Famous Go To Sleep Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Goodnight

...Go to sleep—though of course you will not— 
to tideless waves thundering slantwise against 
strong embankments, rattle and swish of spray 
dashed thirty feet high, caught by the lake wind, 
scattered and strewn broadcast in over the steady 
car rails! Sleep, sleep! Gulls' cries in a wind-gust 
broken by the wind; calculating wings set above 
the field of wav...Read more of this...
by Williams, William Carlos (WCW)


A Mysterious Naked Man

...the harbour
whips at his naked body,
and by now he's probably done
whatever it was he wanted to do
and wishes he could go to sleep
or die
or take to the air like Superman....Read more of this...
by Nowlan, Alden

Avons Harvest

...
Faintly outside. We knew that she was there 
Again; and though it was a kindly folly, 
I wished that Avon’s wife would go to sleep. 

“I was afraid, this time, but not of man— 
Or man as you may figure him,” he said.
“It was not anything my eyes had seen 
That I could feel around me in the night, 
There by that lake. If I had been alone, 
There would have been the joy of being free, 
Which in imagination I had won
With unimaginable expiation— 
But I was not alone. If you had...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington

Degrees Of Gray In Philipsburg

...self. The old man, twenty
when the jail was built, still laughs
although his lips collapse. Someday soon,
he says, I'll go to sleep and not wake up.
You tell him no. You're talking to yourself.
The car that brought you here still runs.
The money you buy lunch with,
no matter where it's mined, is silver
and the girl who serves your food
is slender and her red hair lights the wall....Read more of this...
by Hugo, Richard

Dickinson Poems by Number

...asks Pleasure—first—
And then—Excuse from Pain—
And then—those little Adonynes
That deaden suffering—

And then—to go to sleep—
And then—if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The privilege to die—

601

A still—Volcano—Life—
That flickered in the night—
When it was dark enough to do
Without erasing sight—

A quiet—Earthquake Style—
Too subtle to suspect
By natures this side Naples—
The North cannot detect

The Solemn—Torrid—Symbol—
The lips that ne...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily


Evelyn Hope

...d.
So, hush,---I will give you this leaf to keep:
See, I shut it inside the sweet cold hand!
There, that is our secret: go to sleep!
You will wake, and remember, and understand....Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Im Your Man

...o take me for a ride 
You know you can 
I'm your man 
Ah, the moon's too bright 
The chain's too tight 
The beast won't go to sleep 
I've been running through these promises to you 
That I made and I could not keep 
Ah but a man never got a woman back 
Not by begging on his knees 
Or I'd crawl to you baby 
And I'd fall at your feet 
And I'd howl at your beauty 
Like a dog in heat 
And I'd claw at your heart 
And I'd tear at your sheet 
I'd say please, please 
I'm your man 
An...Read more of this...
by Cohen, Leonard

Infidelity

...sent a letter to the police to say:
"If I should die its them have dome me in."
And now a lot of vernal I'll take,
And go to sleep, and never, never wake.

But won't I laugh! Aye, even when I'm dead,
To think of them both hanging by the head.

TRIANGLE TWO

My wife's a fancy bit of stuff it's true;
But that's no reason she should do me dirt.
Of course I know a girl is tempted to,
With mountain men a-fussin' round her skirt.
A 'andome women's bound to 'ave a 'eart,
But that's...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

Isaac and Archibald

...l come 
To you, and as you need it.—But there, there, 
I’m going it again, as Isaac says, 
And I’ll stop now before you go to sleep.— 
Only be sure that you growl cautiously,
And always where the shadow may not reach you.” 

Never shall I forget, long as I live, 
The quaint thin crack in Archibald’s voice, 
The lonely twinkle in his little eyes, 
Or the way it made me feel to be with him.
I know I lay and looked for a long time 
Down through the orchard and across the road, 
...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington

Its Grand

...sperity 
At seven bob a day. 
It's grand to be unemployed 
And lie in the Domain, 
And wake up every second day -- 
And go to sleep again. 

It's grand to borrow English tin 
To pay for wharves and docks 
And then to find it isn't in 
The little money-box. 

It's grand to be a democrat 
And toady to the mob, 
For fear that if you told the truth 
They'd hunt you from your job. 

It's grand to be a lot of things 
In this fair Southern land, 
But if the Lord would send us rain, ...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Lullaby For The Cat

...Minnow, go to sleep and dream,
 Close your great big eyes;
Round your bed Events prepare
 The pleasantest surprise.

Darling Minnow, drop that frown,
 Just cooperate,
Not a kitten shall be drowned
 In the Marxist State.

Joy and Love will both be yours,
 Minnow, don't be glum.
Happy days are coming soon--
 Sleep, and let them come......Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

Nurses Song (Innocence)

...ave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies

No no let us play, for it is yet day
And we cannot go to sleep
Besides in the sky, the little birds fly
And the hills are all covered with sheep

Well well go & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh'd
And all the hills echoed...Read more of this...
by Blake, William

Octaves

...ng spark
Where no spark ever was; and thus we die,
Still searching, like poor old astronomers
Who totter off to bed and go to sleep,
To dream of untriangulated stars. 

XII 

With conscious eyes not yet sincere enough
To pierce the glimmered cloud that fluctuates
Between me and the glorifying light
That screens itself with knowledge, I discern
The searching rays of wisdom that reach through
The mist of shame's infirm credulity,
And infinitely wonder if hard words
Like mine ha...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington

Rahel to Varnhagen

...I was not,
It only happened that it wasn’t so. 
Meanwhile, you might seem to be listening: 
If you forget yourself and go to sleep, 
My treasure, I shall not say this again. 
Look up once more into my poor old face,
Where you see beauty, or the Lord knows what, 
And say to me aloud what else there is 
Than ruins in it that you most admire. 

No, there was never anything like that; 
Nature has never fastened such a mask
Of radiant and impenetrable merit 
On any woman as you s...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington

Summons

...Keep me from going to sleep too soon
Or if I go to sleep too soon
Come wake me up. Come any hour
Of night. Come whistling up the road.
Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door.
Make me get out of bed and come
And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on
And make me look. Or tell me clouds
Are doing something to the moon
They never did before, and show me.
See that I see. Talk to me ...Read more of this...
by Francis, Robert

The Black Swan

...on the lake, a girl would laugh.
 "Sister, here is your porridge, sister,"
I would call; and the reeds would whisper,
 "Go to sleep, go to sleep, little swan."
My legs were all hard and webbed, and the silky

Hairs of my wings sank away like stars
 In the ripples that ran in and out of the reeds:
I heard through the lap and hiss of water
 Someone's "Sister . . . sister," far away on the shore,
And then as I opened my beak to answer

I heard my harsh laugh go out to the shore
...Read more of this...
by Jarrell, Randall

The Blue-Flag In The Bog

...ad to Heaven be,—
Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
Reach a hand and rescue me!

"There—there, my blue-flag flower;
Hush—hush—go to sleep;
That is only God you hear,
Counting up His folded sheep!

Lullabye—lullabye—
That is only God that calls,
Missing me, seeking me,
Ere the road to nothing falls!

He will set His mighty feet
Firmly on the sliding sand;
Like a little frightened bird
I will creep into His hand;

I will tell Him all my grief,
I will tell Him all my sin;
He will give...Read more of this...
by St. Vincent Millay, Edna

The Bushfire - an Allegory

...*****. 

He sent his smartest supers there 
To try and keep things right. 
No use! The grass was always dry -- 
They'd go to sleep at night, 
And when they woke they'd go and find 
The whole concern alight. 

One morning it was very hot -- 
The sun rose in a haze; 
Old Bill was cutting down some trees 
(One of his little ways); 
A black boy came hot-foot to say 
The Flat was in a blaze. 

Old Bill he swears a fearful oath 
And lets the tommy fall -- 
Says he: "'ll take this ...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Evening-Watch: A Dialogue

...BODY

1 Farewell! I go to sleep; but when
2 The day-star springs, I'll wake again. 

SOUL 

3 Go, sleep in peace; and when thou liest
4 Unnumber'd in thy dust, when all this frame
5 Is but one dram, and what thou now descriest
6 In sev'ral parts shall want a name,
7 Then may his peace be with thee, and each dust
8 Writ in his book, who ne'er betray'd man's trust! 

BODY 

9 Ame...Read more of this...
by Vaughan, Henry

The Wizard in the Street

...
And now the evening goes. No man has thrown 
The weary dog his well-earned crust or bone. 
We grin and hie us home and go to sleep, 
Or feast like kings till midnight, drinking deep. 
He drank alone, for sorrow, and then slept, 
And few there were that watched him, few that wept. 
He found the gutter, lost to love and man. 
Too slowly came the good Samaritan....Read more of this...
by Lindsay, Vachel

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