Famous Hannibal Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Hannibal poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous hannibal poems. These examples illustrate what a famous hannibal poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Jonson, Ben
...THE TURN
Brave infant of Saguntum, clear
Thy coming forth in that great year,
When the prodigious Hannibal did crown
His rage with razing your immortal town.
Thou looking then about,
Ere thou wert half got out,
Wise child, didst hastily return,
And mad'st thy mother's womb thine urn.
How summ'd a circle didst thou leave mankind
Of deepest lore, could we the centre find!
THE COUNTER-TURN
Did wiser nature draw thee back,
From out the horror of th...Read more of this...
by
Marvell, Andrew
...is crest does plume!
What may not others fear
If thus he crown each year!
A Caesar he ere long to Gaul,
To Italy an Hannibal,
And to all states not free
Shall climacteric be.
The Pict no shelter now shall find
Within his parti-coloured mind;
But from this valour sad
Shrink underneath the plaid:
Happy if in the tufted brake
The English hunter him mistake,
Nor lay his hounds in near
The Caledonian deer.
But thou, the War's and Fortune's son,
March indefa...Read more of this...
by
Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...what hard to please.
Mine, I believe, is laughing at me now
In his primordial way,
Quite as he laughed of old at Hannibal,
Or rather at Alexander, let us say.
Therefore, be what you may,
Time has no further need
Of you, or of your breed.
My demon, irretrievably astray,
Has ruined the last chorus of a play
That will, so he avers, be played again some day;
And you, poor glowering ghost,
Have staggered under laurel here to boast
Above me, dying, while you ...Read more of this...
by
Manrique, Jorge
...n there!
In destiny a new Augustus;
A Caesar for his victories
And battle forces;
An Africanus in his justice;
A Hannibal for energies
And deep resources;
A Trajan in his gracious hour;
A Titus for his open hand
And cheer unfailing;
His arm, a Spartan king's in power;
His voice, a Tully's to command
The truth's prevailing!
In mildness Antoninus Pius;
A Marc Aurelius in the light
Of calm attending;
A Hadrian to pacify us;
A Theodosius in his right
And h...Read more of this...
by
Marvell, Andrew
...t does plume?
What may not others fear
If thus he crowns each year?
A C?.sar, he, ere long to Gaul,
To Italy an Hannibal,
And to all states not free
Shall climact?ric be.
The Pict no shelter now whall find
Within his parti-coloured mind,
But from this valour sad
Shrink underneath the plaid:
Happy, if in the tufted brake
The English hunter him mistake,
Nor lay his hounds in near
The Caledonian deer.
But thou, the Wars' and Fortune's son,
March indef...Read more of this...
by
Giovanni, Nikki
...hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me
For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on
My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save
I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver u...Read more of this...
by
Frost, Robert
...Was there even a cause too lost,
Ever a cause that was lost too long,
Or that showed with the lapse of time to vain
For the generous tears of youth and song?...Read more of this...
by
Dryden, John
...of the state.
His brows thick fogs, instead of glories, grace,
And lambent dullness play'd around his face.
As Hannibal did to the altars come,
Sworn by his sire a mortal foe to Rome;
So Shadwell swore, nor should his vow be vain,
That he till death true dullness would maintain;
And in his father's right, and realm's defence,
Ne'er to have peace with wit, nor truce with sense.
The king himself the sacred unction made,
As king by office, and as priest by trade:
In...Read more of this...
by
Moore, Thomas
...nd the people's mouth too, --
We shall all have a long run of Freddy's prosperity.
And, as for myself, who've like Hannibal, sworn
To hate the whole crew who would take our rents from us,
Had England but One to stand by thee, Dear Corn,
That last, honest Uni-Corn would be Sir Th-m-s!...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
...ecious monarch shed:And, when misfortune her dark mantle spreadO'er Hannibal, and his afflicted state,He laugh'd 'midst those who wept their adverse fate,That rank despite to wreak defeat had bred.Thus doth the mind oft variously concealIts several passions by a different veil;Now with a countenan...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
...TO FOLLOW UP HIS VICTORY OVER THE ORSINI. Hannibal conquer'd oft, but never knewThe fruits and gain of victory to get,Wherefore, dear lord, be wise, take care that yetA like misfortune happen not to you.Still in their lair the cubs and she-bear,Read more of this...
by
Chaucer, Geoffrey
..."
I trow at Troy when Pyrrhus brake the wall,
Or Ilion burnt, or Thebes the city,
Nor at Rome for the harm through Hannibal,
That Romans hath y-vanquish'd times three,
Was heard such tender weeping for pity,
As in the chamber was for her parting;
But forth she must, whether she weep or sing.
O firste moving cruel Firmament,
With thy diurnal sway that crowdest* aye, *pushest together, drivest
And hurtlest all from East till Occident
That naturally would hold anoth...Read more of this...
by
Hugo, Victor
...nd History, amazed,
Could not record the ruin of this retreat,
Unlike a downfall known before or the defeat
Of Hannibal—reversed and wrapped in gloom!
Of Attila, when nations met their doom!
Perished an army—fled French glory then,
Though there the Emperor! he stood and gazed
At the wild havoc, like a monarch dazed
In woodland hoar, who felt the shrieking saw—
He, living oak, beheld his branches fall, with awe.
Chiefs, soldiers, comrades died. Bu...Read more of this...
by
Lowell, Robert
...itol once crowned the forum,
are medals ruined by the hands of time;
they show how more was lost by chance and time
the Hannibal or Ceasar could consume.
The Tiber flows still, but its waste laments
a city that has fallen in its grave—
each wave's a woman beating at her breast.
O Rome! Form all you palms, dominion, bronze
and beauty, what was firm has fled. What once
was fugitive maintains its permenance....Read more of this...
by
Lindsay, Vachel
...enport, Kankakee.
Cars from Concord, Niagara, Boston,
Cars from Topeka, Emporia, and Austin.
Cars from Chicago, Hannibal, Cairo.
Cars from Alton, Oswego, Toledo.
Cars from Buffalo, Kokomo, Delphi,
Cars from Lodi, Carmi, Loami.
Ho for Kansas, land that restores us
When houses choke us, and great books bore us!
While I watch the highroad
And look at the sky,
While I watch the clouds in amazing grandeur
Roll their legions without rain
Over the blistering Kans...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
...alms obtained.Shook from his hands; the fall was not more strangeOf Hannibal, when Fortune pleased to changeHer mind, and on the Roman youth bestowThe favours he enjoy'd; nor was he soAmazed who frighted the Israelitish host—Struck by the Hebrew boy, that quit his boast;Nor Cyrus more astonish'd a...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
...ts of historic Fame.But now a foreign band the strain recalls—Stern Hannibal, that shook the Roman walls;Achilles, famed in Homer's lasting lay,The Trojan pair that kept their foes at bay;Susa's proud rulers, a distinguish'd pair,And he that pour'd the living storm of warOn the fallen thrones of A...Read more of this...
by
Dryden, John
...Scipio, when he saw
A beardless Consul made against the law,
And join his suffrage to the votes of Rome;
Though he with Hannibal was overcome.
Thus old Romano bow'd to Raphael's fame;
And scholar to the youth he taught, became.
Oh that your brows my laurel had sustain'd,
Well had I been depos'd, if you had reign'd!
The father had descended for the son;
For only you are lineal to the throne.
Thus when the State one Edward did depose;
A greater Edward in his room a...Read more of this...
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