Famous Grimace Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

242. The Poet's Progress

...sh ell!
A man of fashion too, he made his tour,
Learn’d “vive la bagatelle et vive l’amour;”
So travell’d monkeys their grimace improve,
Polish their grin-nay, sigh for ladies’ love!
His meddling vanity, a busy fiend,
Still making work his selfish craft must mend.
 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · Crochallan came,
The old cock’d hat, the brown surtout—the same;
His grisly beard just bristling in its might—
’Twas four long nights and days from shaving-night;
His uncomb’d, hoary l...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


80. The Jolly Beggars: A Cantata

...urting dizzy,
He stoiter’d up an’ made a face;
 Then turn’d an’ laid a smack on Grizzie,
Syne tun’d his pipes wi’ grave grimace.


AirTune—“Auld Sir Symon.”Sir Wisdom’s a fool when he’s fou;
 Sir Knave is a fool in a session;
He’s there but a ’prentice I trow,
 But I am a fool by profession.


My grannie she bought me a beuk,
 An’ I held awa to the school;
I fear I my talent misteuk,
 But what will ye hae of a fool?


For drink I would venture my neck;
 A hizzie’s the half of...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

A Cloud in Trousers

...roke of twelve fell 
like a head from a block. 

On the windowpanes, grey raindrops 
howled together, 
piling on a grimace 
as though the gargoyles 
of Notre Dame were howling. 

Damn you! 
Isn¡¯t that enough? 
Screams will soon claw my mouth apart. 

Then I heard, 
softly, 
a nerve leap 
like a sick man from his bed. 
Then, 
barely moving, 
at first, 
it soon scampered about, 
agitated, 
distinct. 
Now, with a couple more, 
it darted about in a desper...Read more of this...
by Mayakovsky, Vladimir

A Whispered Tale

...ood simple soldier, seasoned well 
In woods and posts and crater-lines of hell, 
Who dodge remembered ‘crumps’ with wry grimace,
Endured experience in your *****, kind face, 
Fatigues and vigils haunting nerve-strained eyes, 
And both your brothers killed to make you wise; 
You had no babbling phrases; what you said 
Was like a message from the maimed and dead.
But memory brought the voice I knew, whose note 
Was muted when they shot you in the throat; 
And still you whisper ...Read more of this...
by Sassoon, Siegfried

Big Miniature

...To transform a grimace into a sound
Sounds impossible, yet it is possible
To transform a vision into music, 
To go outside an enslaved personality, 
To become impersonal by transforming
Into sand, into water, into light, 
To feel the air and breathe the air
By becoming the air, become
A bird, the first cell, the first man, 
Become a wandering comet, 
A dying star...Read more of this...
by Stojanovic, Dejan


Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

...ht propagate their kind, with none to awe,
You'd think: a burr had been a treasure-trove.

No! penury, inertness and grimace,
In some strange sort, were the land's portion. 'See
Or shut your eyes,' said Nature peevishly,
'It nothing skills: I cannot help my case:
'Tis the Last Judgement's fire must cure this place,
Calcine its clods and set my prisoners free.'

If there pushed any ragged thistle-stalk
Above its mates, the head was chopped; the bents
Were jealous e...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Dickinson Poems by Number

...very One unbared a Nerve
Or wantoned with a Bone—

She never deemed—she hurt—
That—is not Steel's Affair—
A vulgar grimace in the Flesh—
How ill the Creatures bear—

To Ache is human—not polite—
The Film upon the eye
Mortality's old Custom—
Just locking up—to Die.

486

I was the slightest in the House—
I took the smallest Room—
At night, my little Lamp, and Book—
And one Geranium—

So stationed I could catch the Mint
That never ceased to fall—
And just ...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

E.P. Ode Pour Lelection De Son Sepulchre

...uniesme
de son eage;the case presents
No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.

II
The age demanded an image
Of its accelerated grimace,
Something for the modern stage
Not, at any rate, an Attic grace;

Not, certainly, the obscure reveries
Of the inward gaze;
Better mendacities
Than the classics in paraphrase!

The "age demanded" chiefly a mould in plaster,
Made with no loss of time,
A prose kinema, not, not assuredly, alabaster
Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

III
The tea-rose tea-gown...Read more of this...
by Pound, Ezra

Good-by

...the driven foam,
But now, proud world, I'm going home.

Good-by to Flattery's fawning face,
To Grandeur, with his wise grimace,
To upstart Wealth's averted eye,
To supple Office low and high,
To crowded halls, to court, and street,
To frozen hearts, and hasting feet,
To those who go, and those who come,
Good-by, proud world, I'm going home.

I'm going to my own hearth-stone
Bosomed in yon green hills, alone,
A secret nook in a pleasant land,
Whose groves the frolic fairies p...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Hate

...My enemy came nigh, 
And I 
Stared fiercely in his face. 
My lips went writhing back in a grimace, 
And stern I watched him with a narrow eye. 
Then, as I turned away, my enemy, 
That bitter heart and savage, said to me: 
"Some day, when this is past, 
When all the arrows that we have are cast, 
We may ask one another why we hate, 
And fail to find a story to relate. 
It may seem then to us a mystery 
That we should hate each other." 

Thus said ...Read more of this...
by Stephens, James

Hugh Selwyn Mauberly (Part I)

...esme
De son eage; the case presents
No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.

II.

The age demanded an image
Of its accelerated grimace,
Something for the modern stage,
Not, at any rate, an Attic grace;

Not, not certainly, the obscure reveries
Of the inward gaze;
Better mendacities
Than the classics in paraphrase!

The "age demanded" chiefly a mould in plaster,
Made with no loss of time,
A prose kinema, not, not assuredly, alabaster
Or the "sculpture" of rhyme.

III. 

The tea-rose,...Read more of this...
by Pound, Ezra

Perseus: The Triumph of Wit Over Suffering

...s for your feet, not lead,
Not nails, and a mirror to keep the snaky head
In safe perspective, could outface the gorgon-grimace
Of human agony: a look to numb
Limbs: not a basilisk-blink, nor a double whammy,
But all the accumulated last grunts, groans,
Cries and heroic couplets concluding the million
Enacted tragedies on these blood-soaked boards,
And every private twinge a hissing asp
To petrify your eyes, and every village
Catastrophe a writhing length of cobra,
And the de...Read more of this...
by Plath, Sylvia

Portsmouths Looking Glass

...Methinks I see you, newly risen
From your embroider'd Bed and pissing,
With studied mien and much grimace,
Present yourself before your glass,
To vanish and smooth o'er those graces,
You rubb'd off in your Night Embraces....Read more of this...
by Wilmot, John

She dealt her pretty words like Blades

...e unbared a Nerve
Or wantoned with a Bone --

She never deemed -- she hurt --
That -- is not Steel's Affair --
A vulgar grimace in the Flesh --
How ill the Creatures bear --

To Ache is human -- not polite --
The Film upon the eye
Mortality's old Custom --
Just locking up -- to Die....Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Strumpet Song

...r
Struck by each dour year.
Walks there not some such one man
As can spare breath
To patch with brand of love this rank grimace
Which out from black tarn, ditch and cup
Into my most chaste own eyes
Looks up....Read more of this...
by Plath, Sylvia

The Philistine And The Bohemian

...e.

Home he went to his garret bare,
Thrilling with rapture, hope, despair.
Swift he gazed in his looking-glass,
Made a grimace and murmured: "Ass!"
Seized his scissors and fiercely sheared,
Severed his buccaneering beard;
Grabbed his hair, and clip! clip! clip!
Off came a bunch with every snip.
Ran to a tailor's in startled state,
Suits a dozen commanded straight;
Coats and overcoats, pants in pairs,
Everything that a dandy wears;
Socks and collars, and shoes and ties,
Every...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

Thirty-nine

...much rather be
Standing as I do stand to-day,
'Twixt devil and deep sea;
For though my face be dark with care
Or with a grimace shine,
Each haply falls unto my share,
For I am thirty-nine!

'Tis passing meet to make good cheer
And lord it like a king,
Since only once we catch the year
That doesn't mean a thing.
O happy day! O gracious day!
I pledge thee in this wine--
Come, let us journey on our way
A year, good Thirty-Nine!...Read more of this...
by Field, Eugene

Wind

...nted the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope, 

The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house 

Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought, 

Or each other. We watch the...Read more of this...
by Hughes, Ted

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Grimace poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Reflection on the Important Things

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter