Famous Gourd Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A poem on divine revelation

...which ev'ry traveller shall rest, 
Safe from the burning east-wind and the sun. 
A vernal shade not with'ring like the gourd 
Of him who warned Nineveh, but like 
The aged oaks immortal on the plain 
Of Kadesh, or tall cedars on the hill 
Of Lebanon, and Hermon's shady top. 


High is their fame through each succeeding age 
Who build the walls of Zion upon earth. 
Let mighty kings and potentates combine, 
To raise a pyramid, which neither storm, 
Nor sea indignant, nor the r...Read more of this...
by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry


An Ode in Time of Hesitation

...muffled laughter of our enemies, 
Bidding us never sheathe our valiant sword 
Till we have changed our birthright for a gourd 
Of wild pulse stolen from a barbarian's hut; 
Showing how wise it is to cast away 
The symbols of our spiritual sway, 
That so our hands with better ease 
May wield the driver's whip and grasp the jailer's keys. 


VIII 

Was it for this our fathers kept the law? 
This crown shall crown their struggle and their ruth? 
Are we the eagle nation Milton sa...Read more of this...
by Moody, William Vaughn

Ash Wednesday

...I who am here dissembled
Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love
To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd.
It is this which recovers
My guts the strings of my eyes and the indigestible portions
Which the leopards reject. The Lady is withdrawn
In a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown.
Let the whiteness of bones atone to forgetfulness.
There is no life in them. As I am forgotten
And would be forgotten, so I would forget
Thus devoted, concentrated i...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

Caliban upon Setebos or Natural Theology in the Island

...hat is it. 
Because, so brave, so better though they be, 
It nothing skills if He begin to plague. 
Look, now, I melt a gourd-fruit into mash, 
Add honeycomb and pods, I have perceived, 
Which bite like finches when they bill and kiss,-- 
Then, when froth rises bladdery, drink up all, 
Quick, quick, till maggots scamper through my brain; 
Last, throw me on my back i' the seeded thyme, 
And wanton, wishing I were born a bird. 
Put case, unable to be what I wish, 
I yet could m...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Civilian and Soldier

...a trench,
Signalling, I am a soldier. No hesitation then
But I shall shoot you clean and fair
With meat and bread, a gourd of wine
A bunch of breasts from either arm, and that
Lone question - do you friend, even now, know
What it is all about?...Read more of this...
by Soyinka, Wole


Dedication

...the heart of kernel—
A woman's flesh is oil—child, palm oil on your tongue

Is suppleness to life, and wine of this gourd
From self-same timeless run of runnels as refill
Your podlings, child, weaned from yours we embrace

Earth's honeyed milk, wine of the only rib.
Now roll your tongue in honey till your cheeks are
Swarming honeycombs—your world needs sweetening, child.

Camwood round the heart, chalk for flight
Of blemish—see? it dawns!—antimony beneath
Armpit...Read more of this...
by Soyinka, Wole

Facing Snow

..."gloss"> Battle cry many new ghosts Worry and grieve alone old man Disorder cloud low dusk Rapid snow dance return wind Gourd ladle discard cup without green Stove remain fire like red Many place news broken Worry sit straight book empty  After the battle, many new ghosts cry, The solitary old man worries and grieves. Ragged clouds are low amid the dusk, Snow dances quickly in the whirling wind. The ladle's cast aside, the cup not green, The stove ...Read more of this...
by Fu, Du

Harvest Hymn

...r of rain and the dewfall, we hail thee, 
We praise thee, Varuna, with cymbal and pipe. 


Womens Voices:

Queen of the gourd-flower, queen of the har- vest, 
Sweet and omnipotent mother, O Earth! 
Thine is the plentiful bosom that feeds us, 
Thine is the womb where our riches have birth. 
We bring thee our love and our garlands for tribute, 
With gifts of thy opulent giving we come; 
O source of our manifold gladness, we hail thee, 
We praise thee, O Prithvi, with cymbal and...Read more of this...
by Naidu, Sarojini

Love Among The Ruins

...gold
 Bought and sold.

IV

Now,—the single little turret that remains
 On the plains,
By the caper overrooted, by the gourd
 Overscored,
While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks
 Through the chinks— 
Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time
 Sprang sublime,
And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced
 As they raced,
And the monarch and his minions and his dames
 Viewed the games.

V

And I know, while thus the quiet-coloured eve
 Smiles to leave
...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Ode To Autumn

...tch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimmed their clammy cell.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted b...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...
To nourish, and superfluous moist consumes: 
But I will haste, and from each bough and brake, 
Each plant and juciest gourd, will pluck such choice 
To entertain our Angel-guest, as he 
Beholding shall confess, that here on Earth 
God hath dispensed his bounties as in Heaven. 
So saying, with dispatchful looks in haste 
She turns, on hospitable thoughts intent 
What choice to choose for delicacy best, 
What order, so contrived as not to mix 
Tastes, not well joined, inelega...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 07

...bosom, smelling sweet: and, these scarce blown, 
Forth flourished thick the clustering vine, forth crept 
The swelling gourd, up stood the corny reed 
Embattled in her field, and the humble shrub, 
And bush with frizzled hair implicit: Last 
Rose, as in dance, the stately trees, and spread 
Their branches hung with copious fruit, or gemmed 
Their blossoms: With high woods the hills were crowned; 
With tufts the valleys, and each fountain side; 
With borders long the rivers: ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Renascence

...epulchred away from you!
O God, I cried, give me new birth,
And put me back upon the earth!
Upset each cloud's gigantic gourd
And let the heavy rain, down-poured
In one big torrent, set me free,
Washing my grave away from me!

I ceased; and through the breathless hush
That answered me, the far-off rush
Of herald wings came whispering
Like music down the vibrant string
Of my ascending prayer, and—crash!
Before the wild wind's whistling lash
The startled storm-clouds reared on ...Read more of this...
by St. Vincent Millay, Edna

The Eve Of St. Agnes

...linen, smooth, and lavender'd,
 While he forth from the closet brought a heap
 Of candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;
 With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
 And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon;
 Manna and dates, in argosy transferr'd
 From Fez; and spiced dainties, every one,
From silken Samarcand to cedar'd Lebanon.

 These delicates he heap'd with glowing hand
 On golden dishes and in baskets bright
 Of wreathed silver: sumptuous they stand
 In the retired...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

The Flight Of The Duchess

...,
``Up and about, with blossoms and leaves?
``Fix his heart's fruit for thy garland crown,
``Cling with his soul as the gourd-vine cleaves,
``Die on thy boughs and disappear
``While not a leaf of thine is sere?
``Or is the other fate in store,
``And art thou fitted to adore,
``To give thy wondrous self away,
``And take a stronger nature's sway?
``I foresee and could foretell
``Thy future portion, sure and well:
``But those passionate eyes speak true, speak true,
``Let them sa...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Princess (part 4)

...ould serve; and thus a noble scheme 
Grew up from seed we two long since had sown; 
In us true growth, in her a Jonah's gourd, 
Up in one night and due to sudden sun: 
We took this palace; but even from the first 
You stood in your own light and darkened mine. 
What student came but that you planed her path 
To Lady Psyche, younger, not so wise, 
A foreigner, and I your countrywoman, 
I your old friend and tried, she new in all? 
But still her lists were swelled and mine were...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Pumpkin

...Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the X...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf

The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point

...what I say)
Ropes tied me up here to the flogging-place.

XXXIII.
You think I shrieked then? Not a sound!
I hung, as a gourd hangs in the sun.
I only cursed them all around,
As softly as I might have done
My very own child!--From these sands
Up to the mountains, lift your hands,
O slaves, and end what I begun!

XXXIV.
Whips, curses; these must answer those!
For in this UNION, you have set
Two kinds of men in adverse rows,
Each loathing each: and all forget
The seven wounds i...Read more of this...
by Browning, Elizabeth Barrett

The Witch Of Atlas

...ew,
And with his wings fanning it as it grew.

The plant grew strong and green--the snowy flower
Fell, and the long and gourd-like fruit began
To turn the light and dew by inward power
To its own substance: woven tracery ran
Of light firm texture, ribbed and branching, o'er
The solid rind, like a leaf's veined fan,--
Of which Love scooped this boat, and with soft motion
Piloted it round the circumfluous ocean.

This boat she moored upon her fount, and lit
A living spirit with...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

To Autumn

...es run; 
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees 5 
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
To swell the gourd and plump the hazel shells 
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more  
And still more later flowers for the bees  
Until they think warm days will never cease 10 
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells. 

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find 
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor  
Thy ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

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