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Famous Exempt Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...n contempt;
Follies and crimes have stain’d the name,
But, Queensberry, thine the virgin claim,
 From aught that’s good exempt!


I’ll sing the zeal Drumlanrig bears,
Who left the all-important cares
 Of princes, and their darlings:
And, bent on winning borough touns,
Came shaking hands wi’ wabster-loons,
 And kissing barefit carlins.


Combustion thro’ our boroughs rode,
Whistling his roaring pack abroad
 Of mad unmuzzled lions;
As Queensberry blue and buff unfurl’d,
And...Read more of this...



by Raine, Craig
...to a punishment room

with water but nothing to eat.
They lock the door and suffer the noises

alone. No one is exempt
and everyone's pain has a different smell.

At night when all the colours die,
they hide in pairs

and read about themselves --
in colour, with their eyelids shut....Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...of a Foe?
Blest with a Taste exact, yet unconfin'd;
A Knowledge both of Books and Humankind;
Gen'rous Converse; a Sound exempt from Pride;
And Love to Praise, with Reason on his Side?

Such once were Criticks, such the Happy Few,
Athens and Rome in better Ages knew.
The mighty Stagyrite first left the Shore,
Spread all his Sails, and durst the Deeps explore;
He steer'd securely, and discover'd far,
Led by the Light of the Maeonian Star.
Poets, a Race long unconfin'd a...Read more of this...

by Corso, Gregory
...They deliver the edicts of God

without delay

And are exempt from apprehension

from detention

And with their God-given

Petasus, Caduceus, and Talaria

ferry like bolts of lightning

unhindered between the tribunals

of Space & Time


The Messenger-Spirit

in human flesh

is assigned a dependable,

self-reliant, versatile,

thoroughly poet existence

upon its sojourn in life


It does not knock

or ring the b...Read more of this...

by Clampitt, Amy
...
beds, relentlessly pictur-
esque, along every sidewalk;

a millwheel; and a millbrook 
running down brown as beer.
Exempt from the disaster.
however, as either too quick

or too subtle to put on rec-
ord, were these: the flutter
of, beside the brown water,
with a butterfly-like flick

of fan-wings, a bright black-
and-yellow wagtail; at Dulver-
ton on the moor, the flavor
of the hot toasted teacake

drowning in melted butter
we had along with a bus-tour-
load of old ...Read more of this...



by Chudleigh, Lady Mary
...ous few, whom kinder Thoughts inspire,
And who the Happiness of all desire;
Who wish we were from barb'rous Usage free,
Exempt from Toils, and shameful Slavery,
Yet let us, unreprov'd, mis. spend our Hours,
And to mean Purposes employ our nobler Pow'rs.
They think, if we our Thoughts can but express,
And know but how to Work, to Dance and Dress,
It is enough, as much as we shou'd mind,
As if we were for nothing else design'd,
But made, like Puppets, to divert Mankind....Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...hoard of maxims preaching down a daughter's heart. 

"They were dangerous guides the feelings--she herself was not exempt--
Truly, she herself had suffer'd"--Perish in thy self-contempt! 

Overlive it--lower yet--be happy! wherefore should I care?
I myself must mix with action, lest I wither by despair. 

What is that which I should turn to, lighting upon days like these?
Every door is barr'd with gold, and opens but to golden keys. 

Every gate is throng'd with ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...w not that the King of Heaven hath doomed 
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat 
Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt 
From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league 
Banded against his throne, but to remain 
In strictest bondage, though thus far removed, 
Under th' inevitable curb, reserved 
His captive multitude. For he, to be sure, 
In height or depth, still first and last will reign 
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part 
By our revolt, but over Hell ext...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ng, and with preamble sweet 
Of charming symphony they introduce 
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high; 
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join 
Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven. 
Thee, Father, first they sung Omnipotent, 
Immutable, Immortal, Infinite, 
Eternal King; the Author of all being, 
Fonntain of light, thyself invisible 
Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st 
Throned inaccessible, but when thou shadest 
The full blaze of thy beam...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...hun, 
And strength, of courage haughty, and of limb 
Heroick built, though of terrestrial mould; 
Foe not informidable! exempt from wound, 
I not; so much hath Hell debased, and pain 
Enfeebled me, to what I was in Heaven. 
She fair, divinely fair, fit love for Gods! 
Not terrible, though terrour be in love 
And beauty, not approached by stronger hate, 
Hate stronger, under show of love well feigned; 
The way which to her ruin now I tend. 
So spake the enemy of mankin...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...
Hath wiselier armed his vengeful ire, than so 
To be forestalled; much more I fear lest death, 
So snatched, will not exempt us from the pain 
We are by doom to pay; rather, such acts 
Of contumacy will provoke the Highest 
To make death in us live: Then let us seek 
Some safer resolution, which methinks 
I have in view, calling to mind with heed 
Part of our sentence, that thy seed shall bruise 
The Serpent's head; piteous amends! unless 
Be meant, whom I conjecture, our g...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...not Man, 
Retaining still divine similitude 
In part, from such deformities be free, 
And, for his Maker's image sake, exempt? 
Their Maker's image, answered Michael, then 
Forsook them, when themselves they vilified 
To serve ungoverned Appetite; and took 
His image whom they served, a brutish vice, 
Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve. 
Therefore so abject is their punishment, 
Disfiguring not God's likeness, but their own; 
Or if his likeness, by themselves defaced; 
W...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...But WE prefer to keep below -
They're stupid company, you know,
For any but themselves: 

"For, though they claim to be exempt
From pride, they treat a Phantom
As something quite beneath contempt -
Just as no Turkey ever dreamt
Of noticing a Bantam." 

"They seem too proud," said I, "to go
To houses such as mine.
Pray, how did they contrive to know
So quickly that 'the place was low,'
And that I 'kept bad wine'?" 

"Inspector Kobold came to you - "
The little Ghost be...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...was better, youth
Should strive, through acts uncouth,
Toward making, than repose on aught found made:
So, better, age, exempt
From strife, should know, than tempt
Further. Thou waitedst age: wait death nor be afraid!
Enough now, if the Right
And Good and Infinite
Be named here, as thou callest thy hand thine own
With knowledge absolute,
Subject to no dispute
From fools that crowded youth, nor let thee feel alone.

Be there, for once and all,
Severed great minds from ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...alf dead, a living death, 
And buried; but O yet more miserable!
My self, my Sepulcher, a moving Grave,
Buried, yet not exempt
By priviledge of death and burial
From worst of other evils, pains and wrongs,
But made hereby obnoxious more
To all the miseries of life,
Life in captivity
Among inhuman foes.
But who are these? for with joint pace I hear 
The tread of many feet stearing this way;
Perhaps my enemies who come to stare
At my affliction, and perhaps to insult,
Thir ...Read more of this...

by Hardy, Thomas
...

And meanwhile Vand’leur, Vivian, Maitland, Kempt, 
Met d’Erlon, Friant, Ney; 
But Grouchy—mis-sent, blamed, yet blame-exempt— 
Grouchy was far away. 

Be even, slain or struck, Michel the strong,
Bold Travers, Dnop, Delord, 
Smart Guyot, Reil-le, l’Heriter, Friant. 
Scattered that champaign o’er. 

Fallen likewise wronged Duhesme, and skilled Lobau 
Did that red sunset see;
Colbert, Legros, Blancard!… And of the foe 
Picton and Ponsonby; 

With Gordon, Canning, ...Read more of this...

by Arnold, Matthew
...generations of thy peers are fled,
And we ourselves shall go;
But thou possessest an immortal lot,
And we imagine thee exempt from age
And living as thou liv'st on Glanvil's page,
Because thou hadst—what we, alas! have not.

For early didst thou leave the world, with powers
Fresh, undiverted to the world without,
Firm to their mark, not spent on other things;
Free from the sick fatigue, the languid doubt,
Which much to have tried, in much been baffled, brings.
O life...Read more of this...

by Johnson, Samuel
...r Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.

163 Nor deem, when learning her last prize bestows
164 The glitt'ring eminence exempt from foes;
165 See when the vulgar 'scape, despis'd or aw'd,
166 Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud.
167 From meaner minds, tho' smaller fines content
168 The plunder'd palace or sequester'd rent;
169 Mark'd out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,
170 And fatal Learning leads him to the block:
171 Around his tomb let Art and Genius weep,...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...In act to assert his right or wrong, and show 
Cause why King George by no means could or should 
Make out a case to be exempt from woe 
Eternal, more than other kings, endued 
With better sense and hearts, whom history mentions, 
Who long have 'paved hell with their good intentions.' 

XXXVIII 

Michael began: 'What wouldst thou with this man, 
Now dead, and brought before the Lord? What ill 
Hath he wrought since his mortal race began, 
That thou cans't claim him? Speak...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...ts completeness
Truth, for truth's a weighty matter,
And, truth at issue, we can't flatter!
Well, 'tis done with: she's exempt
From damning us through such a sally;
And so she glides, as down a valley,
Taking up with her contempt,
Past our reach; and in, the flowers
Shut her unregarded hours.


Oh, could I have him back once more,
This Waring, but one half-day more!
Back, with the quiet face of yore,
So hungry for acknowledgment
Like mine! I'd fool him to his bent!
Feed, ...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things