Famous Easier Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

A Hundred Collars

by Robert Frost
 Lancaster bore him--such a little town, 
Such a great man. It doesn't see him often 
Of late years, though he keeps the old homestead 
And sends the children down there with their mother 
To run wild in the summer--a little wild. 
Sometimes he joins them for a day or two 
And sees old friends he somehow can't get near....Read more of this...

I measure every grief I meet

by Emily Dickinson
I measure every grief I meet
   With analytic eyes;
I wonder if it weighs like mine,
   Or has an easier size.

I wonder if they bore it long,
   Or did it just begin?
I could not tell the date of mine,
   It feels so old a pain.

I wonder if it hurts to live,
  ...Read more of this...

Happy Thirtieth Birthday Carcanet Books

by Barry Tebb
 Sorry, I almost forgot, but I don't think

Its worth the effort to become a Carcanet poet

With my mug-shot on art gloss paper

In your catalogue as big as Mont Blanc

Easier to imagine, as Benjamin Peret did,

A wind that would unscrew the mountain

Or stars like apricot tarts strolling

Aimlessly along the Boulevard of Broken Dreams....Read more of this...

The Solution

by Bertolt Brecht
 After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?...Read more of this...

Tis easier to pity those when dead

by Emily Dickinson
 'Tis easier to pity those when dead
That which pity previous
Would have saved --
A Tragedy enacted
Secures Applause
That Tragedy enacting
Too seldom does....Read more of this...

Before A Crucifix

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Here, down between the dusty trees,
At this lank edge of haggard wood,
Women with labour-loosened knees,
With gaunt backs bowed by servitude,
Stop, shift their loads, and pray, and fare
Forth with souls easier for the prayer.

The suns have branded black, the rains
Striped grey this piteous God of theirs;
The face is full of prayers and pains,
To which they bring their pains and prayers;
Lean...Read more of this...

You know that Portrait in the Moon --

by Emily Dickinson
 You know that Portrait in the Moon --
So tell me who 'tis like --
The very Brow -- the stooping eyes --
A fog for -- Say -- Whose Sake?

The very Pattern of the Cheek --
It varies -- in the Chin --
But -- Ishmael -- since we met -- 'tis long --
And fashions -- intervene --

When Moon's at full -- 'Tis...Read more of this...

Beautiful Crief

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Ye lovers of the picturesque, if ye wish to drown your grief,
Take my advice, and visit the ancient town of Crieff;
The climate is bracing, and the walks lovely to see.
Besides, ye can ramble over the district, and view the beautiful scenery. 

The town is admirably situated from the cold winter winds,
And the visitors, during their stay there, great comfort...Read more of this...

Duino Elegies: The First Elegy

by Rainer Maria Rilke
 Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Each single angel is terrifying.
And so...Read more of this...

Proverbs

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 'TIS easier far a wreath to bind,
Than a good owner fort to find.

I KILL'D a thousand flies overnight,
Yet was waken'd by one, as soon as twas light.

To the mother I give;
For the daughter I live.

A BREACH is every day,

By many a mortal storm'd;
Let them fall in the gaps as they may,

Yet a heap of dead is ne'er form'd.

WHAT harm...Read more of this...

Juggler

by Richard Wilbur
 A ball will bounce; but less and less. It's not
A light-hearted thing, resents its own resilience.
Falling is what it loves, and the earth falls
So in our hearts from brilliance, 
Settles and is forgot.
It takes a sky-blue juggler with five red balls

To shake our gravity up. Whee, in the air 
The balls roll around, wheel on his wheeling hands, 
Learning...Read more of this...

Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse

by Matthew Arnold
 Through Alpine meadows soft-suffused
With rain, where thick the crocus blows,
Past the dark forges long disused,
The mule-track from Saint Laurent goes.
The bridge is cross'd, and slow we ride,
Through forest, up the mountain-side. 

The autumnal evening darkens round,
The wind is up, and drives the rain;
While, hark! far down, with strangled sound
Doth the Dead Guier's stream complain,
Where that wet smoke, among the...Read more of this...

Germany And Her Princes

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Thou hast produced mighty monarchs, of whom thou art not unworthy,
For the obedient alone make him who governs them great.
But, O Germany, try if thou for thy rulers canst make it
Harder as kings to be great,--easier, though, to be men!...Read more of this...

Song To Celia

by Ben Jonson
  V. — SONG. — TO CELIA.              He at length our good will sever. Spend not then his gifts in vain.        5 Suns that set, may rise again: But if once we lose this light, 'Tis with us perpetual night. Why should we defer our joys ? Fame and rumor are but toys.         10 Cannot we delude the eyes Of a few...Read more of this...

Home

by Warsan Shire
No one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark.

you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well.

your neighbours running faster than you, the boy you went to school with
who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is
holding a gun bigger than his body,
you only leave home when home won't let you stay.

no...Read more of this...

More Life -- went out -- when He went

by Emily Dickinson
 More Life -- went out -- when He went
Than Ordinary Breath --
Lit with a finer Phosphor --
Requiring in the Quench --

A Power of Renowned Cold,
The Climate of the Grave
A Temperature just adequate
So Anthracite, to live --

For some -- an Ampler Zero --
A Frost more needle keen
Is necessary, to reduce
The Ethiop within.

Others -- extinguish easier --
A Gnat's minutest Fan
Sufficient to...Read more of this...

It might be lonelier

by Emily Dickinson
 It might be lonelier
Without the Loneliness --
I'm so accustomed to my Fate --
Perhaps the Other -- Peace --

Would interrupt the Dark --
And crowd the little Room --
Too scant -- by Cubits -- to contain
The Sacrament -- of Him --

I am not used to Hope --
It might intrude upon --
Its sweet parade -- blaspheme the place --
Ordained to Suffering --

It...Read more of this...

Indeed indeed I cannot tell

by Henry David Thoreau
 Indeed, indeed, I cannot tell,
Though I ponder on it well,
Which were easier to state,
All my love or all my hate.
Surely, surely, thou wilt trust me
When I say thou dost disgust me.
O, I hate thee with a hate
That would fain annihilate;
Yet sometimes against my will,
My dear friend, I love thee still.
It were treason to our love,
And a sin to God...Read more of this...

Sestina II

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 34] SESTINA II Giovane donna sott' un verde lauro. THOUGH DESPAIRING OF PITY, HE VOWS TO LOVE HER UNTO DEATH.  A youthful lady 'neath a laurel greenWas seated, fairer, colder than the snowOn which no sun has shone for many years:Her sweet speech, her bright face, and flowing...Read more of this...

Song To Celia - I

by Ben Jonson
 Come, my Celia, let us prove
While we may the sports of love;
Time will not be ours forever,
He at length our good will sever.

Spend not then his gifts in vain;
Suns that set may rise again,
But if once we lose this light,
'Tis with us perpetual night.

Why should we defer our joys?
Fame and rumour are but toys.
Cannot we delude the eyes
Of a...Read more of this...

By my Window have I for Scenery

by Emily Dickinson
 By my Window have I for Scenery
Just a Sea -- with a Stem --
If the Bird and the Farmer -- deem it a "Pine" --
The Opinion will serve -- for them --

It has no Port, nor a "Line" -- but the Jays --
That split their route to the Sky --
Or a Squirrel, whose giddy Peninsula
May be easier reached --...Read more of this...

Death Of A Poet

by R S Thomas
 Laid now on his smooth bed
For the last time, watching dully
Through heavy eyelids the day's colour
Widow the sky, what can he say
Worthy of record, the books all open,
Pens ready, the faces, sad,
Waiting gravely for the tired lips
To move once -- what can he say?

His tongue wrestles to force one word
Past the thick phlegm; no speech, no phrases
For the day's...Read more of this...

Youll find -- it when you try to die --

by Emily Dickinson
 You'll find -- it when you try to die --
The Easier to let go --
For recollecting such as went --
You could not spare -- you know.

And though their places somewhat filled --
As did their Marble names
With Moss -- they never grew so full --
You chose the newer names --

And when this World -- sets further back --
As Dying --...Read more of this...

Proof to No Purpose

by Robert Herrick
 You see this grntle stream that glides, 
Shoved on, by quick-succeeding tides: 
Try if this sober stream you can 
Follow to th' wider ocean, 
And see, if there it keeps unspent 
In that congesting element. 
Next, from that world of waters, then 
By pores and caverns back again 
Induct that inadultrate same 
Stream to the spring from whence it...Read more of this...

I think to Live -- may be a Bliss

by Emily Dickinson
 I think to Live -- may be a Bliss
To those who dare to try --
Beyond my limit to conceive --
My lip -- to testify --

I think the Heart I former wore
Could widen -- till to me
The Other, like the little Bank
Appear -- unto the Sea --

I think the Days -- could every one
In Ordination stand --
And Majesty -- be...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Easier poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace