Famous Distrust Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

At This Moment Of Time

...y fear
The Ace of Spades. They fear
Loves offered suddenly, turning from the mantelpiece,
Sweet with decision. And they distrust
The fireworks by the lakeside, first the spuft,
Then the colored lights, rising.
Tentative, hesitant, doubtful, they consume
Greedily Caesar at the prow returning,
Locked in the stone of his act and office.
While the brass band brightly bursts over the water
They stand in the crowd lining the shore
Aware of the water beneath Him. They know it. Their...Read more of this...
by Schwartz, Delmore


Beowulf (Old English)

...ch of Wealhtheow’s, apart from its somewhat irregular and irrelevant sequence of topics. Both she and her lord probably distrust Hrothulf; but she bids the king to be of good cheer, and, turning to the suspect, heaps affectionate assurances on his probity. “My own Hrothulf” will surely not forget these favors and benefits of the past, but will repay them to the orphaned boy.

{19a} They had laid their arms on the benches near where they slept.

{20a} He surmises presently...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Genius

...annot I ever attain to true peace, excepting through knowledge,
Or is the system upheld only by fortune and law?
Must I distrust the gently-warning impulse, the precept
That thou, Nature, thyself hast in my bosom impressed,
Till the schools have affixed to the writ eternal their signet,
Till a mere formula's chain binds down the fugitive soul?
Answer me, then! for thou hast down into these deeps e'en descended,--
Out of the mouldering grave thou didst uninjured return.
Is't t...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

Inferno (English)

...found it fearful. "Master, hard," I said, 
 "This saying to me." And he, as one that long 
 Was customed, answered, "No distrust must wrong 
 Its Maker, nor thy cowarder mood resume 
 If here ye enter. This the place of doom 
 I told thee, where the lost in darkness dwell. 
 Here, by themselves divorced from light, they fell, 
 And are as ye shall see them." Here he lent 
 A hand to draw me through the gate, and bent 
 A glance upon my fear so confident 
 That I, too nearly t...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Isaac and Archibald

...it; 
And when the time that you think far away
Shall come for you to say it—say it, boy; 
Let there be no confusion or distrust 
In you, no snarling of a life half lived, 
Nor any cursing over broken things 
That your complaint has been the ruin of.
Live to see clearly and the light will come 
To you, and as you need it.—But there, there, 
I’m going it again, as Isaac says, 
And I’ll stop now before you go to sleep.— 
Only be sure that you growl cautiously,
And always where ...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington


Its Raining In Love

...I don't know what it is,
 but I distrust myself
 when I start to like a girl
 a lot.

 It makes me nervous.
 I don't say the right things
 or perhaps I start
 to examine,
 evaluate,
 compute
 what I am saying.

 If I say, "Do you think it's going to rain?"
 and she says, "I don't know,"
 I start thinking : Does she really like me? 

 In other words
 I get a little creepy. 

 A friend of mi...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Last Instructions to a Painter

...ights--his feet shaped for a smoother race. 
Poring within her glass she readjusts 
Her looks, and oft-tried beauty now distrusts, 
Fears lest he scorn a woman once assayed, 
And now first wished she e'er had been a maid. 
Great Love, how dost thou triumph and how reign, 
That to a groom couldst humble her disdain! 
Stripped to her skin, see how she stooping stands, 
Nor scorns to rub him down with those fair hands, 
And washing (lest the scent her crime disclose) 
His sweaty...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Little Mack

...e children of the South;
His dealings with reporters who affect a weekly bust
Have given to his violet eyes a shadow of distrust;
In glorious abandon his brown hair wanders back
From the grand Websterian forehead
Of little Mack.

No matter what the item is, if there's an item in it,
You bet your life he's on to it and nips it in a minute!
From multifarious nations, countries, monarchies, and lands,
From Afric's sunny fountains and India's coral strands,
From Greenland's icy m...Read more of this...
by Field, Eugene

Myself and Mine

...What about these likes of myself, that draw me so close by tender directions and
 indirections?

I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but listen to my
 enemies—as I
 myself do; 
I charge you, too, forever, reject those who would expound me—for I cannot expound
 myself;

I charge that there be no theory or school founded out of me; 
I charge you to leave all free, as I have left all free. 

After me, vista!
O, I see life is not short, but immeasurably lo...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...ake 
Rural repast; permitting him the while 
Venial discourse unblam'd. I now must change 
Those notes to tragick; foul distrust, and breach 
Disloyal on the part of Man, revolt, 
And disobedience: on the part of Heaven 
Now alienated, distance and distaste, 
Anger and just rebuke, and judgement given, 
That brought into this world a world of woe, 
Sin and her shadow Death, and Misery 
Death's harbinger: Sad talk!yet argument 
Not less but more heroick than the wrath 
Of ster...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 11

...e should belong 
To me transgressour; who, for thee ordained 
A help, became thy snare; to me reproach 
Rather belongs, distrust, and all dispraise: 
But infinite in pardon was my Judge, 
That I, who first brought death on all, am graced 
The source of life; next favourable thou, 
Who highly thus to entitle me vouchsaf'st, 
Far other name deserving. But the field 
To labour calls us, now with sweat imposed, 
Though after sleepless night; for see!the morn, 
All unconcerned wit...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Regained: The First Book

...drank;
And forty days Eliah without food
Wandered this barren waste; the same I now.
Why dost thou, then, suggest to me distrust
Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"
 Whom thus answered the Arch-Fiend, now undisguised:—
"'Tis true, I am that Spirit unfortunate
Who, leagued with millions more in rash revolt,
Kept not my happy station, but was driven 
With them from bliss to the bottomless Deep—
Yet to that hideous place not so confined
By rigour unconniving but that oft,...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Regained: The Third Book

..., injuries, insults, 
Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence,
Suffering, abstaining, quietly expecting
Without distrust or doubt, that He may know
What I can suffer, how obey? Who best
Can suffer best can do, best reign who first
Well hath obeyed—just trial ere I merit
My exaltation without change or end.
But what concerns it thee when I begin
My everlasting Kingdom? Why art thou
Solicitous? What moves thy inquisition? 
Know'st thou not that my rising is thy fall,
An...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Respondez!

...—Let the theory of America still be management, caste, comparison! (Say! what other
 theory
 would you?) 
Let them that distrust birth and death still lead the rest! (Say! why shall they not lead
 you?)

Let the crust of hell be neared and trod on! let the days be darker than the nights! let
 slumber bring less slumber than waking time brings! 
Let the world never appear to him or her for whom it was all made! 
Let the heart of the young man still exile itself from the heart ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Saul

...t and small,
``Nine-and-ninety flew ope at our touch, should the hundredth appal?
``In the least things have faith, yet distrust in the greatest of all?
``Do I find love so full in my nature, God's ultimate gift,
``That I doubt his own love can compete with it? Here, the parts shift?
``Here, the creature surpass the Creator,---the end, what Began?
``Would I fain in my impotent yearning do all for this man,
``And dare doubt he alone shall not help him, who yet alone can?
``Wou...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Conflict

...ring-time wasted as it flees;
And, marvelling at the rigor that gainsays
The heart's sweet impulse, my reward decrees.

Distrust this angel purity, fair soul!
It is to guilt thy pity armeth me;
Could being lavish its unmeasured whole,
It ne'er could give a gift to rival thee!

Thee--the dear guilt I ever seek to shun,
O tyranny of fate, O wild desires!
My virtue's only crown can but be won
In that last breath--when virtue's self expires!...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Eternal Goodness

...sin,
Too small the merit show.

I bow my forehead to the dust,
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self-distrust,
A prayer without a claim.

I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.
Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,
But noth...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf

The Lady of the Lake

...aid;
     To Douglas, leagued with Roderick Dhu,
     Will friends and allies flock enow;
     Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief,
     Will bind to us each Western Chief
     When the loud pipes my bridal tell,
     The Links of Forth shall hear the knell,
     The guards shall start in Stirling's porch;
     And when I light the nuptial torch,
     A thousand villages in flames
     Shall scare the slumbers of King James!—
     Nay, Ellen, blench not thus ...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

To A Madonna

...l maid, a Mantle for thy sake, 
And weave it of my jealousy, a gown 
Heavy, barbaric, stiff, and weighted down 
With my distrust, and broider round the hem 
Not pearls, but all my tears in place of them. 
And then thy wavering, trembling robe shall be 
All the desires that rise and fall in me 
From mountain-peaks to valleys of repose, 
Kissing thy lovely body's white and rose. 
For thy humiliated feet divine, 
Of my Respect I'll make thee Slippers fine 
Which, prisoning them ...Read more of this...
by Baudelaire, Charles

Wait

...Wait, for now.
Distrust everything, if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven't they
carried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become lovely again.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again,
their memories are what give them
the need for ...Read more of this...
by Kinnell, Galway

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Distrust poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter