Famous Hinted Poems by Famous Poets

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

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152. Extempore in the Court of Session

...LORD ADVOCATEHE clenched his pamphlet in his fist,
 He quoted and he hinted,
Till, in a declamation-mist,
 His argument he tint it:
He gapèd for’t, he grapèd for’t,
 He fand it was awa, man;
But what his common sense came short,
 He eked out wi’ law, man.


MR. ERSKINECollected, Harry stood awee,
 Then open’d out his arm, man;
His Lordship sat wi’ ruefu’ e’e,
 And ey’d the gathering storm, man:
Like wind-driven hail it did as...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


293. The Whistle: A Ballad

...o’er:
Bright Phoebus ne’er witness’d so joyous a core,
And vow’d that to leave them he was quite forlorn,
Till Cynthia hinted he’d see them next morn.


Six bottles a-piece had well wore out the night,
When gallant Sir Robert, to finish the fight,
Turn’d o’er in one bumper a bottle of red,
And swore ’twas the way that their ancestor did.


Then worthy Glenriddel, so cautious and sage,
No longer the warfare ungodly would wage;
A high Ruling Elder to wallow in wine;
He left th...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

298. Prologue spoken at the Theatre of Dumfries

...le story:
The sage, grave Ancient cough’d, and bade me say,
“You’re one year older this important day,”
If wiser too—he hinted some suggestion,
But ’twould be rude, you know, to ask the question;
And with a would-be roguish leer and wink,
Said—“Sutherland, in one word, bid them Think!”


 Ye sprightly youths, quite flush with hope and spirit,
Who think to storm the world by dint of merit,
To you the dotard has a deal to say,
In his sly, dry, sententious, proverb way!
He bids ...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

62. Epistle to William Simson

...d I believe, my coaxin billie
 Your flatterin strain.


But I’se believe ye kindly meant it:
I sud be laith to think ye hinted
Ironic satire, sidelins sklented
 On my poor Musie;
Tho’ in sic phraisin terms ye’ve penn’d it,
 I scarce excuse ye.


My senses wad be in a creel,
Should I but dare a hope to speel
Wi’ Allan, or wi’ Gilbertfield,
 The braes o’ fame;
Or Fergusson, the writer-chiel,
 A deathless name.


(O Fergusson! thy glorious parts
Ill suited law’s dry, musty arts!...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

As the Bell Clinks

...re whirling down to Solon,
With a double lurch and roll on, best foot foremost, ganz und gar --
"She was very sweet," I hinted. "If a kiss had been imprinted?" --
"'Would ha' saved a world of trouble!" clashed the busy tonga-bar.
"'Been accepted or rejected!" banged and clanged the tonga-bar.

Then a notion wild and daring, 'spite the income tax's paring,
And a hasty thought of sharing -- less than many incomes are,
Made me put a question private, you can guess what I would d...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard


Camerons Heart

...big one, and rather a weight when 'twas full, 
Though Alister wound it up easy, for he had the strength of a bull. 
He hinted at heart-disease often, but, setting his fancy apart, 
I always believed there was nothing the matter with Cameron's heart. 

One day I was working below -- I was filling the bucket with clay, 
When Alister cried, `Pack it on, mon! we ought to be bottomed to-day.' 
He wound, and the bucket rose steady and swift to the surface until 
It reached the fir...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

Carol of Occupations

...this book;
It is for you, whoever you are—it is no farther from you than your hearing and sight
 are
 from
 you; 
It is hinted by nearest, commonest, readiest—it is ever provoked by them. 

You may read in many languages, yet read nothing about it; 
You may read the President’s Message, and read nothing about it there; 
Nothing in the reports from the State department or Treasury department, or in the daily
 papers
 or
 the weekly papers,
Or in the census or revenue returns, ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Delilah

...ws,
Is worse than serving in a shop or scaring off the crows.

He praised her "queenly beauty" first; and, later on, he hinted
At the "vastness of her intellect" with compliment unstinted.
He went with her a-riding, and his love for her was such
That he lent her all his horses and -- she galled them very much.

One day, THEY brewed a secret of a fine financial sort;
It related to Appointments, to a Man and a Report.
'Twas almost wortth the keeping, -- only seven people knew i...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

Dream Song 136: While his wife earned the living Rabbi Henry

...moured that they needed revision.
Smiling, kissing, he bent his head not with 'Please'
but with austere requests barely hinted,

like a dog with a bone he worried the Sacred Book 
and often taught its fringes.
Imperishable enthusiasms.
I have only one request to make of the Lord,
that I may no longer have to earn my living as a rabbi
'Thou shalt make unto thee any graven image'

The sage said 'I merit long life if only because
I have never left bread-crumbs lying on the groun...Read more of this...
by Berryman, John

Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV To Richard Boyle

...enetian door;
Conscious they act a true Palladian part,
And, if they starve, they starve by rules of art.

Oft have you hinted to your brother peer,
A certain truth, which many buy too dear:
Something there is more needful than expense,
And something previous ev'n to taste--'tis sense:
Good sense, which only is the gift of Heav'n,
And though no science, fairly worth the sev'n:
A light, which in yourself you must perceive;
Jones and Le Notre have it not to give.

To build, to ...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Pagett M.P

...wonder that any one stayed.

July was a trifle unhealthy, -- Pagett was ill with fear.
'Called it the "Cholera Morbus," hinted that life was dear.
He babbled of "Eastern Exile," and mentioned his home with tears;
But I haven't seen my children for close upon seven years.

We reached a hundred and twenty once in the Court at noon,
(I've mentioned Pagett was portly) Pagett, went off in a swoon.
That was an end to the business; Pagett, the perjured, fled
With a practical, workin...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

Pickthorn Manor

...Her 
tirewoman with a letter, printed
Upon the seal were the Deane crest and name. With utmost gentleness, 
the letter hinted
His understanding and his deep regret. But would she not permit 
him once again
To pay her his profound respects? No 
word Of what had passed should pain
Her resolution. Only let them get
Back the old comradeship. Her eyes were wet
With starting tears, now truly she deplored

XL
His misery. Yes, she was wrong to keep Away 
from him. He hardly was to b...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

Sisters cake

...have got the things, I'll make some cake to-day!"
Poor mother'd cast a timid glance at father, like as not--
For father hinted sister's cooking cost a frightful lot--
But neither she nor he presumed to signify dissent,
Accepting it for gospel truth that what she wanted went!

No matter what the rest of 'em might chance to have in hand,
The whole machinery of the house came to a sudden stand;
The pots were hustled off the stove, the fire built up anew,
With every damper set ju...Read more of this...
by Field, Eugene

Sweeney

...e chap were living still, 
For they'd carried swags together from the Gulf to Broken Hill.) 

Sweeney yarned awhile and hinted that his folks were doing well, 
And he told me that his father kept the Southern Cross Hotel; 
And I wondered if his absence was regarded as a loss 
When he left the elder Sweeney -- landlord of the Southern Cross. 

He was born in Parramatta, and he said, with humour grim, 
That he'd like to see the city ere the liquor finished him, 
But he couldn't...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

The Ballad Of Gum-Boot Ben

...He was an old prospector with a vision bleared and dim.
 He asked me for a grubstake, and the same I gave to him.
 He hinted of a hidden trove, and when I made so bold
 To question his veracity, this is the tale he told.

"I do not seek the copper streak, nor yet the yellow dust;
I am not fain for sake of gain to irk the frozen crust;
Let fellows gross find gilded dross, far other is my mark;
Oh, gentle youth, this is the truth--I go to seek the Ark.

"I prospected the Pell...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Ghosts

...wife lay clutched in the tentacles of pain;
Then came the doctor, grave and grey; spoke of decline, of nervous strain;
Hinted Egypt, the South of France -- Brown with terror was tiger-gripped.
Where was the money? What the chance? Pitiful God! . . . the manuscript!
A thousand dollars! his only hope! he gazed and gazed at the garret wall. . . .
Reached at last for the envelope, turned to his wife and told her all.
Told of his friend, his promise true; told like his very heart...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Hard Times In Elfland

...s invade
My cash in Santa Claus's name)
In full the hard, hard times surveyed;
Denounced all waste as crime and shame;

Hinted that "waste" might be a term
Including skates, velocipedes,
Kites, marbles, soldiers, towers infirm,
Bows, arrows, cannon, Indian reeds,

Cap-pistols, drums, mechanic toys,
And all th' infernal host of horns
Whereby to strenuous hells of noise
Are turned the blessed Christmas morns;

Thus, roused -- those horns! -- to sacred rage,
I rose, forefinger h...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney

The Haunted House

...der thread
Ran with a nimble terror.

The very stains and fractures on the wall,
Assuming features solemn and terrific,
Hinted some tragedy of that old hall,
Locked up in hieroglyphic.

Some tale that might, perchance, have solved the doubt,
Wherefore, among those flags so dull and livid,
The banner of the bloody hand shone out
So ominously vivid.

Some key to that inscrutable appeal
Which made the very frame of Nature quiver,
And every thrilling nerve and fiber feel
So ague-...Read more of this...
by Hood, Thomas

The Story Of Our Lives

...sistably to failure."
It was hard to keep reading.
I was tired and wanted to give up.
The book seemed aware of this.
It hinted at changing the subject.
I waited for you to wake not knowing
how long I waited,
and it seemed that I was no longer reading.
I heard the wind passing
like a stream of sighs
and I heard the shiver of leaves
in the trees outside the window.
It would be in the book.
Everything would be there.
I looked at your face
and I read the eyes, the nose, the mouth...Read more of this...
by Strand, Mark

Whoever You are Holding Me now in Hand

...s much evil, perhaps more; 
For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times and not hit—that which I
 hinted
 at; 
Therefore release me, and depart on your way....Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

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