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Famous Essayed Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...de that I should look at him for ever, 
Yet many a time I found myself ashamed 
Of a long staring at him, and as often 
Essayed the dictionary on the table, 
Wondering if in its interior
There was an uncompanionable word 
To say just what was creeping in my hair, 
At which my scalp would shrink,—at which, again, 
I would arouse myself with a vain scorn, 
Remembering that all this was in New York—
As if that were somehow the banishing 
For ever of all unseemly presences— 
And ...Read more of this...



by Henley, William Ernest
...Where are the passions they essayed,
And where the tears they made to flow?
Where the wild humours they portrayed
For laughing worlds to see and know?
Othello's wrath and Juliet's woe?
Sir Peter's whims and Timon's gall?
And Millamant and Romeo?
Into the night go one and all.
Where are the braveries, fresh or frayed?
The plumes, the armours -- friend and foe?
The cloth of gold, the...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...om adding to the vulture's feast:
And when the Cossack maid beheld
My heavy eyes at length unsealed,
She smiled - and I essayed to speak,
But failed - and she approached, and made
With lip and finger signs that said,
I must not strive as yet to break
The silence, till my strength should be
Enough to leave my accents free;
And then her hand on mine she laid,
And smoothed the pillow for my head,
And stole along on tiptoe tread,
And gently oped the door, and spake 
In whispers -...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...BE the cheese I hollowed. 

Some desperate attempts were made
To start a conversation;
"Madam," the sportive Brown essayed,
"Which kind of recreation,
Hunting or fishing, have you made
Your special occupation?" 

Her lips curved downwards instantly,
As if of india-rubber.
"Hounds IN FULL CRY I like," said she:
(Oh how I longed to snub her!)
"Of fish, a whale's the one for me,
IT IS SO FULL OF BLUBBER!" 

The night's performance was "King John."
"It's dull," she w...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...ven,
How he climbed up into heaven,
And let out the summer-weather,
The perpetual, pleasant Summer;
How the Otter first essayed it;
How the Beaver, Lynx, and Badger
Tried in turn the great achievement,
From the summit of the mountain
Smote their fists against the heavens,
Smote against the sky their foreheads,
Cracked the sky, but could not break it;
How the Wolverine, uprising,
Made him ready for the encounter,
Bent his knees down, like a squirrel,
Drew his arms back, like a...Read more of this...



by Gibran, Kahlil
...the object of your plea. Be glad, for Peace has carried me back safely to you, and humanity has restored what greed essayed to take from us. Be not sad, but smile, my beloved. Do not express bewilderment, for Love has power that dispels Death; charm that conquers the enemy. I am your one. Think me not a specter emerging from the House of Death to visit your Home of Beauty. 

"Do not be frightened, for I am now Truth, spared from swords and fire to reve...Read more of this...

by Schiller, Friedrich von
...ter answering spoke,
"Thy daring act this duty broke.
The conflict that the law forbade
Thou hast with impious mind essayed."--
"Lord, judge when all to thee is known,"
The other spake, in steadfast tone,--
"For I the law's commands and will
Purposed with honor to fulfil.
I went not out with heedless thought.
Hoping the monster dread to find;
To conquer in the fight I sought
By cunning, and a prudent mind."

"Five of our noble Order, then
(Our faith could ...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...s, and I heard, 
`Glory and joy and honour to our Lord 
And to the Holy Vessel of the Grail.' 
Then in my madness I essayed the door; 
It gave; and through a stormy glare, a heat 
As from a seventimes-heated furnace, I, 
Blasted and burnt, and blinded as I was, 
With such a fierceness that I swooned away-- 
O, yet methought I saw the Holy Grail, 
All palled in crimson samite, and around 
Great angels, awful shapes, and wings and eyes. 
And but for all my madness and m...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...An old, worn harp that had been played
Till all its strings were loose and frayed,
Joy, Hate, and Fear, each one essayed,
To play. But each in turn had found
No sweet responsiveness of sound.
Then Love the Master-Player came
With heaving breast and eyes aflame;
The Harp he took all undismayed,
Smote on its strings, still strange to song,
And brought forth music sweet and strong.
...Read more of this...

by Crane, Stephen
...There was a man with tongue of wood
Who essayed to sing,
And in truth it was lamentable.
But there was one who heard
The clip-clapper of this tongue of wood
And knew what the man
Wished to sing,
And with that the singer was content....Read more of this...

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