Famous Dropped Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Man

...His
dinner dishes were undone, his breakfast dishes were undone, he needed a shave, and ash
from his rolled cigarettes dropped onto his undershirt. Some of the ash was still burning.
Sometimes the burning ash missed the undershirt and hit his skin, then he cursed, brushing
it away. There was a knock on the trailer door. He got slowly to his feet and answered the
door. It was Constance. She had a fifth of unopened whiskey in a bag. 
"George, I left that son of a *****, I coul...Read more of this...
by Bukowski, Charles


And 2Morrow

...no one at home cares
Tonight I lay my head down
but the pressure never stops
knawing at my sanity
content when I am dropped
But 2morrow I c change
a chance 2 build a new
Built on spirit intent of Heart
and ideals
based on truth
and tomorrow I wake with second wind
and strong because of pride
2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my
dream alive...Read more of this...
by Shakur, Tupac

Charmides

...day long
Held on his way, and marked the rowers' time with measured song.

And when the faint Corinthian hills were red
Dropped anchor in a little sandy bay,
And with fresh boughs of olive crowned his head,
And brushed from cheek and throat the hoary spray,
And washed his limbs with oil, and from the hold
Brought out his linen tunic and his sandals brazen-soled,

And a rich robe stained with the fishers' juice
Which of some swarthy trader he had bought
Upon the sunny quay at ...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar

Custer

..., dear life remains behind
Mount thy sure-footed steed, and hasten with the wind.'



XXXII.
A second's silence. Custer dropped his head, 
His lips slow moving as when prayers are said-
Two words he breathed-'God and Elizabeth, '
Then shook his long locks in the face of death
And with a final gesture turned away
To join that fated few who stood at bay.
Ah! deeds like that the Christ in man reveal
Let Fame descend her throne at Custer's shrine to kneel.



XXXIII.
Too late to ...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

Dickinson Poems by Number

...t an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here—

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down—
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing—then—

288

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise—you know!

How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one's name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!

303

The Soul selects her own...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily


Eviradnus

...sepulchral grown 
 As tolling bell, "Stop, Sigismond, and you, 
 King Ladisläus;" at those words, though few, 
 They dropped the Marchioness, and in such a way 
 That at their feet like rigid corpse she lay. 
 
 The deep voice speaking from the visor's grate 
 Proceeded—while the two in abject state 
 Cowered low. Joss paled, by gloom and dread o'ercast, 
 And Zeno trembled like a yielding mast. 
 "You two who listen now must recollect 
 The compact all your fellow...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

Freedoms Plow

...d On The Plow! Hold On!
The plow plowed a new furrow
Across the field of history.
Into that furrow the freedom seed was dropped.
From that seed a tree grew, is growing, will ever grow.
That tree is for everybody,
For all America, for all the world.
May its branches spread and shelter grow
Until all races and all peoples know its shade.
 KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE PLOW! HOLD ON!...Read more of this...
by Hughes, Langston

Haunted

...n his face. Beating it off, 35 
He screeched in terror, and straightway something clambered 
Heavily from an oak, and dropped, bent double, 
To shamble at him zigzag, squat and bestial. 

Headlong he charges down the wood, and falls 
With roaring brain¡ªagony¡ªthe snap¡¯t spark¡ª 40 
And blots of green and purple in his eyes. 
Then the slow fingers groping on his neck, 
And at his heart the strangling clasp of death. ...Read more of this...
by Sassoon, Siegfried

Impossible To Tell

...and with a final prayer

In Babylonian, gasping with exhaustion,
He seized the dead man's head and kissed the lips
And dropped it again and leaping back commanded,

"Arise and breathe!" The corpse lay still as ever.
At this, as when Bashõ's disciples wind
Along the curving spine that links the renga

Across the different voices, each one adding
A transformation according to the rules
Of stasis and repetition, all in order

And yet impossible to tell beforehand,
Elliot change...Read more of this...
by Pinsky, Robert

Modern Love XXXVII: Along the Garden Terrace

...en terrace, under which 
A purple valley (lighted at its edge 
By smoky torch-flame on the long cloud-ledge 
Whereunder dropped the chariot), glimmers rich, 
A quiet company we pace, and wait 
The dinner-bell in prae-digestive calm. 
So sweet up violet banks the Southern balm 
Breathes round, we care not if the bell be late: 
Though here and there grey seniors question Time 
In irritable coughings. With slow foot 
The low rosed moon, the face of Music mute, 
Begins among her ...Read more of this...
by Meredith, George

New Hampshire

...aid of nature.
I know a man who took a double ax
And went alone against a grove of trees;
But his heart failing him, he dropped the ax
And ran for shelter quoting Matthew Arnold:
"'Nature is cruel, man is sick of blood':
There s been enough shed without shedding mine.
Remember Birnam Wood! The wood's in flux!"

He had a special terror of the flux
That showed itself in dendrophobia.
The only decent tree had been to mill
And educated into boards, be said.
He knew too well for a...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...n lost not Heaven; he seemed 
For dignity composed, and high exploit. 
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue 
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear 
The better reason, to perplex and dash 
Maturest counsels: for his thoughts were low-- 
 To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds 
Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear, 
And with persuasive accent thus began:-- 
 "I should be much for open war, O Peers, 
As not behind in hate, if what was urged 
Main r...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Snow

...work.
Someone’s receiver’s down. The handle stumbles.

The stubborn thing, the way it jars your arm!
It’s theirs. She’s dropped it from her hand and gone.”

“Try speaking. Say ‘Hello’!”

“Hello. Hello.”

“What do you hear?”

“I hear an empty room—
You know—it sounds that way. And yes, I hear—
I think I hear a clock—and windows rattling.
No step though. If she’s there she’s sitting down.”

“Shout, she may hear you.”

“Shouting is no good.”

“Keep speaking then.”

“Hello. Hello...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Snowbound a Winter Idyl

...t plied the mason's trade, 
And tier by tier his mud-walls laid; 
And from the shagbark overhead 
The grizzled squirrel dropped his shell. 

Next, the dear aunt, whose smile of cheer 
And voice in dreams I see and hear, -- 
The sweetest woman ever Fate 
Perverse denied a household mate, 
Who, lonely, homeless, not the less 
Found peace in love's unselfishness, 
And welcome wheresoe'er she went, 
A calm and gracious element, 
Whose presence seemed the sweet income 
And womanly...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf

The Comedian As The Letter C

...realist, 
545 Came reproduced in purple, family font, 
546 The same insoluble lump. The fatalist 
547 Stepped in and dropped the chuckling down his craw, 
548 Without grace or grumble. Score this anecdote 
549 Invented for its pith, not doctrinal 
550 In form though in design, as Crispin willed, 
551 Disguised pronunciamento, summary, 
552 Autumn's compendium, strident in itself 
553 But muted, mused, and perfectly revolved 
554 In those portentous accents, syllable...Read more of this...
by Stevens, Wallace

The Dream

...He took her hand; a moment o'er his face
A tablet of unutterable thoughts
Was traced, and then it faded, as it came;
He dropped the hand he held, and with slow steps
Retired, but not as bidding her adieu,
For they did part with mutual smiles; he passed
From out the massy gate of that old Hall,
And mounting on his steed he went his way;
And ne'er repassed that hoary threshold more.

IV

A change came o'er the spirit of my dream.
The Boy was sprung to manhood: in the wilds
Of f...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Flight Of The Duchess

...otters!
Glasses they'll blow you, crystal-clear,
Where just a faint cloud of rose shall appear,
As if in pure water you dropped and let die
A bruised black-blooded mulberry;
And that other sort, their crowning pride,
With long white threads distinct inside,
Like the lake-flower's fibrous roots which dangle
Loose such a length and never tangle,
Where the bold sword-lily cuts the clear waters,
And the cup-lily couches with all the white daughters:
Such are the works they put th...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Lady of the Lake

...ut soon for vain alarm he blushed
     When on the floor he saw displayed,
     Cause of the din, a naked blade
     Dropped from the sheath, that careless flung
     Upon a stag's huge antlers swung;
     For all around, the walls to grace,
     Hung trophies of the fight or chase:
     A target there, a bugle here,
     A battle-axe, a hunting-spear,
     And broadswords, bows, and arrows store,
     With the tusked trophies of the boar.
     Here grins the wolf ...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The White Cliffs

...d straight at him without a spasm of fear,
Her face not stern or masked—
'Is it Percy or John?' she asked.
'Percy.' She dropped her eyes. 'I am needed here.
Surely you know
I cannot go
Until every letter is written. The dead
Must wait on the living,' she said.
'This is my work. I must stay.'
And she did— the whole long day.

*** 
Out of the dark, and dearth 
Of happiness on earth, 
Out of a world inured to death and pain; 
On a fair spring mom 
To me a son was born, 
And hope...Read more of this...
by Miller, Alice Duer

White Flock

...nter,
And prayed already for the second one,
And now today once more is the hot evening --
How low over the mountain dropped the sun..

You aren't with me, but this is not a parting:
For me triumphant news is in each moment.
I know that you can't even pronounce a word
For so complete within you is the torment.



x x x

In Kievan temple of the divine wisdom
Falling to my knees, I did before thee vow
That your way will be my way
Wherever it will go.

Thus ...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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