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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A Lovers Complaint

...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 victor...Read more of this...
by Shakespeare, William


Beowulf (Modern English)

...shoulder. The sinews sprung apart.
The bone-locks burst open. War-glory was given
to Beowulf. From there Grendel must fly away,
sick to life, under the fen-fastness, joylessly
seeking his lair. He knew too well
that his life was coming to its conclusion,
the count of his days. The desire of every Dane
came true after that slaughtering battle. (ll. 809-24)

Then he had cleansed the hall of Hrothgar,
he who had recently come from afar,
wise and mighty souled, preserv...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Charmides

...f wrath in heaven, the wan stars were dim,
And the low lightening east was tremulous
With the faint fluttering wings of flying dawn,
Ere from the silent sombre shrine his lover had withdrawn.

Down the steep rock with hurried feet and fast
Clomb the brave lad, and reached the cave of Pan,
And heard the goat-foot snoring as he passed,
And leapt upon a grassy knoll and ran
Like a young fawn unto an olive wood
Which in a shady valley by the well-built city stood;

And sought a l...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

...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 imprecations
Ran...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Humanitad

...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 Wilde, Oscar


Hurry Up Please Its Time

...e is 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 dollars, 
rolling in a field of bucks. 
You've ...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne

Lara

...e of 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 press, o...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Ode to a Nightingale

...
Where 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 Keats, John

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...when 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 ceas...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Song of Myself

...orchards 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 seal—leaping ch...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Ballad of the White Horse

...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,
Carrying ...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Four Ages of Man

...air,
1.30 When 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 Of Autumn fruits a basket on his arm,
1....Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

The Growth of Love

...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 one ...Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour

The Hourglass

...atoms moved;
Could you believe that this the body was 
Of one that loved?
And in his mistress' flame, playing like a fly,
Turned to cinders by her eye:
Yes; and in death, as life, unblessed,
To have it expressed,
Even ashes of lovers find no rest....Read more of this...
by Jonson, Ben

The Hunting Of The Snark

...depends 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 that du...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The Lady of the Lake

...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 Scott, Sir Walter

The Seasons: Winter

...ard 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 the Sun,...Read more of this...
by Thomson, James

The Three Voices

...him, 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? Shall his fe...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The White Cliffs

...rp determined 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 them ten year...Read more of this...
by Miller, Alice Duer

White Flock

...ence 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 generous
U...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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