Famous Ingenious Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Ainsi Va le Monde

...eyes; 
While the hir'd slave, the fiend of wrath, design'd 
To lash, with scorpion scourges, human-kind­ 
Dragg'd with ingenious pangs, the tardy hour, 
To feed the rancour of insatiate Pow'r. 

Blest be the favor'd delegates of Heav'n, 
To whose illustrious souls the task was giv'n 
To wrench the bolts of tyranny­and dare 
The petrifying confines of despair; 
With Heav'n's own breeze to cheer the gasping breath, 
And spread broad sun-shine in the caves of death. 

What is t...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby


Fit the Fifth ( Hunting of the Snark )

...
They threatened its life with a railway-share; 
They charmed it with smiles and soap. 

Then the Butcher contrived an ingenious plan 
For making a separate sally; 
And fixed on a spot unfrequented by man, 
A dismal and desolate valley. 


But the very same plan to the Beaver occurred: 
It had chosen the very same place: 
Yet neither betrayed, by a sign or a word, 
The disgust that appeared in his face. 

Each thought he was thinking of nothing but "Snark" 
And the glorious ...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Fleckno an English Priest at Rome

...Stairs head.
Not higher then Seav'n, nor larger then three feet;
Only there was nor Seeling, nor a Sheet,
Save that th' ingenious Door did as you come
Turn in, and shew to Wainscot half the Room.
Yet of his State no man could have complain'd;
There being no Bed where he entertain'd:
And though within one Cell so narrow pent,
He'd Stanza's for a whole Appartement.
Straight without further information,
In hideous verse, he, and a dismal tone,
Begins to exercise; as if I were
Po...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Ginza Samba

...e Ginza
Samba of breath and brass, the reed
Vibrating as a valve, the aether, the unimaginable
Wires and circuits of an ingenious box
Here in my room in this house built
A hundred years ago while I was elsewhere:

It is like falling in love, the atavistic
Imperative of some one
Voice or face--the skill, the copper filament,
The golden bellful of notes twirling through
Their invisible element from
Rio to Tokyo and back again gathering
Speed in the variations as they tunnel
The...Read more of this...
by Pinsky, Robert

Hiawathas Photographing

...family in order
Sat before him for their pictures:
Each in turn, as he was taken,
Volunteered his own suggestions,
His ingenious suggestions. 

First the Governor, the Father:
He suggested velvet curtains
Looped about a massy pillar;
And the corner of a table,
Of a rosewood dining-table.
He would hold a scroll of something,
Hold it firmly in his left-hand;
He would keep his right-hand buried
(Like Napoleon) in his waistcoat;
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of p...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis


Hiawathas photographing ( Part I )

...ily in order 
Sat before him for their pictures: 
Each in turn, as he was taken, 
Volunteered his own suggestions, 
His ingenious suggestions....Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Hiawathas Photographing (complete)

...family in order
Sat before him for their pictures:
Each in turn, as he was taken,
Volunteered his own suggestions,
His ingenious suggestions. 

First the Governor, the Father:
He suggested velvet curtains
Looped about a massy pillar;
And the corner of a table,
Of a rosewood dining-table.
He would hold a scroll of something,
Hold it firmly in his left-hand;
He would keep his right-hand buried
(Like Napoleon) in his waistcoat;
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of p...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Hildebrand

...by a Passing Motor, and was brought to Reason 

"Oh murder! What was that, Papa!"
"My child, It was a Motor-Car,
A most Ingenious Toy!
Designed to Captivate and Charm
Much rather than to rouse Alarm
In any English Boy.

"What would your Great Grandfather who
Was Aide-de-Camp to General Brue,
And lost a leg at Waterloo,
And Quatre-Bras and Ligny too!
And died at Trafalgar!-
What would he have remarked to hear
His Young Descendant shriek with fear,
Because he happened to be nea...Read more of this...
by Belloc, Hilaire

My Lady

...idea in mind,
I lived in utter delight,
pretending my subterfuge
found favor in your sight.

    In this strange, ingenious fashion,
I allowed the hope to be mine
that I still might see as human
what I really conceived as divine.

    Oh, how mad I became
in my blissful love of you,
for even though feigned, your favor
made all my madness seem true!

    How unwisely my ardent love,
which your glorious sun inflamed,
sought to feed upon your brightness,
thoug...Read more of this...
by Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor

Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen

...I

Many ingenious lovely things are gone
That seemed sheer miracle to the multitude,
protected from the circle of the moon
That pitches common things about. There stood
Amid the ornamental bronze and stone
An ancient image made of olive wood -
And gone are phidias' famous ivories
And all the golden grasshoppers and bees.

We too had many pretty toys when young:
A la...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

On the Disastrous Spread of Aestheticism in all Classes

...
And all my soul rose up to greet 
The sage of whom I learn.

I looked into his awful eyes:
I waited his decree:
I made ingenious attempts
To sit upon his knee.

The babe upraised his wondering eyes,
And timidly he said,
"A trend towards experiment
In modern minds is bred.

"I feel the will to roam, to learn
By test, experience, nous,
That fire is hot and ocean deep,
And wolves carnivorous.

"My brain demands complexity,"
The lisping cherub cried.
I looked at him, and only sa...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

Phyllis

...idea in mind,
I lived in utter delight,
pretending my subterfuge
found favor in your sight.

    In this strange, ingenious fashion,
I allowed the hope to be mine
that I still might see as human
what I really conceived as divine.

    Oh, how mad I became
in my blissful love of you,
for even though feigned, your favor
made all my madness seem true!

    How unwisely my ardent love,
which your glorious sun inflamed,
sought to feed upon your brightness,
thoug...Read more of this...
by Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor

Song of the Exposition

...carpentering, plastering, painting, 
To work as tailor, tailoress, nurse, hostler, porter,
To invent a little—something ingenious—to aid the washing, cooking, cleaning, 
And hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves. 

I say I bring thee, Muse, to-day and here, 
All occupations, duties broad and close, 
Toil, healthy toil and sweat, endless, without cessation,
The old, old general burdens, interests, joys, 
The family, parentage, childhood, husband and wife, 
The ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

That the Science of Cartography Is Limited

...map of this island, it is never so
I can say here is
the masterful, the apt rendering of
the spherical as flat, nor
an ingenious design which persuades a curve
into a plane,
but to tell myself again that

the line which says woodland and cries hunger
and gives out among sweet pine and cypress,
and finds no horizon

will not be there....Read more of this...
by Boland, Eavan

The Disciples

...ot lawful to declare),
And thrust it rudely in their faces.

"A filthy insult!" screamed the first;
The second smiled, "Ingenious blind!"
The youngest neither blessed nor cursed,
Contented to believe the worst -
That He had spoken all his mind!

The second earned the name of prig,
The first the epithet of prude;
The third, as merry as a grig,
On melon and on sucking pig
Feasts with the Great White Brotherhood....Read more of this...
by Crowley, Aleister

The Hunting Of The Snark

...e;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
 They charmed it with smiles and soap.

Then the Butcher contrived an ingenious plan
 For making a separate sally;
And had fixed on a spot unfrequented by man,
 A dismal and desolate valley.

But the very same plan to the Beaver occurred:
 It had chosen the very same place:
Yet neither betrayed, by a sign or a word,
 The disgust that appeared in his face.

Each thought he was thinking of nothing but "Snark"
 And the glorious w...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The Pangolin

...ith animals and gathered there to rest, on cold luxurious
 low stone seats--a monk and monk and monk--between the thus
 ingenious roof supports, have slaved to confuse
 grace with a kindly manner, time in which to pay a debt,
 the cure for sins, a graceful use
 of what are yet
 approved stone mullions branching out across
 the perpendiculars? A sailboat

was the first machine. Pangolins, made
 for moving quietly also, are models of exactness,
on four legs; on hind feet planti...Read more of this...
by Moore, Marianne

The Sompnours Tale

...prevailed, and were made the most of by the clergy, who
preyed on the affection and fear of the survivors, through the
ingenious doctrine of purgatory. Old paintings and illuminations
represent the dead as torn by hooks, roasted in fires, boiled in
pots, and subjected to many other physical torments.

4. Qui cum patre: "Who with the father"; the closing words of
the final benediction pronounced at Mass.

5. Askaunce: The word now means sideways or asquint; here it
means "as ...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

To His Honoured and Most Ingenious Friend Mr. Charles Cotton

...For brave comportment, wit without offence,
Words fully flowing, yet of influence:
Thou art that man of men, the man alone,
Worthy the public admiration:
Who with thine own eyes read'st what we do write,
And giv'st our numbers euphony, and weight.
Tell'st when a verse springs high, how understood
To be, or not born of the Royal blood.
What state above, wha...Read more of this...
by Herrick, Robert

To His Noble Friend Mr. Richard Lovelace Upon His Poems

...alter with the climes, 
Our wits have drawn the infection of our times. 
That candid age no other way could tell 
To be ingenious, but by speaking well. 
Who best could praise had then the greatest praise, 
'Twas more esteemed to give than bear the bays: 
Modest ambition studied only then 
To honour not herself but worthy men. 
These virtues now are banished out of town, 
Our Civil Wars have lost the civic crown. 
He highest builds, who with most art destroys, 
And against ot...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Ingenious poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter