Famous Fortnight Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Slow Nature

by Thomas Hardy
 (an Incident of Froom Valley)

"THY husband--poor, poor Heart!--is dead--
Dead, out by Moreford Rise;
A bull escaped the barton-shed,
Gored him, and there he lies!"

--"Ha, ha--go away! 'Tis a tale, methink,
Thou joker Kit!" laughed she.
"I've known thee many a year, Kit Twink,
And ever hast thou fooled me!"

--"But, Mistress Damon--I can swear
Thy goodman John is dead!
And soon th'lt hear their feet who bear
His...Read more of this...

Albert Down Under

by Marriott Edgar
 Albert were what you'd call “thwarted”. 
He had long had an ambition, which... 
Were to save up and go to Australia, 
The saving up that were the hitch. 

He'd a red money box on the pot shelf, 
A post office thing made of tin, 
But with him and his Dad and the bread knife, 
It never had anything in....Read more of this...

535. Song—The Braw Wooer

by Robert Burns
 LAST May, a braw wooer cam doun the lang glen,
 And sair wi’ his love he did deave me;
I said, there was naething I hated like men—
 The deuce gae wi’m, to believe me, believe me;
 The deuce gae wi’m to believe me.


He spak o’ the darts in my bonie black e’en,
 And vow’d for my love he was...Read more of this...

Dream Song 91: Op. posth. no. 14

by John Berryman
 Noises from underground made gibber some
others collected & dug henry up
saying 'You are a sight.'
Chilly, he muttered for a double rum
waving the mikes away, putting a stop
to rumors, pushing his fright

off with the now accumulated taxes
accustomed in his way to solitude
and no bills.
Wives came forward, claiming a new Axis,
fearful for their insurance, though, now, glued
to disencumbered Henry's many ills.

A...Read more of this...

Possibilities

by Rudyard Kipling
 Ay, lay him 'neath the Simla pine --
 A fortnight fully to be missed,
 Behold, we lose our fourth at whist,
A chair is vacant where we dine.

His place forgets him; other men
 Have bought his ponies, guns, and traps.
 His fortune is the Great Perhaps
And that cool rest-house down the glen,

Whence he shall hear, as spirits may,
 Our mundance...Read more of this...

Conquistador

by Alec Derwent (A D) Hope
 I sing of the decline of Henry Clay 
Who loved a white girl of uncommon size. 
Although a small man in a little way, 
He had in him some seed of enterprise. 

Each day he caught the seven-thirty train 
To work, watered his garden after tea, 
Took an umbrella if it looked like rain A 
nd was remarkably like...Read more of this...

Autumn Daybreak

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Cold wind of autumn, blowing loud
At dawn, a fortnight overdue,
Jostling the doors, and tearing through
My bedroom to rejoin the cloud,
I know—for I can hear the hiss
And scrape of leaves along the floor—
How may boughs, lashed bare by this,
Will rake the cluttered sky once more.
Tardy, and somewhat south of east,
The sun will rise at length, made known
More by the meagre...Read more of this...

The Fear

by Robert Frost
 A lantern light from deeper in the barn
Shone on a man and woman in the door
And threw their lurching shadows on a house
Near by, all dark in every glossy window.
A horse's hoof pawed once the hollow floor,
And the back of the gig they stood beside
Moved in a little. The man grasped a wheel,
The woman spoke out sharply, "Whoa, stand...Read more of this...

Safety-Clutch

by Ambrose Bierce
 Once I seen a human ruin
In a elevator-well.
And his members was bestrewin'
All the place where he had fell.

And I says, apostrophisin'
That uncommon woful wreck:
"Your position's so surprisin'
That I tremble for your neck!"

Then that ruin, smilin' sadly
And impressive, up and spoke:
"Well, I wouldn't tremble badly,
For it's been a fortnight broke."

Then, for further comprehension 
Of his attitude, he begs
I will focus...Read more of this...

To Fine Grand

by Ben Jonson
LXXIII. — TO FINE GRAND. What is't, FINE GRAND, makes thee my friendship fly, Or take an Epigram so fearfully, As 'twere a challenge, or a borrower's letter: The world must know your greatness is my debtor.Imprimis, Grand, you owe me for a jest I lent you, on mere acquaintance, at a feast.Item, a tale or two some fortnight after, That...Read more of this...

Death By Water

by T S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot
  Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
  Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
  And the profit and loss.
                                   ...Read more of this...

The Burghers of Calais

by Marriott Edgar
 It were after the Battle of Crecy- 
The foe all lay dead on the ground- 
And King Edward went out with his soldiers
To clean up the places around.

The first place they came to were Calais, 
Where t' burghers all stood in a row,
And when Edward told them to surrender 
They told Edward where he could go.

Said he, " I'll...Read more of this...

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