Famous Instructed Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Beowulf (Modern English)

...warriors after the evening’s light,
the brightness under heaven, becomes obscured. (ll. 405-14)

“Then my tribesmen instructed me, the best
of our wise men, that I should seek you,
Prince Hrothgar, because they knew my skillful power,
they observed it themselves when I came back
from sorties, splattered by my enemies,
where I bound up five warriors, and destroyed
a tribe of giants, and among the waves
struck down water-beasts by night,
enduring many close calls, a...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Carthage

...ns' strong might couplest the Tyrians' deceit!
But those ever governed with vigor the earth they had conquered,--
These instructed the world that they with cunning had won.
Say! what renown does history grant thee? Thou, Roman-like, gained'st
That with the steel, which with gold, Tyrian-like, then thou didst rule!...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

Colin Instructed

...Young Colin was as stout a boy 
As ever gave a maiden joy; 
But long in vain he told his tale 
To black-eyed Biddy of the Dale. 
Ah why, the whining shepherd cried, 
Am I alone your smiles denied? 
I only tell in vain my tale 
To black-eyed Biddy of the Dale. 

True Colin, said the laughing dame, 
You only whimper out your flame, 
Others do more than sigh ...Read more of this...
by Chatterton, Thomas

Dickinson Poems by Number

...long,
So instead of getting to Heaven, at last—
I'm going, all along.

326

I cannot dance upon my Toes—
No Man instructed me—
But oftentimes, among my mind,
A Glee possesseth me,

That had I Ballet knowledge—
Would put itself abroad
In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe—
Or lay a Prima, mad,

And though I had no Gown of Gauze—
No Ringlet, to my Hair,
Nor hopped to Audiences—like Birds,
One Claw upon the Air,

Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,
Nor rolled on...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Eviradnus

...homage sought to bring; 
 "If I were angel under heav'n," said he, 
 "Or girl or demon, I would seek to be 
 By you instructed in all art and grace, 
 And as in school but take a scholar's place. 
 Highness, you are a fairy bright, whose hand 
 For sceptre vile gave up your proper wand." 
 Fair Mahaud mused—then said, "Be silent now; 
 You seem to watch me; little 'tis I know, 
 Only that from Bohemia Joss doth come, 
 And that in Poland Zeno hath his home. 
 But ...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor


Falstaffs Lament Over Prince Hal Become Henry V

...ack here
To drown discontent;
For now intuitions
Shall wither to codes,
Pragmatized morals
Shall libel the gods.

One I instructed,
Yea, talked to -alone:
Precept -example
Clean away thrown!

Sorrow makes thirsty:
Sack, drawer, more sack! - 
One that I prayed for,
I, Honest Jack!

To bring down these grey hairs - 
To cut his old pal!
But, I'll be magnanimous - 
Here's to thee Hal!...Read more of this...
by Melville, Herman

Hymn

...Lord when the wise men came from farr,
Led to thy Cradle by a Starr,
Then did the shepherds too rejoyce,
Instructed by thy Angells voyce:
Blest were the wisemen in their skill,
And shepherds in their harmlesse will.

Wisemen in tracing Natures lawes
Ascend unto the highest cause,
Shepheards with humble fearfulnesse
Walke safely, though their light be lesse:
Though wisemen better know the way
It seems noe honest heart can stray.

Ther is noe merrit in the wise
B...Read more of this...
by Godolphin, Sidney

I cannot dance upon my Toes

...I cannot dance upon my Toes --
No Man instructed me --
But oftentimes, among my mind,
A Glee possesseth me,

That had I Ballet knowledge --
Would put itself abroad
In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe --
Or lay a Prima, mad,

And though I had no Gown of Gauze --
No Ringlet, to my Hair,
Nor hopped to Audiences -- like Birds,
One Claw upon the Air,

Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,
Nor rolled on whe...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

I Do I Will I Have

...How wise I am to have instructed the butler
to instruct the first footman to instruct the second
footman to instruct the doorman to order my carriage;
I am about to volunteer a definition of marriage.
Just as I know that there are two Hagens, Walter and Copen,
I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered
into by a man who can't sleep with the window shut and a
w...Read more of this...
by Nash, Ogden

I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee

...knuckles nervously, 
A giant crab readying to walk, 
Or a blanket moving in its sleep.

You will remember, with a smile
Instructed by movies to reminisce, 
How strict her corsets must have been, 
How the huge arrangements of her hair
Would certainly betray the least 
Impassionate displacement there.
It was no rig for dallying, 
And maybe only marriage could 
Derange that queenly scaffolding -
As when a great ship, coming home, 
Coasts in the harbor, dropping sail
And loosing ...Read more of this...
by Nemerov, Howard

Lord when the wise men came from farr

...LORD when the wise men came from farr 
Ledd to thy Cradle by A Starr, 
Then did the shepheards too rejoyce, 
Instructed by thy Angells voyce, 
Blest were the wisemen in their skill, 5 
And shepheards in their harmelesse will. 

Wisemen in tracing natures lawes 
Ascend unto the highest cause, 
Shepheards with humble fearefulnesse 
Walke safely, though their light be lesse: 10 
Though wisemen better know the way 
It seemes noe honest heart can stray. 

Ther is noe me...Read more of this...
by Godolphin, Sidney

MFingal - Canto I

...When Yankies, skill'd in martial rule,
First put the British troops to school;
Instructed them in warlike trade,
And new manoeuvres of parade,
The true war-dance of Yankee reels,
And manual exercise of heels;
Made them give up, like saints complete,
The arm of flesh, and trust the feet,
And work, like Christians undissembling,
Salvation out, by fear and trembling;
Taught Percy fashionable races,
And modern modes of Chevy-Chases:
From B...Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

Paradise Lost: Book 12

...is dreadful: They beseech 
That Moses might report to them his will, 
And terrour cease; he grants what they besought, 
Instructed that to God is no access 
Without Mediator, whose high office now 
Moses in figure bears; to introduce 
One greater, of whose day he shall foretel, 
And all the Prophets in their age the times 
Of great Messiah shall sing. Thus, laws and rites 
Established, such delight hath God in Men 
Obedient to his will, that he vouchsafes 
Among them to set u...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Samson Agonistes

...
Her husband, how far urg'd his patience bears,
His vertue or weakness which way to assail:
Then with more cautious and instructed skill
Again transgresses, and again submits;
That wisest and best men full oft beguil'd
With goodness principl'd not to reject 
The penitent, but ever to forgive,
Are drawn to wear out miserable days,
Entangl'd with a poysnous bosom snake,
If not by quick destruction soon cut off
As I by thee, to Ages an example.

Dal: Yet hear me Samson; not that...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The King and the Shepherd

...s invite. 
Welcome ye Monuments of former Joys! 
Welcome! to bless again your Master's Eyes, 
And draw from Courts, th' instructed Shepherd cries. 
No more dear Relicks! we no more will part, 
You shall my Hands employ, who now revive my Heart. 
No Emulations, nor corrupted Times 
Shall falsely blacken, or seduce to Crimes 
Him, whom your honest Industry can please, 
Who on the barren Down can sing from inward Ease. 


How's this! the Monarch something mov'd rejoins. 
With su...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill

The Passion

...my feeble hands up-lock,
Yet on the softned Quarry would I score
My plaining vers as lively as before;
For sure so well instructed are my tears,
They would fitly fall in order'd Characters.

VIII

I thence hurried on viewles wing, 
Take up a weeping on the Mountains wilde,
The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring
Would soon unboosom all their Echoes milde,
And I (for grief is easily beguild)
Might think th'infection of my sorrows bound,
Had got a race of mourners on som p...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Peasants Confession

...timate his say, 
Grouchy had made for Wavre; and yet, on thought, 
I did not lead that way. 

I mused: “If Grouchy thus instructed be, 
The clash comes sheer hereon;
My farm is stript. While, as for pieces three, 
Money the French have none. 

“Grouchy unwarned, moreo’er, the English win, 
And mine is left to me— 
They buy, not borrow.”—Hence did I begin
To lead him treacherously. 

By Joidoigne, near to east, as we ondrew, 
Dawn pierced the humid air; 
And eastward faced I w...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

The Song against Grocers

...ith soap and sardines
And carried off by grooms,
For to be snatched by Duchesses
And drunk in dressing-rooms.

The hell-instructed Grocer
Has a temple made of tin,
And the ruin of good innkeepers
Is loudly urged therein;
But now the sands are running out
From sugar of a sort,
The Grocer trembles; for his time,
Just like his weight, is short....Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Triumph Of Chastity

...r witness of his truth:With others more, whose names I fully knew,(My guide instructed me,) that overthrewThe power of Love: 'mongst whom, of all the rest,Hippolytus and Joseph were the best. Anna Hume....Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

Upon a Little Lady Under the Discipline of an Excellent Person

...
 Eudoras she has done this Deed 
 And made the World thus in its Darling bleed ! 

 I know the Cruel Dame, 
 Too well instructed by my Flame ! 
 But see her shape ! But see her Face ! 
 In her Temple such is Diana's Grace ! 
Behold her Lute upon the Pavement lies, 
When Beautie's wrong'd, no wonder Musick dies ! 

V. 
What blood of Centaurs did thy Bosom warme, 
And boyle the Balsome there up to a Storme ? 
Nay Balsome flow'd not with so soft a Floud, 
As thy Thoughts Evenl...Read more of this...
by Killigrew, Anne

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