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Famous Forwards Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Davidson, John
...
Brow, bay and tray and three on top, 
A stag, a runnable stag.

Then the huntsman's horn rang yap, yap yap, 
And 'Forwards' we heard the harbourer shout; 
But 'twas only a brocket that broke a gap 
In the beechen underwood, driven out, 
From the underwood antler'd out 
By warrant and might of the stag, the stag, 
The runnable stag, whose lordly mind 
Was bent on sleep though beam'd and tined 
He stood, a runnable stag

So we tufted the covert till afternoon 
With Tinker...Read more of this...



by Browning, Robert
...hen a soul declares itself---to wit,
By its fruit, the thing it does

L.

Be hate that fruit or love that fruit,
It forwards the general deed of man,
And each of the Many helps to recruit
The life of the race by a general plan;
Each living his own, to boot.

LI.

I am named and known by that moment's feat;
There took my station and degree;
So grew my own small life complete,
As nature obtained her best of me---
One born to love you, sweet!

LII.

And to watch ...Read more of this...

by Goose, Mother
...caper, caper and crow,There, little Baby, there you go!Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,Backwards and forwards, round and round;Dance, little Baby and Mother will sing,With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding!...Read more of this...

by Hirsch, Edward
...etting the play develop in front of him

in slow motion, almost exactly
like a coach's drawing on the blackboard,

both forwards racing down the court
the way that forwards should, fanning out

and filling the lanes in tandem, moving
together as brothers passing the ball

between them without a dribble, without
a single bounce hitting the hardwood

until the guard finally lunges out
and commits to the wrong man

while the power-forward explodes past them
in a fury, taking the...Read more of this...

by Hirsch, Edward
...etting the play develop in front of him

in slow motion, almost exactly
like a coach's drawing on the blackboard,

both forwards racing down the court
the way that forwards should, fanning out

and filling the lanes in tandem, moving
together as brothers passing the ball

between them without a dribble, without
a single bounce hitting the hardwood

until the guard finally lunges out
and commits to the wrong man

while the power-forward explodes past them
in a fury, taking the...Read more of this...



by Tolkien, J R R
...nging and of shifting shape
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the Sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
T...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...**** 
Shows you what's bred in the bone; 
Works it all out in her nut, 
Handles it all on her own. 

Backwards and forwards she'll track, 
Gauging the line at a glance, 
Keeping the stronger ones back, 
Giving the tailers a chance. 

Weary and hungry and lame, 
Sticking all day to her job, 
Thin as a rabbit, but game, 
Working in front of the mob. 

Tradesmen, I call 'em, the dogs, 
Those that'll work in a yard; 
Bark till they're hoarser than frogs, 
Makin' 'em ...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...onfusion.

In the house was going now and coming
Up and down the stairs, and doors were creaking
Backwards now, now forwards,--footsteps clatter'd
Yet, as though it were a thing all-living,
From my cherish'd hope I could not tear me.

When at length the sun, in hated splendour.
Fell upon my walls, upon my windows,
Up I sprang, and hasten'd to the garden,
There to blend my breath, so hot and yearning,
With the cool refreshing morning breezes,
And, it might be, even...Read more of this...

by Arnold, Matthew
...Weary of myself, and sick of asking
What I am, and what I ought to be,
At this vessel's prow I stand, which bears me
Forwards, forwards, o'er the starlit sea.

And a look of passionate desire
O'er the sea and to the stars I send:
'Ye who from my childhood up have calm'd me,
Calm me, ah, compose me to the end!

'Ah, once more,' I cried, 'ye stars, ye waters,
On my heart your mighty charm renew; 
Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you,
Feel my soul becoming vast like yo...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...and, 
A brood of lofty, fair, but lesser Palaces shall cluster.

Somewhere within the walls of all, 
Shall all that forwards perfect human life be started, 
Tried, taught, advanced, visibly exhibited. 

Here shall you trace in flowing operation, 
In every state of practical, busy movement,
The rills of Civilization. 

Materials here, under your eye, shall change their shape, as if by magic; 
The cotton shall be pick’d almost in the very field, 
Shall be dried, cle...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...bled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,
Crookèd eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his ...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...bled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked elipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his s...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...bl'd shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
Nativity, once in the main of light,
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown'd,
Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
And delves the parallels in beauty's brow,
Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,
And nothing stands but for his ...Read more of this...

by Gregory, Rg
...rdust
the grit the pearl
was fostered out of
minute (maybe) but precious
from it – never out of
esteem – the proud furl
forwards and the far thrust
that blossoms into dream
able to wish us
shares in the cosmic scheme

well – if the mess we make of things
in the dirty now
the piqued powers we grant
to the unnatural twisters
don’t forfeit that grant
skydust should endow
(despite all bunderings)
god be in the grain
of life’s worst festers
starspeak find tongue again...Read more of this...

by Taylor, Ann
...;
Crow and caper, caper and crow,
There little baby, there you go;
Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,
Backwards and forwards, round and round;
Dance little baby, and mother shall sing,
With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding....Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...nt
Both sides started banging each other 
'Til the swineherds could hear them in Kent.

The Saxons had best line of forwards, 
Well armed both with buckler and sword - 
But the Normans had best combination, 
And when half-time came neither had scored.

So the Duke called his cohorts together 
And said - 'Let's pretend that we're beat,
Once we get Saxons down on the level 
We'll cut off their means of retreat.'

So they ran - and the Saxons ran after, 
Just exactly...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...ook off her lethargy.
"Sisters, we will walk on," said she.
Sidling away from the snowdrop bed,
The line curved forwards, the Abbess ahead.
Only Clotilde
Was the last to yield.
When the recreation hour was done
Each went in to her task. Alone
In the library, with its great north light,
Clotilde wrought at an exquisite
Wreath of flowers
For her Book of Hours.
She twined the little crocus blooms
With snowdrops and daffodils, the glooms
Of laurel leaves w...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...warm love 
 Kept those that rose all dastard fear above, 
 As on his tent they saw his shadow pass— 
 Backwards and forwards, for they credited, alas! 
 His fortune's star! it could not, could not be 
 That he had not his work to do—a destiny? 
 To hurl him headlong from his high estate, 
 Would be high treason in his bondman, Fate. 
 But all the while he felt himself alone, 
 Stunned with disasters few have ever known. 
 Sudden, a fear came o'er his troubled soul,...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
...ove the mast,
Had fixed her to the ocean:
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion--
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.

Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.

How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.

'Is it he?' q...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things