Famous Instantly Poems by Famous Poets

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

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133. The Brigs of Ayr

...heeling hare;
Ane on th’ Auld Brig his airy shape uprears,
The other flutters o’er the rising piers:
Our warlock Rhymer instantly dexcried
The Sprites that owre the Brigs of Ayr preside.
(That Bards are second-sighted is nae joke,
And ken the lingo of the sp’ritual folk;
Fays, Spunkies, Kelpies, a’, they can explain them,
And even the very deils they brawly ken them).
“Auld Brig” appear’d of ancient Pictish race,
The very wrinkles Gothic in his face;
He seem’d as he wi’ Time ...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Tale of the Sea

..., and was a treat. 

Then he asked me to taste it, saying It was good without doubt,
Then I tasted it, but in disgust I instantly spat it out;
Saying, if I was to die within an hour on the briny flood,
I would neither eat the flesh nor drink the blood. 

Then in the afternoon again he turned to me,
Saying, I'm going to cut Jim's throat for more blood d'ye see;
Then I begged of him, for God's sake not to cut the throat of poor Jim,
But he cried, Ha! ha! to save my own life I c...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

Beowulf (Modern English)

...slumbering after their feast—
they knew no sorrow, no misery of mankind.
That wicked creature, grim and greedy,
was instantly ready, savage and severe,
and he snatched up thirty thanes from their rest.
From there he soon departed, exulting in his spoils,
venturing back to his home, seeking out his lair
glutted by slaughter. (ll. 115-25)

It was in the dark before dawn, the earliest morn,
when Grendel’s savage strength was revealed to men.
Then a great cry was heav...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Child of Europe

...r',
Posthumous child of Leonidas
Treasure the skills acquired in the hour of terror.

You have a clever mind which sees instantly
The good and bad of any situation.
You have an elegant, skeptical mind which enjoys pleasures
Quite unknown to primitive races.

Guided by this mind you cannot fail to see
The soundness of the advice we give you:
Let the sweetness of day fill your lungs
For this we have strict but wise rules.

3
There can be no question of force triumphant
We live ...Read more of this...
by Milosz, Czeslaw

Confession (to Alina Osipova 1826)

...airs your weightless footfall,
Your dress's rustle, reaches me,
Your voice, as maidenly, as youthful -
I lose my senses instantly.
You smile at me - I'm glad, immensely;
Ignore me - and I'm sad, again;
Your pallid hand will recompense me
For the whole day of utter pain.
When you're embroidering, or setting
Your eye on something fair, or letting
Your hair amuse you - I'm beguiled;
In silence, reddening, all forgetting
I watch you like a spellbound child.
But then how wretched ...Read more of this...
by Pushkin, Alexander


Crow and the Sea

...sympathy for the sea 
But it shouldered him off - as a dead thing shoulders you off. 

He tried hating the sea 
But instantly felt like a scrutty dry rabbit-dropping on the windy cliff. 

He tried just being in the same world as the sea 
But his lungs were not deep enough 

And his cheery blood banged off it 
Like a water-drop off a hot stove. 

Finally 

He turned his back and he marched away from the sea 

As a crucified man cannot move. ...Read more of this...
by Hughes, Ted

Gioconda And Si-Ya-U

...of an American trumpet
--the horn of a 12-horsepower Ford--
 I awoke from a dream,
and what I glimpsed for an instant
 instantly vanished.
What I'd seen was a still blue lake.
In this lake the slant-eyed light of my life
 had wrapped his fingers around the neck of a gilded fish.
I tried to reach him,
my boat a Chinese teacup
and my sail
 the embroidered silk
 of a Japanese
 bamboo umbrella...


NEWS FROM THE PARIS WIRELESS


 HALLO
 HALLO
 HALLO

 PARIS
 PARIS
 PARIS

The ra...Read more of this...
by Hikmet, Nazim

Melancholetta

...yed,
"Which kind of recreation,
Hunting or fishing, have you made
Your special occupation?" 

Her lips curved downwards instantly,
As if of india-rubber.
"Hounds IN FULL CRY I like," said she:
(Oh how I longed to snub her!)
"Of fish, a whale's the one for me,
IT IS SO FULL OF BLUBBER!" 

The night's performance was "King John."
"It's dull," she wept, "and so-so!"
Awhile I let her tears flow on,
She said they soothed her woe so!
At length the curtain rose upon
'Bombastes Furio...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Paradise Lost: Book 08

...quy sublime, 
As with an object that excels the sense 
Dazzled and spent, sunk down; and sought repair 
Of sleep, which instantly fell on me, called 
By Nature as in aid, and closed mine eyes. 
Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell 
Of fancy, my internal sight; by which, 
Abstract as in a trance, methought I saw, 
Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape 
Still glorious before whom awake I stood: 
Who stooping opened my left side, and took 
From thence a rib, wit...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Part 6 of Trout Fishing in America

...ervice. I was an asset to society.

 It was pleasant work, but at times it made me uneasy.

It could grow dark in there instantly when there were some

clouds in the sky and they worked their way onto the sun.

Then you almost needed candles to fish by, and foxfire in

your reflexes.

 Once I was in there when it started raining. It was dark

and hot and steamy. I was of course on overtime. I had that

going in my favor. I caught seven trout in fifteen minutes.

 The trout in...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Part 7 of Trout Fishing in America

...at had in its

bottom the dregs of a distant vanilla pudding. She put the

pan in the shallow water along the shore and instantly, hun-

dreds of minnows gathered around. Then, mesmerized by

the vanilla pudding, they swam like a children's crusade

into the pan. She caught twenty fish with one dip. She put

the pan full of fish on the shore and the baby played with

the fish for an hour.

 We watched the baby to make sure she was just leaning

on them a little. We didn't wan...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Part 9 of Trout Fishing in America

...store.

 The baby ran down there and tried to make off with one of

his sausages.

 Trout Fishing in America Shorty was instantly alerted,

then he saw it was a baby and relaxed. He tried to coax her

to come over and sit on his legless lap. She hid behind his

wheelchair, staring past the metal at him, one of her hands

holding onto a wheel.

 "Come here, kid, " he said. "Come over and see old Trout

Fishing in America Shorty. "

 Just then the Benjamin Franklin statue turne...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Passage to India

...rs! Sirius and Jupiter! 
Passage to you! 

Passage—immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins! 
Away, O soul! hoist instantly the anchor! 
Cut the hawsers—haul out—shake out every sail!
Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough? 
Have we not grovell’d here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes? 
Have we not darken’d and dazed ourselves with books long enough? 

Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only! 
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with t...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Questions of Travel

...hummingbird in the world? 
To stare at some inexplicable old stonework, 
inexplicable and impenetrable, 
at any view, 
instantly seen and always, always delightful? 
Oh, must we dream our dreams 
and have them, too? 
And have we room 
for one more folded sunset, still quite warm? 

But surely it would have been a pity 
not to have seen the trees along this road, 
really exaggerated in their beauty, 
not to have seen them gesturing 
like noble pantomimists, robed in pink. 
--...Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

The Ballad of the White Horse

...pt for the woman
He let her business be,
And like his royal oath and rash
The good food fell upon the ash
And blackened instantly.

Screaming, the woman caught a cake
Yet burning from the bar,
And struck him suddenly on the face,
Leaving a scarlet scar.

King Alfred stood up wordless,
A man dead with surprise,
And torture stood and the evil things
That are in the childish hearts of kings
An instant in his eyes.

And even as he stood and stared
Drew round him in the dusk
Those...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Bonfire

...Of over-winter with the least tip-touch
Your tongue gives salt or sugar in your hand.
The place it reached to blackened instantly.
The black was all there was by day-light,
That and the merest curl of cigarette smoke—
And a flame slender as the hepaticas,
Blood-root, and violets so soon to be now.
But the black spread like black death on the ground,
And I think the sky darkened with a cloud
Like winter and evening coming on together.
There were enough things to be thought of ...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

The Bridge of Sighs

...ir! 

Look at her garments 
Clinging like cerements; 
Whilst the wave constantly 
Drips from her clothing; 
Take her up instantly, 
Loving, not loathing. 

Touch her not scornfully; 
Think of her mournfully, 
Gently and humanly; 
Not of the stains of her, 
All that remains of her 
Now is pure womanly. 

Make no deep scrutiny 
Into her mutiny 
Rash and undutiful: 
Past all dishonour, 
Death has left on her 
Only the beautiful. 

Still, for all slips of hers, 
One of Eve's fami...Read more of this...
by Hood, Thomas

The Flower

...A flower - shrivelled, bare of fragrance,
Forgotten on a page - I see,
And instantly my soul awakens,
Filled with an aimless reverie:

When did it bloom? the last spring? earlier?
How long? Where was it plucked? By whom?
By foreign hands? or by familiar?
And why put here, as in a tomb?

To mark a tender meeting by it?
A parting with a precious one?
Or just a walk, alone and quiet,
In forests' shade? in meadows' sun?

Is she alive? ...Read more of this...
by Pushkin, Alexander

The Jacquerie A Fragment

...ming he was changed to Rest,
And Life asleep did fancy he was Death.
A quick small shadow spotted the white world;
Then instantly 'twas huge, and huger grew
By instants till it did o'ergloom all space.
I lifted up mine eyes -- O thou just God!
I saw a spectre with a million heads
Come frantic downward through the universe,
And all the mouths of it were uttering cries,
Wherein was a sharp agony, and yet
The cries were much like laughs: as if Pain laughed.
Its myriad lips were ...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney

The Water-Nymph

...calls louder, louder...
"Come, monk, come, monk! To me, to me!.."
Then - disappears in limpid water,
And all is silent instantly...

On the third day the zealous hermit
Was sitting by the shore, in love,
Awaiting the delightful mermaid,
As shade was covering the grove...
Dark ceded to the sun's emergence;
Our monk had wholly disappeared -
Before a crowd of local urchins,
While fishing, found his hoary beard.

Translated by: Genia Gurarie, summer of 1995
Copyright retained by...Read more of this...
by Pushkin, Alexander

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