Famous Horrifying Poems by Famous Poets

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

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1954

...ace was dull and ordinary,
it took away what I’d thought I could count on
about evil. He looked thin and lonely,
it was horrifying, he looked almost humble.
I felt awe that dirt was so impersonal,
and pity for the training bra,
pity and terror of eczema.
And I could not sit on my mother’s electric
blanket anymore, I began to have a 
fear of electricity—
the good people, the parents, were going to
fry him to death. This was what
his parents had been telling us:
Burton Abbott, ...Read more of this...
by Olds, Sharon


Beowulf (Modern English)

...55-66)

The companied hall dinned. For all the Danes,
for the city-dwellers, for every one of the keen,
there was a horrifying serving of ale. They were both angry,
ruthless and terrible opponents. The building echoed.
It was a great wonder that the wine-hall resisted
the battle-brave, that it did not just fall to the earth,
that house lovely yet mortal, but it was fastened within
and without with iron bands, smithed with crafty thoughts.
There from the floor was bu...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Calamity in London

...time before the gutted house could be entered in,
Then to search for the bodies the officers in charge did begin;
And a horrifying spectacle met their gaze,
Which made them stand aghast in a fit of amaze. 

Sometime before the firemen arrived,
Ten persons of their lives had been deprived,
By the choking smoke, and merciless flame,
Which will long in the memory of their relatives remain. 

Oh, Heaven! if was a frightful and pitiful sight to see
Seven bodies charred of the Jarv...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

In the waiting Room

...ng;
black, naked women with necks
wound round and round with wire
like the necks of light bulbs.
Their breasts were horrifying.
I read it right straight through.
I was too shy to stop.
And then I looked at the cover:
the yellow margins, the date.
Suddenly, from inside,
came an oh! of pain
--Aunt Consuelo's voice--
not very loud or long.
I wasn't at all surprised;
even then I knew she was 
a foolish, timid woman.
I might have been embarrassed,
but wasn't. What...Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

The Soudan, The Sphinxes, The Cup, The Lamp

...ye of man the gift uncommon could assume, 
 And pierce the mass, thick, black as hearse's plume, 
 To where lays on a horrifying bed 
 What was King Ninus, now hedged round with dread, 
 'Twould see by what is shadow of the light, 
 A line of feath'ry dust, bones marble-white. 
 A shudder overtakes the pois'nous snakes 
 When they glide near that powder, laid in flakes. 
 Death comes at times to him—Life comes no more! 
 And sets a jug and loaf upon the floor....Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor


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