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Famous Enmity Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Blake, William
...the ox to wrath has moved
Shall never be by woman loved.
The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.
The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh.
He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them, and thou wilt gro...Read more of this...



by Petrarch, Francesco
...ed may be?What spouse, or infant trainE'er kindled such a righteous enmity? There is a portion of the world that liesFar distant from the sun's all-cheering ray,For ever wrapt in ice and gelid snows;There under cloudy skies, in stinted day,A people dwell, whose heart their ...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me....Read more of this...

by Smart, Christopher
...ern of Trees -- Lord stave off evil this day. 

Let Clare, house of Clare rejoice with Galeotes a kind of Lizard at enmity with serpents. Lord receive the soul of Dr Wilcox Master of Clare Hall. 

Let Wilmot, house of Wilmot rejoice with Epipetros an herb coming up spontaneous (of the seed of the earth) but never flowers. 

Let Anstey, house of Anstey rejoice with Eumeces a kind of balm. Lord have mercy on Christopher Anstey and his kinswoman. 

Let Ru...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...or Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes....Read more of this...



by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...by long walls
Of ruin, where the ruinous moonlight
That sheds a lying glory on old stones
Befriends us with a wizard's enmity. 

XVI 

Something as one with eyes that look below
The battle-smoke to glimpse the foeman's charge,
We through the dust of downward years may scan
The onslaught that awaits this idiot world
Where blood pays blood for nothing, and where life
Pays life to madness, till at last the ports
Of gilded helplessness be battered through
By the still crash ...Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...n touching that lone wing
Recall the years before her mind
Became a bitter, an abstract thing,
Her thought some popular enmity:
Blind and leader of the blind
Drinking the foul ditch where they lie?

When long ago I saw her ride
Under Ben Bulben to the meet,
The beauty of her country-side
With all youth's lonely wildness stirred,
She seemed to have grown clean and sweet
Like any rock-bred, sea-borne bird:

Sea-borne, or balanced on the air
When first it sprang out of the nest
...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...at shape they choose, 
Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, 
Can execute their airy purposes, 
And works of love or enmity fulfil. 
For those the race of Israel oft forsook 
Their Living Strength, and unfrequented left 
His righteous altar, bowing lowly down 
To bestial gods; for which their heads as low 
Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear 
Of despicable foes. With these in troop 
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called 
Astarte, queen of heaven, with ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...disagree 
Of creatures rational, though under hope 
Of heavenly grace, and, God proclaiming peace, 
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife 
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars 
Wasting the earth, each other to destroy: 
As if (which might induce us to accord) 
Man had not hellish foes enow besides, 
That day and night for his destruction wait! 
 The Stygian council thus dissolved; and forth 
In order came the grand infernal Peers: 
Midst came their mighty Paramount, and see...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...it brought: 
That space the Evil-one abstracted stood 
From his own evil, and for the time remained 
Stupidly good; of enmity disarmed, 
Of guile, of hate, of envy, of revenge: 
But the hot Hell that always in him burns, 
Though in mid Heaven, soon ended his delight, 
And tortures him now more, the more he sees 
Of pleasure, not for him ordained: then soon 
Fierce hate he recollects, and all his thoughts 
Of mischief, gratulating, thus excites. 
Thoughts, whither have ye...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...elly groveling thou shalt go, 
And dust shalt eat all the days of thy life. 
Between thee and the woman I will put 
Enmity, and between thine and her seed; 
Her seed shall bruise thy head, thou bruise his heel. 
So spake this oracle, then verified 
When Jesus, Son of Mary, second Eve, 
Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from Heaven, 
Prince of the air; then, rising from his grave 
Spoiled Principalities and Powers, triumphed 
In open show; and, with ascension bright...Read more of this...

by Arnold, Matthew
..., 
One lesson which in every wind is blown, 
One lesson of two duties kept at one 
Though the loud world proclaim their enmity-- 

Of toil unsever'd from tranquility! 
Of labor, that in lasting fruit outgrows 
Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in repose, 
Too great for haste, too high for rivalry. 

Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring, 
Man's fitful uproar mingling with his toil, 
Still do thy sleepless ministers move on, 

Their glorious tasks in silence perfect...Read more of this...

by Spenser, Edmund
...could not tame, that same brave city, 
Which with stout courage arm'd against mischance, 
Sustain'd the shock of common enmity; 
Long as her ship tossed with so many freaks, 
Had all the world in arms against her bent, 
Was never seen, that any fortune's wreaks 
Could break her course begun with brave intent. 
But when the object of her virtue failed, 
Her power itself agains itself did arm; 
As he that having long in tempest sailed, 
Fain would arrive, but cannot for the...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...wring from me and tell to them my secret,
That solv'd the riddle which I had propos'd. 
When I perceiv'd all set on enmity,
As on my enemies, where ever chanc'd,
I us'd hostility, and took thir spoil
To pay my underminers in thir coin.
My Nation was subjected to your Lords.
It was the force of Conquest; force with force
Is well ejected when the Conquer'd can.
But I a private person, whom my Countrey
As a league-breaker gave up bound, presum'd
Single Rebellion ...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
   So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
   You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes....Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...ard, been doomed to die,
     Save to fulfil an augury.'
     'Well, let it pass; nor will I now
     Fresh cause of enmity avow
     To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow.
     Enough, I am by promise tied
     To match me with this man of pride:
     Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen
     In peace; but when I come again,
     I come with banner, brand, and bow,
     As leader seeks his mortal foe.
     For love-lore swain in lady's bower
     Ne'er panted fo...Read more of this...

by Stephens, James
...riend with candid mind. 
--Dear enemy or friend so hard to find, 
I yet shall find you, yet shall put My breast 
In enmity or love against your breast: 
Shall smite or clasp with equal ecstasy 
The enemy or friend who grows to Me. 

The topmost blossom of his growing I 
Shall take unto Me, cherish and lift high 
Beside myself upon My holy throne: -- 
It is not good for God to be alone. 
The perfect woman of his perfect race 
Shall sit beside Me in the highest plac...Read more of this...

by Herbert, George
...

They bind, and lead me unto Herod: he
Sends me to Pilate. This makes them agree; 
But yet their friendship is my enmity: 
Was ever grief like mine? 

Herod and all his bands do set me light, 
Who teach all hands to war, fingers to fight, 
And only am the Lord of hosts and might: 
Was ever grief like mine? 

Herod in judgement sits while I do stand; 
Examines me with a censorious hand: 
I him obey, who all things else command: 
Was ever grief like mine? 

The Jews accus...Read more of this...

by Petrarch, Francesco
...s seenAnd Syphax, who deplored an equal doom,Who paid with life his enmity of Rome;And Brennus, famed for sacrilegious spoil,That, overwhelm'd beneath the rocky pile,Atoned the carnage of his cruel hand,Join'd the long pageant of the martial band;Who march'd in foreign or barbarian guiseRead more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...f human faring: 
There are no men yet may leave him when his hands are clutched upon them, 
There are none will own his enmity, there are none will call him brother. 
So we’ll be up and on the way, and the less we boast the better 
For the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do not know:— 
The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to blight it, 
And the doom we cannot fly from is the doom we do not see. 

Come away! come away! there are dead men al...Read more of this...

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