Famous Doubt Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Lovers Complaint

...-bragg'd the web it seem'd to wear:
Yet show'd his visage by that cost more dear;
And nice affections wavering stood in doubt
If best were as it was, or best without.

'His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free;
Yet, if men moved him, was he such a storm
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,
When winds breathe sweet, untidy though they be.
His rudeness so with his authorized youth
Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.

'Well co...Read more of this...
by Shakespeare, William


Desiderata

...niverse no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy....Read more of this...
by Ehrmann, Max

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

...cattle and children."
"Not so thinketh the folk in the village," said, warmly, the blacksmith,
Shaking his head, as in doubt; then, heaving a sigh, he continued:--
"Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor Port Royal.
Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk on its outskirts,
Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to-morrow.
Arms have been taken from us, and warlike weapons of all kinds;
Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the scythe of the...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

If

...our head when all about you   
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; ...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

Inferno (English)

...d. Feared I? Half I knew 
 Despair, and half contentment. Yes and no 
 Denied each other; and of so great a woe 
 Small doubt is anguish. 
 In their orgulous
 rage 
 The fiends out-crowded from the gates to meet 
 My Master; what he spake I could not hear; 
 But nothing his words availed to cool their heat, 
 For inward thronged they with a jostling rear 
 That clanged the gates before he reached, and he 
 Turned backward slowly, muttering, "Who to me 
 Denies the woeful hous...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante


Lara

...d, his spirit seem'd to chide 
Such weakness, as unworthy of its pride, 
And steel'd itself, as scorning to redeem 
One doubt from others' half withheld esteem; 
In self-inflicted penance of a breast 
Which tenderness might once have wrung from rest; 
In vigilance of grief that would compel 
The soul to hate for having loved too well. 

XVIII. 

There was in him a vital scorn of all: 
As if the worst had fall'n which could befall, 
He stood a stranger in this breathing world,...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Maple

...you remind me of a tree--
A maple tree?"

 "Because my name is Maple?"
"Isn't it Mabel? I thought it was Mabel."

 "No doubt you've heard the office call me Mabel.
I have to let them call me what they like."

 They were both stirred that he should have divined
Without the name her personal mystery.
It made it seem as if there must be something
She must have missed herself. So they were married,
And took the fancy home with them to live by.

 They went on pilgrimage once to h...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...yet so just, my constant thoughts 
Assured me, and still assure: Though what thou tellest 
Hath passed in Heaven, some doubt within me move, 
But more desire to hear, if thou consent, 
The full relation, which must needs be strange, 
Worthy of sacred silence to be heard; 
And we have yet large day, for scarce the sun 
Hath finished half his journey, and scarce begins 
His other half in the great zone of Heaven. 
Thus Adam made request; and Raphael, 
After short pause assenti...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Snow

...call his wife again.”

“Wait and he may. Let’s see what he will do.
Let’s see if he will think of her again.
But then I doubt he’s thinking of himself
He doesn’t look on it as anything.”

“He shan’t go—there!”

“It is a night, my dear.”

“One thing: he didn’t drag God into it.”

“He don’t consider it a case for God.”

“You think so, do you? You don’t know the kind.
He’s getting up a miracle this minute.
Privately—to himself, right now, he’s thinking
He’ll make a case of it if...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

The Ballad of the White Horse

...goes to war.

"Guthrum sits strong on either bank
And you must press his lines
Inwards, and eastward drive him down;
I doubt if you shall take the crown
Till you have taken London town.
For me, I have the vines."

"If each man on the Judgment Day
Meet God on a plain alone,"
Said Alfred, "I will speak for you
As for myself, and call it true
That you brought all fighting folk you knew
Lined under Egbert's Stone.

"Though I be in the dust ere then,
I know where you will be."
An...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Dungeon

...n dwells, a little man,  I've heard he once was tall.  Of years he has upon his back,  No doubt, a burthen weighty;  He says he is three score and ten,  But others say he's eighty.   A long blue livery-coat has he,  That's fair behind, and fair before;  Yet, meet him where you will, you see  At once that he is poor.  Full five and twenty years he lived  A runni...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Growth of Love

...g ago;
Until at length your feeble steps and slow
Falter upon the threshold of the shrine,
And your hearts overhurden'd doubt in fine
Whether it be Jerusalem or no: 
Dishearten'd pilgrims, I am one of you;
For, having worshipp'd many a barren face,
I scarce now greet the goal I journey'd to:
I stand a pagan in the holy place;
Beneath the lamp of truth I am found untrue,
And question with the God that I embrace. 

24
Spring hath her own bright days of calm and peace;
Her melti...Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour

The Holy Grail

...upright like a man, 
Each gript a shoulder, and I stood between; 
And, when I would have smitten them, heard a voice, 
`Doubt not, go forward; if thou doubt, the beasts 
Will tear thee piecemeal.' Then with violence 
The sword was dashed from out my hand, and fell. 
And up into the sounding hall I past; 
But nothing in the sounding hall I saw, 
No bench nor table, painting on the wall 
Or shield of knight; only the rounded moon 
Through the tall oriel on the rolling sea. 
But...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Hunting Of The Snark

...chard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out "Rilchiam!"


CONTENTS

Fit the First. The Landing
Fit the Second. The Bellman's Speech
Fit the Third. The Baker's Tale
Fit the Fourth. The Hunting
Fit the Fifth. The Beaver's Lesson
Fit the Sixth. The Barrister's Dream
Fit the Seventh. The Banker's Fate
Fit the Eighth. The Vanishing


Fit the First.

T...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The Idiot Boy

...,  Her body it grew better.   She turned, she toss'd herself in bed,  On all sides doubts and terrors met her;  Point after point did she discuss;  And while her mind was fighting thus,  Her body still grew better.   "Alas! what is become of them?  These fears can never be endured,  I'll to the wood."—The word scarce said,  Did Susan rise up from her bed, &nb...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Knights Tale

...hine oath, and mine also certain;
I wot it well, thou dar'st it not withsayn*, *deny
Thus art thou of my counsel out of doubt,
And now thou wouldest falsely be about
To love my lady, whom I love and serve,
And ever shall, until mine hearte sterve* *die
Now certes, false Arcite, thou shalt not so
I lov'd her first, and tolde thee my woe
As to my counsel, and my brother sworn
To farther me, as I have told beforn.
For which thou art y-bounden as a knight
To helpe me, if it lie i...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Lady of the Lake

...led:—'Since to your home
     A destined errant-knight I come,
     Announced by prophet sooth and old,
     Doomed, doubtless, for achievement bold,
     I 'll lightly front each high emprise
     For one kind glance of those bright eyes.
     Permit me first the task to guide
     Your fairy frigate o'er the tide.'
     The maid, with smile suppressed and sly,
     The toil unwonted saw him try;
     For seldom, sure, if e'er before,
     His noble hand had grasp...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Most Beautiful Woman In Town

...te your own trouble."
"I thought they were interested in me, not just my body."
"I'm interested in you and your body. I doubt, though, that most men can see
beyond your body." 
I left town for 6 months, bummed around, came back. I had never forgotten Cass, but
we'd had some type of argument and I felt like moving anyhow, and when I got back i
figured she'd be gone, but I had been sitting in the West End Bar about 30 minutes when
she walked in and sat down next to me.
"Well, b...Read more of this...
by Bukowski, Charles

The Vision of Judgment

...ore favourably transmitted by history. Of his private virtues (although a little expense to the nation) there can be no doubt. 

With regard to the supernatural personages treated of, I can only say that I know as much about them, and (as an honest man) have a better right to talk of them than Robert Southey. I have also treated them more tolerantly. The way in which that poor insane creature, the Laureate, deals about his judgments in the next world, is like his own judgment...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

White Flock

...h know --
To give away, and not to keep.

Or else alone you go to heal the blind,
To know yourself in heavy hour of doubt
The students' smug shaudenfreude
And the uncaring of mankind.


Answer

The quiet April day has sent me
What a strange missive.
You knew that passionately in me
The scary week is still alive.
I did not hear those ringing bells
That swam along in glazier clear.
For seven days sounded copper laugh
Or poured from eyes a silver tear.
And I...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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