoops
dissent away (leaves me as tree)
settles the self down to its true
abasement where nothing escapes
its wanting (earth flesh being free)

i'm taken by your touching
there's no skin between us now
as tree i am death's avenue
you are its fruits attaching
distilled ripeness to the bough

i possess the step i came for
my senses burst into still speech
your potent...Read more of this...



by Belloc, Hilaire
...g,
A Churchman, cleanly, nobly born,
Come, let us say Godolphin Horne?"
But hardly had he said the word
When Murmurs of Dissent were heard.
The King of Iceland's Eldest Son
Said, "Thank you! I am taking none!"
The Aged Duchess of Athlone
Remarked, in her sub-acid tone,
"I doubt if He is what we need!"
With which the Bishops all agreed;
And even Lady Mary Flood
(So kind, and oh! So really good)
Said, "No! He wouldn't do at all,
He'd make us feel a lot too small."
The C...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...Great Streets of silence led away
To Neighborhoods of Pause --
Here was no Notice -- no Dissent
No Universe -- no laws --

By Clocks, 'twas Morning, and for Night
The Bells at Distance called --
But Epoch had no basis here
For Period exhaled....Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...to me thy thoughts 
Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart; 
Both waking we were one; how then can now 
Thy sleep dissent? New laws thou seest imposed; 
New laws from him who reigns, new minds may raise 
In us who serve, new counsels to debate 
What doubtful may ensue: More in this place 
To utter is not safe. Assemble thou 
Of all those myriads which we lead the chief; 
Tell them, that by command, ere yet dim night 
Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste, 
And ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
..., who faith 
Prefer, and piety to God, though then 
To thee not visible, when I alone 
Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent 
From all: My sect thou seest;now learn too late 
How few sometimes may know, when thousands err. 
Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance, 
Thus answered. Ill for thee, but in wished hour 
Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest 
From flight, seditious Angel! to receive 
Thy merited reward, the first assay 
Of this right hand p...Read more of this...



by Milton, John
...thou didst not much gainsay; 
Nay, didst permit, approve, and fair dismiss. 
Hadst thou been firm and fixed in thy dissent, 
Neither had I transgressed, nor thou with me. 
To whom, then first incensed, Adam replied. 
Is this the love, is this the recompence 
Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve! expressed 
Immutable, when thou wert lost, not I; 
Who might have lived, and joyed immortal bliss, 
Yet willingly chose rather death with thee? 
And am I now upbraided as the ...Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...her, like as not--
For father hinted sister's cooking cost a frightful lot--
But neither she nor he presumed to signify dissent,
Accepting it for gospel truth that what she wanted went!

No matter what the rest of 'em might chance to have in hand,
The whole machinery of the house came to a sudden stand;
The pots were hustled off the stove, the fire built up anew,
With every damper set just so to heat the oven through;
The kitchen-table was relieved of everything, to make
That...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...s Saxon, all.'

"Then, hard a-hungered for my brother's grace
Till well-nigh fain to swear his folly's true,
In sad dissent I turn my longing face
To him that sits on the left: `Brother, -- with you?'
-- `Nay, not with me, save thou subscribe and swear
`Religion hath black eyes and raven hair:'
Nought else is true.'

"Debarred of banquets that my heart could make
With every man on every day of life,
I homeward turn, my fires of pain to slake
In deep endearments of a w...Read more of this...

by Whittier, John Greenleaf
...God
And love of man I bear.

I trace your lines of argument;
Your logic linked and strong
I weigh as one who dreads dissent,
And fears a doubt as wrong.

But still my human hands are weak
To hold your iron creeds:
Against the words ye bid me speak
My heart within me pleads.

Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?
Who talks of scheme and plan?
The Lord is God! He needeth not
The poor device of man.

I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
Ye tread with boldness shod...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...The Lady feeds Her little Bird
At rarer intervals --
The little Bird would not dissent
But meekly recognize

The Gulf between the Hand and Her
And crumbless and afar
And fainting, on Her yellow Knee
Fall softly, and adore --...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...ach in his strait, wood-scantled office pent,
 No longer Brown reverses Smith's appeals,
Or Jones records his Minute of Dissent.

And One, long since a pillar of the Court,
As mud between the beams thereof is wrought;
 And One who wrote on phosphates for the crops
Is subject-matter of his own Report.

These be the glorious ends whereto we pass --
Let Him who Is, go call on Him who Was;
 And He shall see the mallie steals the slab
For currie-grinder, and for goats the ...Read more of this...

by Vaughan, Henry
...much as dreams of light may shine, 
Nor any thought of greenness, leaf, or bark. 

And yet—as if some deep hate and dissent, 
Bred in thy growth betwixt high winds and thee, 
Were still alive—thou dost great storms resent 
Before they come, and know'st how near they be. 

Else all at rest thou liest, and the fierce breath 
Of tempests can no more disturb thy ease; 
But this thy strange resentment after death 
Means only those who broke—in life—thy peace....Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...

And a Company -- our pleasure
To discourse alone --
Gracious now to me as any --
Gracious unto none --

Borne without dissent of Either
To the Parish night --
Of the Separated Parties
Which be out of sight?...Read more of this...

by Matthew, John
...to die for their country’s glory
They use their global positioning bullet, that’s the story.

Agree with me, don’t dissent, fall in line futile windmill tilters
Your wars are lost before you even see victory, dissenters
No more carpet and saturation bombing and damnation alley
They have no time to negotiate it’s you or them, you have to die.

They say their soldiers are smart , they see in the dark
Their bullets can pierce armor; they can blast your mark
Where were y...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Dissent poems.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things