Famous Had Better Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Had Better poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous had better poems. These examples illustrate what a famous had better poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Burns, Robert
...n gane,
And sae the kye might stray.
And there was Balmaghie, I ween,
In front rank he wad shine;
But Balmaghie had better been
Drinkin’ Madeira wine.
And frae Glenkens cam to our aid
A chief o’ doughty deed;
In case that worth should wanted be,
O’ Kenmure we had need.
And by our banners march’d Muirhead,
And Buittle was na slack;
Whase haly priesthood nane could stain,
For wha could dye the black?
And there was grave squire Cardoness,
Look’d on ti...Read more of this...
by
Robinson, Edwin Arlington
..., or most of it,
Between the day I struck him and that evening.
That was the worst show that I ever saw,
But you had better see it for yourself
Before you say so too. I went away,
Though not for any fear that I could feel
Of him or of his worst manipulations,
But only to be out of the same air
That made him stay alive in the same world
With all the gentlemen that were in irons
For uncommendable extravagances
That I should reckon slight compared with his
Offe...Read more of this...
by
Marvell, Andrew
...Lord;
But this great want will not a long one prove,
Your conquering sword will soon that want remove.
For Spain had better--she'll ere long confess--
Have broken all her swords, than this one peace,
Casting that legue off, which she held so long,
She cast off that which only made her strong.
Forces and art, she soon will feel, are vain,
Peace, against you, was the sole strength of Spain.
By that alone those islands she secures,
Peace made them hers, but...Read more of this...
by
Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...yt bene,
And haf dyyght yghonder dere a duk to haue worthed;
A lowande leder of ledez in londe hym wel semez,
And so had better haf ben then britned to noyght,
Hadet wyth an aluisch mon, for angardez pryde.
Who knew euer any kyng such counsel to take
As knyyghtez in cauelaciounz on Crystmasse gomnez!"
Wel much watz the warme water that waltered of yyghen,
When that semly syre soyght fro tho wonez
thad daye.
He made non abode,
Bot wyyghtly went hys way;
M...Read more of this...
by
Paterson, Andrew Barton
...a-garden, and on Sundays have a band
Where the "blokes" might take their "donahs", with a "public" close at hand?
You had better stick to Sydney and make merry with the "push",
For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush....Read more of this...
by
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...ged and new.
We cannot live it over again,
Not even a single day;
And as something sweet, and free from pain,
We had better let it away....Read more of this...
by
Trumbull, John
...s she'd spare;
Not vainer vows with sillier call
Elijah's prophets raised to Baal;
A worshipp'd stock of god or goddess
Had better heard and understood us.
So once Egyptians at the Nile
Ador'd their guardian crocodile,
Who heard them first with kindest ear,
And ate them to reward their prayer;
And could he talk, as kings can do,
Had made as gracious speeches too.
"Thus, spite of prayers, her schemes pursuing,
She still went on to work our ruin;
Annull'd our charters...Read more of this...
by
Marvell, Andrew
...ir Lord;
But this great want, will not along one prove,
Your Conquering Sword will soon that want remove.
For Spain had better, Shee'l ere long confess,
Have broken all her Swords, then this one Peace,
Casting that League off, which she held so long,
She cast off that which only made her strong.
Forces and art, she soon will feel, are vain,
Peace, against you, was the sole strength of Spain.
By that alone those Islands she secures,
Peace made them hers, but War wi...Read more of this...
by
Frost, Robert
...being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the Light was spoken....Read more of this...
by
Swinburne, Algernon Charles
...man in things dispassionate.
Nor holds he fellowship forlorn
With souls that pray and hope and hate,
And doubt they had better not been born,
And fain would lure or scare off fate
And charm their doomsman from their doom
And make fear dig its own false tomb.
He builds not half of doubts and half
Of dreams his own soul's cenotaph,
Whence hopes and fears with helpless eyes,
Wrapt loose in cast-off cerecloths, rise
And dance and wring their hands and laugh,
And weep thi...Read more of this...
by
Hardy, Thomas
...han viols out-of-doors
In these frosts and hoars.
That old-fashioned way
Requires a fine day,
And it seems to me
It had better not be."
Hence, that afternoon,
Though never knew he
That his wish could not be,
To get through it faster
They buried the master
Without any tune.
But 'twas said that, when
At the dead of next night
The vicar looked out,
There struck on his ken
Thronged roundabout,
Where the frost was graying
The headstoned grass,
A band all in white
Like...Read more of this...
by
Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...Where a faint light shines alone,
Dwells a Demon I have known.
Most of you had better say
"The Dark House," and go your way.
Do not wonder if I stay.
For I know the Demon's eyes
And their lure that never dies.
Banish all your fond alarms,
For I know the foiling charms
Of her eyes and of her arms,
And I know that in one room
Burns a lamp as in a tomb;
And I see the shadow glide,
Back and forth, of one denied
...Read more of this...
by
Field, Eugene
...seize
The booty the Injuns got.
With tum-titty-um-tum-tum,
And r-r-rat-tat-tat,
When soldiers marching come
Injuns had better scat!
Step up there, little Fred,
And, Charley, have a mind!
Jim is as far ahead
As you two are behind!
Ready with gun and sword
Your valorous work to do -
Yonder the Injun horde
Are lying in wait for you.
And their hearts go pitapat
When they hear the soldiers come
With a r-r-rat-tat-tat
And a tum-titty-um-tum-tum!
Course it's all in play!
...Read more of this...
by
Wordsworth, William
...h none could be more painful to him, except perhaps that of having ridiculed his Bible.] When he had better far have stretch'd his limbs Beside a 'brook in mossy forest-dell By sun or moonlight, to the influxes Of shapes and sounds and shifting elements Surrendering his whole spirit, of his song And of his fame forgetful! so his fame Should share in nature's immort...Read more of this...
by
Service, Robert William
...ed day by day.
I never came. I did not even write.
For when I saw my face was such a sight
I thought that I had better . . . stay away.
And so I took the name of one who died,
A friendless friend who perished by my side.
In Prussian prison camps three years of hell
I kept my secret; oh, I kept it well!
And now I'm free, but none shall ever know;
They think I died out there . . . it's better so.
To-day I passed my wife in widow'...Read more of this...
by
Brooks, Gwendolyn
...their softest care,
Served by their love, so barbarously fair.
Whose mothers taught: You'd better not be cruel!
You had better not throw stones upon the wrens!
Herein they kiss and coddle and assault
Anew and dearly in the innocence
With which they baffle nature. Who are full,
Sleek, tender-clad, fit, fiftyish, a-glow, all
Sweetly abortive, hinting at fat fruit,
Judge it high time that fiftyish fingers felt
Beneath the lovelier planes of enterprise.
To resurrect.<...Read more of this...
by
Stevenson, Robert Louis
...
O piper, lightly footing, lightly piping on your way,
Tho' your music thrills and pierces far and near,
I tell you you had better pipe to someone else to-day,
For you cannot pipe my fancy from my dear.
You sound the note of travel through the hamlet and the town;
You would lure the holy angels from on high;
And not a man can hear you, but he throws the hammer down
And is off to see the countries ere he die.
But now no more I wander, now unchanging here I stay;
By my...Read more of this...
by
Byron, George (Lord)
...it now.' — 'Canst thou upbraid,'
Continued Michael, 'George Rex, or allege
Aught further?' Junius answer'd, 'You had better
First ask him for his answer to my letter:
LXXXIII
'My charges upon record will outlast
The brass of both his epitaph and tomb.'
'Repent'st thou not,' said Michael, 'of some past
Exaggeration? something which may doom
Thyself if false, as him if true? Thou wast
Too bitter — is it not so? — in thy gloom
Of passion?' — 'Passion!' crie...Read more of this...
by
Lear, Edward
...person of Dundalk,Who tried to teach fishes to walk;When they tumbled down dead, he grew weary, and said,"I had better go back to Dundalk!" ...Read more of this...
by
Khayyam, Omar
...'Tis well in reputation to abide,
'Tis shameful against heaven to rail and chide;
Still, head had better ache with over drink,
Than be puffed up with Pharisaic pride!...Read more of this...
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