Famous Instants Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Instants poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous instants poems. These examples illustrate what a famous instants poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Emily Dickinson
I sometimes drop it, for a Quick --
The Thought to be alive --
Anonymous Delight to know --
And Madder -- to conceive --
Consoles a Woe so monstrous
That did it tear all Day,
Without an instant's Respite --
'Twould look too far -- to Die --...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
Crumbling is not an instant's Act
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation's processes
Are organized Decays.
'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul
A Cuticle of Dust
A Borer in the Axis
An Elemental Rust --
Ruin is formal -- Devil's work
Consecutive and slow --
Fail in an instant, no man did
Slipping -- is Crash's law....Read more of this...
by
Kahlil Gibran
The God separated a spirit from Himself and fashioned it into Beauty. He showered upon her all the blessings of gracefulness and kindness. He gave her the cup of happiness and said, "Drink not from this cup unless you forget the past and the future, for happiness is naught but the moment." And He also gave her a cup...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I know lives, I could miss
Without a Misery --
Others -- whose instant's wanting --
Would be Eternity --
The last -- a scanty Number --
'Twould scarcely fill a Two --
The first -- a Gnat's Horizon
Could easily outgrow --...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I gained it so --
By Climbing slow --
By Catching at the Twigs that grow
Between the Bliss -- and me --
It hung so high
As well the Sky
Attempt by Strategy --
I said I gained it --
This -- was all --
Look, how I clutch it
Lest it fall --
And I a Pauper go --
Unfitted by an instant's Grace
For the Contented -- Beggar's face
I...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
The Heart has narrow Banks
It measures like the Sea
In mighty -- unremitting Bass
And Blue Monotony
Till Hurricane bisect
And as itself discerns
Its insufficient Area
The Heart convulsive learns
That Calm is but a Wall
Of unattempted Gauze
An instant's Push demolishes
A Questioning -- dissolves....Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
The Soul's Superior instants
Occur to Her -- alone --
When friend -- and Earth's occasion
Have infinite withdrawn --
Or She -- Herself -- ascended
To too remote a Height
For lower Recognition
Than Her Omnipotent --
This Mortal Abolition
Is seldom -- but as fair
As Apparition -- subject
To Autocratic Air --
Eternity's disclosure
To favorites -- a few --
Of the Colossal substance
Of Immortality...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
A Door just opened on a street --
I -- lost -- was passing by --
An instant's Width of Warmth disclosed --
And Wealth -- and Company.
The Door as instant shut -- And I --
I -- lost -- was passing by --
Lost doubly -- but by contrast -- most --
Informing -- misery --...Read more of this...
by
Bob Kaufman
On yardbird corners of embryonic hopes, drowned in a heroin tear.
On yardbird corners of parkerflights to sound filled pockets in space.
On neuro-corners of striped brains & desperate electro-surgeons.
On alcohol corners of pointless discussion & historical hangovers.
On television corners of cornflakes & rockwells impotent America.
On university corners of tailored intellect & greek letter openers.
On military corners of megathon deaths &...Read more of this...
by
Jorge Luis Borges
If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,
- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect,
I'll be more relaxed,
I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,
I'll take more risks,
I'll take more trips,
I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to...Read more of this...
by
John Berryman
In the night-reaches dreamed he of better graces,
of liberations, and beloved faces,
such as now ere dawn he sings.
It would not be easy, accustomed to these things,
to give up the old world, but he could try;
let it all rest, have a good cry.
Let Randall rest, whom your self-torturing
cannot restore one instant's good to, rest:
he's left us now.
The panic died and...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I know that He exists.
Somewhere -- in Silence --
He has hid his rare life
From our gross eyes.
'Tis an instant's play.
'Tis a fond Ambush --
Just to make Bliss
Earn her own surprise!
But -- should the play
Prove piercing earnest --
Should the glee -- glaze --
In Death's -- stiff -- stare --
Would not the fun
Look too expensive!
Would not the jest --
Have crawled too...Read more of this...
by
Siegfried Sassoon
You think I cannot understand. Ah, but I do...
I have been wrung with anger and compassion for you.
I wonder if you’d loathe my pity, if you knew.
But you shall know. I’ve carried in my heart too long
This secret burden. Has not silence wrought your wrong—
Brought you to dumb and wintry middle-age, with grey
Unfruitful...Read more of this...
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
et plus profonde, ou l'interet et l'avarice parlent moins haut
que la raison, dans les instants de chagrin domestique, de
maladie, et de peril de mort, les nobles se repentirent de
posseder des serfs, comme d'une chose peu agreable a Dieu, qui
avait cree tous les hommes a son image.--THIERRY, Conquete de
l'Angleterre.
In his chamber, weak and dying,
Was the Norman baron lying;
Loud, without, the...Read more of this...
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