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Famous Havoc Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...th, thou son of Ecglaf,
never had Grendel these grim deeds wrought,
monster dire, on thy master dear,
in Heorot such havoc, if heart of thine
were as battle-bold as thy boast is loud!
But he has found no feud will happen;
from sword-clash dread of your Danish clan
he vaunts him safe, from the Victor-Scyldings.
He forces pledges, favors none
of the land of Danes, but lustily murders,
fights and feasts, nor feud he dreads
from Spear-Dane men. But speedily now
shall ...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,



...ul in the London Inn Square,
To see them wringing their hands and tearing their hair! 

And as the flames spread, great havoc they did make,
And the poor souls fought heroically in trying to make their escape;
Oh, it was horrible to see men and women trying to reach the door!
But in many cases death claimed the victory, and their struggles were o'er. 

Alas! 'twas pitiful the shrieks of the audience to hear,
Especially as the flames to them drew near;
Because on every face we...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...lay beside him, thirsty with love's drouth,
Called him soft names, played with his tangled hair,
And with hot lips made havoc of his mouth
Afraid he might not wake, and then afraid
Lest he might wake too soon, fled back, and then, fond renegade,

Returned to fresh assault, and all day long
Sat at his side, and laughed at her new toy,
And held his hand, and sang her sweetest song,
Then frowned to see how froward was the boy
Who would not with her maidenhood entwine,
Nor knew t...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar
...ck look, the play turned tragic:
Which such blight wrought on our bankrupt estate,
What ceremony of words can patch the havoc?...Read more of this...
by Plath, Sylvia
...lowers of the penumbra, issue of corruption, nourished in mortification,
jets of exquisite finality;
Come, spring, make havoc of them!

I trample on the snowdrops, it gives me pleasure to tread down the jonquils,
to destroy the chill Lent lilies;
for I am sick of them, their faint-bloodedness,
slow-blooded, icy-fleshed, portentous.

I want the fine, kindling wine-sap of spring,
gold, and of inconceivably fine, quintessential brightness,
rare almost as beams, yet overwhelmingl...Read more of this...
by Lawrence, D. H.



...d Hall which may be mine no more.
Leman's is fair; but think not I forsake
The sweet remembrance of a dearer shore;
Sad havoc Time must with my memory make,
Ere that or thou can fade these eyes before;
Though, like all things which I have loved, they are
Resigned for ever, or divided far.

The world is all before me; I but ask
Of Nature that with which she will comply— 
It is but in her summer's sun to bask,
To mingle with the quiet of her sky,
To see her gentle face without ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...ky seat
 You are due and behold you are due
 and the heavens are with you
 hosanna incalescent glorious liaison
 BOMB O havoc antiphony molten cleft BOOM
 Bomb mark infinity a sudden furnace
 spread thy multitudinous encompassed Sweep
 set forth awful agenda
 Carrion stars charnel planets carcass elements
 Corpse the universe tee-hee finger-in-the-mouth hop
 over its long long dead Nor
 From thy nimbled matted spastic eye
 exhaust deluges of celestial ghouls
 From thy appella...Read more of this...
by Corso, Gregory
...war without and frequent broil within 
Had made a path for blood and giant sin, 
That waited but a signal to begin 
New havoc, such as civil discord blends, 
Which knows no neuter, owns but foes or friends; 
Fix'd in his feudal fortress each was lord, 
In word and deed obey'd, in soul abhorr'd. 
Thus Lara had inherited his lands, 
And with them pining hearts and sluggish hands; 
But that long absence from his native clime 
Had left him stainless of oppression's crime, 
And no...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...him; for the wicked broth 
Confused the chemic labor of the blood, 
And tickling the brute brain within the man's 
Made havoc among those tender cells, and check'd 
His power to shape. He loathed himself, and once 
After a tempest woke upon a morn 
That mock'd him with returning calm, and cried:

"Storm in the night! for thrice I heard the rain 
Rushing; and once the flash of a thunderbolt -- 
Methought I never saw so fierce a fork -- 
Struck out the streaming mountain-side, ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...from whence your legions fell! 
If that way be your walk, you have not far; 
So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed; 
Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain." 
 He ceased; and Satan stayed not to reply, 
But, glad that now his sea should find a shore, 
With fresh alacrity and force renewed 
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, 
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock 
Of fighting elements, on all sides round 
Environed, wins his way; harder beset 
And more endanger...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...than the sun.
Most soft, most suavely glides that step,
 Advancing always at my back;
 From gaunt hemlock, rooks croak havoc:
The hunt is on, and sprung the trap.
Flayed by thorns I trek the rocks,
 Haggard through the hot white noon.
 Along red network of his veins
What fires run, what craving wakes?

Insatiate, he ransacks the land
 Condemned by our ancestral fault,
 Crying: blood, let blood be spilt;
Meat must glut his mouth's raw wound.
Keen the rending teeth and sweet
 ...Read more of this...
by Plath, Sylvia
...e
Planted his footstep--the spray
Boils o'er its borders! aloft
The unseen snow-beds dislodge
Their hanging ruin; alas,
Havoc is made in our train!
Friends, who set forth at our side,
Falter, are lost in the storm.
We, we only are left!
With frowning foreheads, with lips
Sternly compress'd, we strain on,
On--and at nightfall at last
Come to the end of our way,
To the lonely inn 'mid the rocks;
Where the gaunt and taciturn host
Stands on the threshold, the wind
Shaking his thi...Read more of this...
by Arnold, Matthew
...no spread of simple flowers
can change the limitations we must live with
snowdrops come and go – our fickle powers
play havoc with the talents we can thrive with
it’s just that february comes and lo - forthwith
for one brief snowdrop moment there’s a blaze
that lights the world up with its splash of praise...Read more of this...
by Gregory, Rg
...s. 

“He knew, and in his knowledge there was death. 
He knew there was a region all around him 
That lay outside man’s havoc and affairs,
And yet was not all hostile to their tumult, 
Where poets would have served and honored him, 
And saved him, had there been anything to save. 
But there was nothing, and his tethered range 
Was only a small desert. Kings of song
Are not for thrones in deserts. Towers of sound 
And flowers of sense are but a waste of heaven 
Where there is ...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...eful smile upon their baffled guest.
Heard ye the din of battle bray,
Lance to lance, and horse to horse?
Long years of havoc urge their destined course,
And thro' the kindred squadrons mow their way.
Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame,
With many a foul and midnight murder fed,
Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame,
And spare the meek usurper's holy head.
Above, below, the rose of snow,
Twined with her blushing foe, we spread:
The bristled Boar in infant-gore...Read more of this...
by Gray, Thomas
...in' fine:
Before the nicht's feenished on haggis we'll dine."

There wis death and destruction on every hand;
There wis havoc and horror on Naebuddy's Land.
And the shells bickered doun wi' a crump and a glare,
And the hameless wee bullets were dingin' the air.
Yet on they went staggerin', cooryin' doun
When the stutter and cluck o' a Maxim crept roun'.
And the legs o' McPhun they were sturdy and stoot,
And McPhee on his back kept a bonnie look-oot.
"On, on, ma brave lad! We'...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...roves 
Our fear of some disastrous chance for thee 
On hill, or plain, at sea, or flooding ford. 
So fierce a gale made havoc here of late 
Among the strange devices of our kings; 
Yea, shook this newer, stronger hall of ours, 
And from the statue Merlin moulded for us 
Half-wrenched a golden wing; but now--the Quest, 
This vision--hast thou seen the Holy Cup, 
That Joseph brought of old to Glastonbury?" 

`So when I told him all thyself hast heard, 
Ambrosius, and my fresh b...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...l,
          That flings its fragments to the gale,
          And broken arms and disarray
          Marked the fell havoc of the day.
     XX.

     'Viewing the mountain's ridge askance,
     The Saxons stood in sullen trance,
     Till Moray pointed with his lance,
          And cried: "Behold yon isle!—
     See! none are left to guard its strand
     But women weak, that wring the hand:
     'Tis there of yore the robber band
          Their booty wont to pi...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter
...usand guilders!"

A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;
So did the Corporation too.
For council dinners made rare havoc
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock;
And half the money would replenish
Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.
To pay this sum to a wandering fellow
With a gypsy coat of red and yellow!
"Beside," quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink,
"Our business was done at the river's brink;
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
And what's dead can't come to ...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert
...et calm as Thy Kingdom come.


11 After the Storm

There's a fresh light that follows a storm
while the whole sea still havoc; in its bright wake
I saw the veiled face of Maria Concepcion
marrying the ocean, then drifting away
in the widening lace of her bridal train
with white gulls her bridesmaids, till she was gone.
I wanted nothing after that day.
Across my own face, like the face of the sun,
a light rain was falling, wih the sea calm.

Fall gently, rain, on the sea's upt...Read more of this...
by Walcott, Derek

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry