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Famous Fees Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...ie got his nieve in;
How daddie Burke the plea was cookin,
If Warren Hasting’s neck was yeukin;
How cesses, stents, and fees were rax’d.
Or if bare a—— yet were tax’d;
The news o’ princes, dukes, and earls,
Pimps, sharpers, bawds, and opera-girls;
If that daft buckie, Geordie Wales,
Was threshing still at hizzies’ tails;
Or if he was grown oughtlins douser,
And no a perfect kintra cooser:
A’ this and mair I never heard of;
And, but for you, I might despair’d of.
So, g...Read more of this...



by Swift, Jonathan
...ll had scream'd through half a street.
The turnkey now his flock returning sees,
Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees.
The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands;
And schoolboys lag with satchels in their hands....Read more of this...

by Raine, Craig
...r his colleagues drop in
for a spot of what's-your-toxin.
Speech Day, matron, tuck-shop, Christ,
you'll find school fees are over-priced

and leave, but not come back to me.
You've done your bit for poetry.
Words, or deeds? You'll stick to youth.
I'm a stickler for the truth--

which makes me wonder what it was
I loved you for. Tell me, because
now I feel nothing--except regret.
What is it, love, I need to forget?...Read more of this...

by Strode, William
...flesh are found
As these one soule; the mutuall ty that bound
The first prefer'd in heav'n to pay on earth
Those happy fees which made them strive for death,
Made them both doners of each others store,
And each of them his own executor:
Those hearty summes are twice confer'd by either,
And yet so given as if confer'd by neither.
Lest some incroching governour might pare
Those almes and damne himselfe with pooremens share,
Lameing once more the lame, and killing quite
Tho...Read more of this...

by Ginsberg, Allen
...hiatric examination..."
i.e. Shut up or Else Loonybin or Slam

Leroi on bum gun rap, $7,000
 lawyer fees, years' negotiations--
SPOCK GUILTY headlined temporary, Joan Baez'
 paramour husband Dave Harris to Gaol
Dylan silent on politics, & safe--
 having a baby, a man--
Cleaver shot at, jail'd, maddened, parole revoked,

Vietnam War flesh-heap grows higher,
 blood splashing down the mountains of bodies
 on to Cholon's sidewalks--
Blond boys in airplane seat...Read more of this...



by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...or Females of their Lives, 
Whilst Men dispute not, so it rid their Wives. 
For me, I'll speak free as I've paid my Fees;
My Flesh consumes, I perish by degrees:
And as thro' weary Nights I count my Pains,
No Rest is left me, and no Strength remains. 
All for the Better, Sir, the Quack rejoins:
Exceeding promising are all these Signs.
Falling-away, your Nurses can confirm, 
Was ne'er in Sickness thought a Mark of Harm. 
The want of Strength is for the Better s...Read more of this...

by Belloc, Hilaire
...ts inside.

Physicians of the Utmost Fame
Were called at once; but when they came
They answered, as they took their Fees,
"There is no Cure for this Disease.

"Henry will very soon be dead.''
His Parents stood about his Bed
Lamenting his Untimely Death,
When Henry, with his Latest Breath,

Cried, "Oh, my Friends, be warned by me,
That Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, and Tea
Are all the Human Frame requires...''
With that, the Wretched Child expires....Read more of this...

by Herrick, Robert
...leep, 
Yet mine eyes the watch do keep, 
Sweet Spirit comfort me! 

Whe the artless doctor sees 
No one hope but of his fees, 
And his skill runs on the lees,
Sweet Spirit comfort me! 

When his potion and his pill, 
Has or none or little skill, 
Meet for nothing, but to kill, 
Sweet Spirit comfort me! 

When the passing-bell doth toll, 
And the Furies in a shoal 
Come to fright a parting soul, 
Sweet Spirit comfort me! 

When the tapers now burn blue, 
And the comforters are...Read more of this...

by Trumbull, John
...cred writers;
Lawyers, who, should he wish to prove
His claim to his old seat above,
Would, if his cause he'd give them fees in,
Bring writs of Entry sur disseisin,
Plead for him boldly at the session,
And hope to put him in possession;
Merchants who, for his friendly aid
Would make him partner in their trade,
Hang out their signs in goodly show,
Inscribed with, Beelzebub & Co.;
And judges, who would list his pages,
For proper liveries and wages;
And who as humbly cringe ...Read more of this...

by Jonson, Ben
...ERIL THE LAWYER.    No cause, nor client fat, will CHEVERIL leese, But as they come, on both sides he takes fees, And pleaseth both : for while he melts his grease, For this ; that wins, for whom he holds his peace....Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...r>P. 

His sheep delivered, safe and sound, 
His horse to town he turned, 
And drew some five-and-twenty pound 
For fees that he had earned. 

And where Monaro's ranges hide 
Their little farms away -- 
His sister's children by his side -- 
He spent his Christmas Day. 

The next J.P. that went out back 
Was shocked, or pained, or both, 
At hearing every pagan black 
Repeat the juror's oath. 

No matter how he turned and fled 
They followed faster still...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...him fool:
His conscience always was so nice,
He freely gave the poor advice;
By which he lost, he may affirm,
A hundred fees last Easter term.
While others of the learned robe
Would break the patience of a Job;
No pleader at the bar could match
His diligence and quick dispatch;
Ne'er kept a cause, he well may boast,
Above a term or two at most.

The cringing knave, who seeks a place
Without success, thus tells his case:
Why should he longer mince the matter?
He fail'd...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Richard
...s portent.
In high wind, ruins make harsh music.
The priest is tending bar. His dreams have paid
outrageous fees for stone and mortar.
His eyes are empty as a chapel
roofless in a storm. Greek temples seem
the same as forty centuries ago.
If we used one corner for a urinal,
he wouldn't swear we hadn't worshipped here.

The chickens cringe. Rain sprays chaos where
the altar and the stained glass would have gone
had Indians not eaten tribal cows
...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ce he was full often in assize,
By patent, and by plein* commission; *full
For his science, and for his high renown,
Of fees and robes had he many one.
So great a purchaser was nowhere none.
All was fee simple to him, in effect
His purchasing might not be in suspect* *suspicion
Nowhere so busy a man as he there was
And yet he seemed busier than he was
In termes had he case' and doomes* all *judgements
That from the time of King Will. were fall.
Thereto he coul...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...learned full well, poor fool!
My woes began, that wretched day.
The President plied me like a tool.
In lawyer's fees, and rights of way,

"Injunctions, leases, charters, I
Was meshed as in a mighty maze.
The stock ran low, the talk ran high:
Then quickly flamed the final blaze.

"With never an inch of track -- 'tis true!
The debts were large . . . the oft-told tale.
The President rolled in splendor new
-- He bought my silver at the sale.

"...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...had.
We must cut down in times like these,
So here's a cheque, Oh take it please -
'Twill help to pay your doctor's fees. 

"And just to show how I appraise
Your work - despite these doleful days
I'm giving you . . . a little raise." 

Said Rosemary: "Old Jones is crying."
Thought I: "Yes, each week I'll be sighing,
When from my pocket I am prying
Ten bucks to keep his wife from dying."...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...e,
See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?
Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid
Their wages and their fees for their service;
And yet they weene for to be full wise,
That serve love, for aught that may befall.
But this is yet the beste game* of all, *joke
That she, for whom they have this jealousy,
Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.
She wot no more of all this *hote fare*, *hot behaviour*
By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare.
But all must b...Read more of this...

by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...s thee gayly Mad. 

Tho' the Physicians greatest Gains,
Altho' his growing Wealth he sees
Daily increas'd by Ladies Fees,
Yet dost thou baffle all his studious Pains. 
Not skilful Lower thy Source cou'd find,
Or thro' the well-dissected Body trace
The secret, the mysterious ways,
By which thou dost surprize, and prey upon the Mind. 
Tho' in the Search, too deep for Humane Thought,
With unsuccessful Toil he wrought,
'Til thinking Thee to've catch'd, Himself by thee...Read more of this...

by Jonson, Ben
...   Freedom doth with degree dispense.  The jolly wassal walks the often round,   Nor how to get the lawyer fees. Such and no other was that age of old,    Which boasts t' have had the head of gold. And such, since thou canst make thine own content,    Strive, Wroth, to live long innocent. Let others watch in guilty arms, and stand     The fury of a rash command, Go enter breaches, meet the cannon's rage,   And brag that the...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...ful back,
To [rob the] church, their tenants rack,
Go snacks with [rogues and rapparees,]
And keep the peace to pick up fees;
In every job to have a share,
A goal or barrack to repair;
And turn the tax for public roads
Commodious to their own abodes."
"Perhaps I may allow the Dean
Had too much satire in his vein,
And seemed determined not to starve it,
Because no age could more deserve it.
Yet malice never was his aim;
He lashed the vice, but spared the name;
No indiv...Read more of this...

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