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Famous Duds Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...
Let them in Drury-lane be lesson’d!
An’ if the wives an’ dirty brats
Come thiggin at your doors an’ yetts,
Flaffin wi’ duds, an’ grey wi’ beas’,
Frightin away your ducks an’ geese;
Get out a horsewhip or a jowler,
The langest thong, the fiercest growler,
An’ gar the tatter’d gypsies pack
Wi’ a’ their bastards on their back!
Go on, my Lord! I lang to meet you,
An’ in my house at hame to greet you;
Wi’ common lords ye shanna mingle,
The benmost neuk beside the ingle,
At my rig...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...a sheugh;
My heart, for fear, gaed sough for sough,
To hear the thuds, and see the cluds
O’ clans frae woods, in tartan duds,
 Wha glaum’d at kingdoms three, man.
 La, la, la, la, &c.


The red-coat lads, wi’ black cockauds,
 To meet them were na slaw, man;
They rush’d and push’d, and blude outgush’d
 And mony a bouk did fa’, man:
The great Argyle led on his files,
I wat they glanced twenty miles;
They hough’d the clans like nine-pin kyles,
They hack’d and hash’d, whi...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...Nansie’s wa’s
Shook with a thunder of applause,
 Re-echo’d from each mouth!
They toom’d their pocks, they pawn’d their duds,
They scarcely left to co’er their fuds,
 To quench their lowin drouth:
Then owre again, the jovial thrang
 The poet did request
To lowse his pack an’ wale a sang,
 A ballad o’ the best;
 He rising, rejoicing,
 Between his twa Deborahs,
 Looks round him, an’ found them
 Impatient for the chorus.


AirTune—“Jolly Mortals, fill your Glasses.”See t...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...ck be your fa’!)
An’ gied the infant warld a shog,
 ’Maist rui’d a’.


D’ye mind that day when in a bizz
Wi’ reekit duds, an’ reestit gizz,
Ye did present your smoutie phiz
 ’Mang better folk,
An’ sklented on the man of Uzz
 Your spitefu’ joke?


An’ how ye gat him i’ your thrall,
An’ brak him out o’ house an hal’,
While scabs and botches did him gall,
 Wi’ bitter claw;
An’ lows’d his ill-tongu’d wicked scaul’,
 Was warst ava?


But a’ your doings to rehearse,
Your wily s...Read more of this...

by Berryman, John
...paying rent to foes. He slipt & fell.
It's golden here in the snow.
A mild crack: a far rifle. Bogart's duds
truck back to Wardrobe. Fancy the brain from hell
held out so long. Let go....Read more of this...



by Service, Robert William
...Our boots to black;
Pull us from drowsy bed,
 Wet sponge to pass,
And speed us porridge fed
 To morning class.

Our duds to make and mend,
 Far into night,
O'er needle she would spend
 By bleary light.
Yet as her head drooped low,
 With withered hair,
It seemed the candle glow
 Made halo there.

And so with silvered pow
 I sigh because
They don't make women now
 Like Mammy was....Read more of this...

by Field, Eugene
...bump to kiss;
Life seems one vain, fleeting show
To Pittypat and Tippytoe!
And when day is at an end,
There are little duds to mend;
Little frocks are strangely torn,
Little shows great holes reveal,
Little hose, but one day worn,
Rudely yawn at toe and heel!
Who but you could work such woe,
Pittypat and Tippytoe!
On the floor and down the hall,
Rudely smutched upon the wall,
There are proofs in every kind
Of the havoc they have wrought,
And upon my heart you'd find
Just suc...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...ineas for her, 
And when he'd got home with the goods
He reckoned he'd not done so badly, 
For three of the guineas was duds.

But later, when he thought it over, 
A doubt through his mind seemed to creep,
If Buster were all she were painted, 
Why the Sergeant had sold her so cheap.

He very soon found out the answer 
When he looked at her close in her stall,
She'd the marks where her face had been lifted 
And a mouth full of false teeth an' all.

The little walk ...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...he Pond!

You dropped a Purple Ravelling in --
You dropped an Amber thread --
And how you've littered all the East
With duds of Emerald!

And still, she plies her spotted Brooms,
And still the Aprons fly,
Till Brooms fade softly into stars --
And then I come away --...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...h how I'd be gay and glad
If a little house I had,
Snuggled in a shady lot,
With behind a garden plot;
Simple grub, old duds to wear,
A book, a pipe, a rocking-chair . . .
You would never hear me grouse
If I had a little house.

Oh if I had just enough
Dough to buy the needful stuff;
Milk and porridge, toast and tea,
How contented I would be!
You could have your cake and wine,
I on cabbage soup would dine,
Joking to the journey's end -
Had I just enough to spe...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs