Famous For Better Or Worse Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Clementes Images

...1)

Sleeping birds, lead me,
soft birds, be me

inside this black room,
back of the white moon.

In the dark night
sight frightens me.


2)

Who is it nuzzles there
with furred, round headed stare?

Who, perched on the skin,
body's float, is holding on?

What other one stares still,
plays still, on and on?


3)

Stand upright, prehensile,
squat, determined...Read more of this...
by Creeley, Robert


Goblin Market

...MORNING and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
"Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy:
Apples and quinces,
Lemons and oranges,
Plump unpecked cherries-
Melons and raspberries,
Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,
Wild free-born cranberries,
Crab-apples, dewberries,
Pine-apples, blackberries,
Apricots, strawberries--
All ripe tog...Read more of this...
by Rossetti, Christina

Maude Clare

...Out of the church she followed them
With a lofty step and mien: 
His bride was like a village maid, 
Maude Clare was like a queen.

“Son Thomas, ” his lady mother said, 
With smiles, almost with tears: 
“May Nell and you but live as true
As we have done for years; 

“Your father thirty years ago
Had just your tale to tell; 
But he was not so pale as you, 
...Read more of this...
by Rossetti, Christina

New Hampshire

...owcase,
Which naturally she doesn't care to sell.

She had one President. (Pronounce him Purse,
And make the most of it for better or worse.
He's your one chance to score against the state.)
She had one Daniel Webster. He was all
The Daniel Webster ever was or shall be.
She had the Dartmouth' needed to produce him.

I call her old. She has one family
Whose claim is good to being settled here
Before the era of colonization,
And before that of exploration even.
John Smith remar...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Recurrence

...We shall have our little day.
Take my hand and travel still
Round and round the little way,
Up and down the little hill.

It is good to love again;
Scan the renovated skies,
Dip and drive the idling pen,
Sweetly tint the paling lies.

Trace the dripping, pierced heart,
Speak the fair, insistent verse,
Vow to God, and slip apart,
Little better, Little worse...Read more of this...
by Parker, Dorothy


Silent Equality

...It is not possible to say more than it is possible. 
Ambition kills value; if unjustified it will 
Eat its own life, 
Kill someone else's desire to fly, 
Cut their wings, suck their air. 
Get out, but don't cause unneeded accidents; 
There is only as much space, only as much time, 
Only as much desire, only as many words, 
Only as many pages, only a...Read more of this...
by Stojanovic, Dejan

Song From Amphitryon

...ay; 
And, neither believing, we neither betray. 
'Tis civil to swear, and say things of course; 
We mean not the taking for better or worse. 
When present, we love; when absent, agree: 
I think not of Iris, nor Iris of me. 
The legend of love no couple can find, 
So easy to part, or so equally join'd....Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

St. Winefreds Well

...ACT I. SC. I

Enter Teryth from riding, Winefred following.

T. WHAT is it, Gwen, my girl? why do you hover and haunt me? 

W. You came by Caerwys, sir? 
T. I came by Caerwys. 
W. There
Some messenger there might have met you from my uncle. 
T. Your uncle met the messenger—met me; and this the message:
Lord Beuno comes to-night. 
W. To-night, sir! 
T. Soon...Read more of this...
by Hopkins, Gerard Manley

The Big Boots Of Pain

...There can be certain potions 
needled in the clock 
for the body's fall from grace, 
to untorture and to plead for. 
These I have known 
and would sell all my furniture 
and books and assorted goods 
to avoid, and more, more. 

But the other pain
I would sell my life to avoid 
the pain that begins in the crib 
with its bars or perhaps 
with your first brea...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne

The Heap of Rags

...One night when I went down 
Thames' side, in London Town, 
A heap of rags saw I, 
And sat me down close by. 
That thing could shout and bawl, 
But showed no face at all; 
When any steamer passed 
And blew a loud shrill blast, 
That heap of rags would sit 
And make a sound like it; 
When struck the clock's deep bell, 
It made those peals as well. 
When wind...Read more of this...
by Davies, William Henry

The Millers Tale

...THE PROLOGUE.

When that the Knight had thus his tale told
In all the rout was neither young nor old,
That he not said it was a noble story,
And worthy to be *drawen to memory*; *recorded*
And *namely the gentles* every one. *especially the gentlefolk*
Our Host then laugh'd and swore, "So may I gon,* *prosper
This goes aright; *unbuckled is the mail;* *the...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

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