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Famous Fly Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Shakespeare, William
...ue:
The accident which brought me to her eye
Upon the moment did her force subdue,
And now she would the caged cloister fly:
Religious love put out Religion's eye:
Not to be tempted, would she be immured,
And now, to tempt, all liberty procured.

''How mighty then you are, O, hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I pour your ocean all among:
I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your vi...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...the field and shatters his windows,
Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch from the house-roofs,
Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their enclosures;
So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.
Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then rose
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger,
And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the door-way.
Vain was the hope of escape; and cries and fierce imprecat...Read more of this...

by Wilde, Oscar
...dark warren where the fir-cones lie,
And treads one snowdrop under foot, and runs
Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly
Across our path at evening, and the suns
Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see
Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery

Dance through the hedges till the early rose,
(That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)
Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose
The little quivering disk of golden fire
Which the bees know so well, for with i...Read more of this...

by Sexton, Anne
...probably twenty-three now, 
learning his trade. 
He'll stitch up the gren, 
he'll fasten the bones down 
lest they fly away. 
I am flying today. 
I am not tired today. 
I am a motor. 
I am cramming in the sugar. 
I am running up the hallways. 
I am squeezing out the milk. 
I am dissecting the dictionary. 
I am God, la de dah. 
Peanut butter is the American food. 
We all eat it, being patriotic. 

Ms. Dog is out fighting the...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...the barrier stream; 
Already they descry — Is yon the bank? 
Away! 'tis lined with many a hostile rank. 
Return or fly! — What glitters in the rear? 
'Tis Otho's banner — the pursuer's spear! 
Are those the shepherds' fires upon the height? 
Alas! they blaze too widely for the flight: 
Cut off from hope, and compass'd in the toil, 
Less blood, perchance, hath bought a richer spoil! 

XIII. 

A moment's pause — 'tis but to breathe their band 
Or shall they onward pres...Read more of this...



by Keats, John
...re beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, 
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow. 30 

Away! away! for I will fly to thee, 
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, 
But on the viewless wings of Poesy, 
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards: 
Already with thee! tender is the night, 35 
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne, 
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays 
But here there is no light, 
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown 
Throug...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...thou climbest, 
And when high noon hast gained, and when thou fallest. 
Moon, that now meetest the orient sun, now flyest, 
With the fixed Stars, fixed in their orb that flies; 
And ye five other wandering Fires, that move 
In mystick dance not without song, resound 
His praise, who out of darkness called up light. 
Air, and ye Elements, the eldest birth 
Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run 
Perpetual circle, multiform; and mix 
And nourish all things; let your ...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...y'd
The cradle, while she sang this baby song. 

What does the little birdie say
In her nest at peep of day?
Let me fly, says little birdie,
Mother, let me fly away.
Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till the little wings are stronger.
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away. 

What does little baby say,
In her bed at peep of day?
Baby says, like little birdie,
Let me rise and fly away.
Baby, sleep a little longer,
Till the little limbs are stronger....Read more of this...

by Ashbery, John
...half and
Brought it to the size of the mirror, he set himself
With great art to copy all that he saw in the glass,"
Chiefly his reflection, of which the portrait
Is the reflection, of which the portrait
Is the reflection once removed.
The glass chose to reflect only what he saw
Which was enough for his purpose: his image
Glazed, embalmed, projected at a 180-degree angle.
The time of day or the density of the light
Adhering to the face keeps it
Lively and intact in a r...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...ards of spheres, and look at the product: 
And look at quintillions ripen’d, and look at quintillions green. 

I fly the flight of the fluid and swallowing soul; 
My course runs below the soundings of plummets.

I help myself to material and immaterial; 
No guard can shut me off, nor law prevent me. 

I anchor my ship for a little while only; 
My messengers continually cruise away, or bring their returns to me. 

I go hunting polar furs and the sea...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...er be,
Past purpled forest and pearled foam,
God's winged pavilion free to roam,
Your face, that is a wandering home,
A flying home for me.

Ride through the silent earthquake lands,
Wide as a waste is wide,
Across these days like deserts, when
Pride and a little scratching pen
Have dried and split the hearts of men,
Heart of the heroes, ride.

Up through an empty house of stars,
Being what heart you are,
Up the inhuman steeps of space
As on a staircase go in grace,
C...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...l not see 
The hour that tears my soul from thee: 
Even Azrael, [18] from his deadly quiver 
When flies that shaft, and fly it must, 
That parts all else, shall doom for ever 
Our hearts to undivided dust!" 

XII. 

He lived — he breathed — he moved — he felt; 
He raised the maid from where she knelt; 
His trance was gone — his keen eye shone 
With thoughts that long in darkness dwelt; 
With thoughts that burn — in rays that melt. 
As the streams late conceal'd 
By th...Read more of this...

by Bradstreet, Anne
...en blushing first, she 'gins to red the Air.
1.31 No wooden horse, but one of metal try'd:
1.32 He seems to fly, or swim, and not to ride.
1.33 Then prancing on the Stage, about he wheels;
1.34 But as he went, death waited at his heels.
1.35 The next came up, in a more graver sort,
1.36 As one that cared for a good report.
1.37 His Sword by's side, and choler in his eyes,
1.38 But neither us'd (as yet) for he was wise,
1.39 ...Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...that so embitters March,
Well-housed must watch grey fields and meadows parch,
And driven dust and withering snowflake fly;
Already in glimpses of the tarnish'd sky
The sun is warm and beckons to the larch,
And where the covert hazels interarch
Their tassell'd twigs, fair beds of primrose lie. 
Beneath the crisp and wintry carpet hid
A million buds but stay their blossoming;
And trustful birds have built their nests amid
The shuddering boughs, and only wait to sing
Till ...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...ends on your votes."
 Here the speaker sat down in his place,
And directed the Judge to refer to his notes
 And briefly to sum up the case.

But the Judge said he never had summed up before;
 So the Snark undertook it instead,
And summed it so well that it came to far more
 Than the Witnesses ever had said!

When the verdict was called for, the Jury declined,
 As the word was so puzzling to spell;
But they ventured to hope that the Snark wouldn't mind
 Undertaking tha...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...led with the pine-trees blue
     On the bold cliffs of Benvenue.
     Fresh vigor with the hope returned,
     With flying foot the heath he spurned,
     Held westward with unwearied race,
     And left behind the panting chase.
     VI.

     'T were long to tell what steeds gave o'er,
     As swept the hunt through Cambusmore;
     What reins were tightened in despair,
     When rose Benledi's ridge in air;
     Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath,
     Who sh...Read more of this...

by Thomson, James
...to the Southern Sky.

BEHOLD! the well-pois'd Hornet, hovering, hangs,
With quivering Pinions, in the genial Blaze;
Flys off, in airy Circles: then returns, 
And hums, and dances to the beating Ray.
Nor shall the Man, that, musing, walks alone,
And, heedless, strays within his radiant Lists,
Go unchastis'd away. -- Sometimes, a Fleece
Of Clouds, wide-scattering, with a lucid Veil, 
Soft, shadow o'er th'unruffled Face of Heaven;
And, thro' their dewy Sluices, shed ...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...and he was crushed. 

It needed not her calm reply:
She fixed him with a stony eye,
And he could neither fight nor fly. 

While she dissected, word by word,
His speech, half guessed at and half heard,
As might a cat a little bird. 

Then, having wholly overthrown
His views, and stripped them to the bone,
Proceeded to unfold her own. 

"Shall Man be Man? And shall he miss
Of other thoughts no thought but this,
Harmonious dews of sober bliss? 

"What boots it? ...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...mined way
People will speak when they have things to say.

XLVII 
ROSAMUND: Susan, go home with your offspring. Fly. 
Live in America. SUSAN: Rosamund, why? 
ROSAMUND: Why, my dear girl, haven't you seen
What English country life can mean 
With too small an income to keep the place 
Going? Already I think I trace 
A change in you, you no longer care 
So much how you look or what you wear. 
That coat and skirt you have on, you know 
You wouldn't have worn t...Read more of this...

by Akhmatova, Anna
...of love
Is to me simply unbearable.



x x x

They're on the way, the words of love and freedom,
They're flying faster than the moment flies
And I am in stage fright before singing -
My lips have grown colder than ice.

But soon that place, where, leaning to the windows
The tender birches make dry rustling sound,
The voices will be ringing of the shadows
And roses will in blackened wreaths be wound.

And further onward still -- the light is gen...Read more of this...

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