Famous Jenny Poems by Famous Poets

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

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325. Song—What can a Young Lassie do wi' an Auld Man?

...ung lassie,
 What can a young lassie do wi’ an auld man?
Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie
 To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’.
Bad luck on the penny that tempted my minnie
 To sell her puir Jenny for siller an’ lan’!


He’s always compleenin’ frae mornin’ to e’enin’,
 He hoasts and he hirples the weary day lang;
He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen,—
 O dreary’s the night wi’ a crazy auld man!
He’s doylt and he’s dozin, his blude it is frozen,...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


75. Halloween

...el,
 Or whether ’twas a bauk-en’,
Or whether it was Andrew Bell,
 She did na wait on talkin
 To spier that night.


Wee Jenny to her graunie says,
 “Will ye go wi’ me, graunie?
I’ll eat the apple at the glass, 10
 I gat frae uncle Johnie:”
She fuff’t her pipe wi’ sic a lunt,
 In wrath she was sae vap’rin,
She notic’t na an aizle brunt
 Her braw, new, worset apron
 Out thro’ that night.


“Ye little skelpie-limmer’s face!
 I daur you try sic sportin,
As seek the foul thief ony...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

83. The Cotter's Saturday Night

...ers roun’;
Some ca’ the pleugh, some herd, some tentie rin
 A cannie errand to a neibor town:
 Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman-grown,
In youthfu’ bloom-love sparkling in her e’e—
 Comes hame, perhaps to shew a braw new gown,
Or deposite her sair-won penny-fee,
To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be.


With joy unfeign’d, brothers and sisters meet,
 And each for other’s weelfare kindly speirs:
The social hours, swift-wing’d, unnotic’d fleet:
 Each tells the unc...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

86. The Auld Farmer's New-Year-Morning Salutation to his Auld Mare Maggie

...ocher clear,
 An’ fifty mark;
Tho’ it was sma’, ’twas weel-won gear,
 An’ thou was stark.


When first I gaed to woo my Jenny,
Ye then was trotting wi’ your minnie:
Tho’ ye was trickie, slee, an’ funnie,
 Ye ne’er was donsie;
But hamely, tawie, quiet, an’ cannie,
 An’ unco sonsie.


That day, ye pranc’d wi’ muckle pride,
When ye bure hame my bonie bride:
An’ sweet an’ gracefu’ she did ride,
 Wi’ maiden air!
Kyle-Stewart I could bragged wide
 For sic a pair.


Tho’ now ye dow ...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

Blind Mans Buff

...
At hob-nail Dick, who griev'd the chance.
But now for Blind man's Buff they call;
Of each encumbrance clear the hall--
Jenny her silken 'kerchief folds,
And blear-eyed Will the black lot holds.
Now laughing stops, with `Silence! hush!'
And Peggy Pout gives Sam a push.
The Blind man's arms, extended wide,
Sam slips between:--`O woe betide
Thee, clumsy Will!'--but titt'ring Kate
Is penn'd up in the corner straight!
And now Will's eyes beheld the play;
He thought his face was t...Read more of this...
by Blake, William


For John Clare

...Seasons that pass with a rush. After all it's their time too--nothing says they aren't to make something of it. As for Jenny Wren, she cares, hopping about on her little twig like she was tryin' to tell us somethin', but that's just it, she couldn't even if she wanted to--dumb bird. But the others--and they in some way must know too--it would never occur to them to want to, even if they could take the first step of the terrible journey toward feeling somebody should act, tha...Read more of this...
by Ashbery, John

Jenny Carrister The Heroine of Lucknow-Mine

...A heroic story I will unfold,
Concerning Jenny Carrister, a heroine bold,
Who lived in Australia, at a gold mine called Lucknow,
And Jenny was beloved by the the miners, somehow. 

Jenny was the only daughter of the old lady who owned the mine-
And Jenny would come of an evening, like a gleam of sunshine,
And by the presence of her bright face and cheery voice,
She made the hearts of the unlucky di...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

Jenny Kiss'd Me

...Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and welth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me....Read more of this...
by Hunt, James Henry Leigh

Little Jenny Wren

...Little Jenny Wren fell sick,    Upon a time;In came Robin Redbreast    And brought her cake and wine."Eat well of my cake, Jenny,    Drink well of my wine.""Thank you, Robin, kindly,    You shall be mine."Jenny she got well,    And stood upon her feet,And told Robin ...Read more of this...
by Goose, Mother

Mack The Knife

...ared, dear
After drawing out his cash;
And Macheath spends like a sailor.
Did our boy do something rash?

Sukey Tawdry, Jenny Diver,
Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, dear
Now that Mackie's back in town....Read more of this...
by Brecht, Bertolt

Marginalia

...of freedom we’ve got"

"At the end of the day she shopped me and all I’d done

Was take a few pound from the till ’cos Jenny was ill

And I didn’t have thirteen quid to get the bloody prescription done" 

To-morrow I’ll be back in the Great Wen,

Two days of manic catching up and then

Thistledown, wild wheat, a dozen kinds of grass,

The mass of beckoning hills I’d love to make

A poet’s map of but never will.

"Oh to break loose" Lowell’s magic lines

Entice me still but s...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

Rondeau

...Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and welth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me....Read more of this...
by Hunt, James Henry Leigh

Stalk Me

...Liner Notes - (from Love Is A Dog From Hell)

My friend Jenny is really
worried that people are going to follow me around and send me dead animal
parts and doll heads as a result of this song but please, if you feel inclined
to send me dead animal parts, think it through. Thanks.


Stalk me
I once wrote a poem called **** ME
So stalk me
I'm asking for it 
Don't take your medication
Stalk ME

Write to me and say D...Read more of this...
by Estep, Maggie

The Dance At The Phoenix

...To Jenny came a gentle youth 
 From inland leazes lone; 
His love was fresh as apple-blooth 
 By Parrett, Yeo, or Tone. 
And duly he entreated her 
To be his tender minister, 
 And call him aye her own. 

Fair Jenny's life had hardly been 
 A life of modesty; 
At Casterbridge experience keen 
 Of many loves had she 
From scarcely sixteen years above: 
Among the...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

The Grandmother

...I mean your grandfather, Annie: it cost me a world of woe,
Seventy years ago, my darling, seventy years ago. 

VII.
For Jenny, my cousin, had come to the place, and I knew right well
That Jenny had tript in her time: I knew, but I would not tell.
And she to be coming and slandering me, the base little liar!
But the tongue is a fire as you know, my dear, the tongue is a fire. 

VIII.
And the parson made it his text that week, and he said likewise,
That a lie which is half a tr...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Schooner Flight

...your prayers, if life leave you any!"

I have not loved those that I loved enough.
Worse than the mule kick of Kick-'Em-Jenny
Channel, rain start to pelt the Flight between
mountains of water. If I was frighten?
The tent poles of water spouts bracing the sky
start wobbling, clouds unstitch at the seams
and sky water drench us, and I hear myself cry,
"I'm the drowned sailor in her Book of Dreams."
I remembered those ghost ships, I saw me corkscrewing
to the sea bed of sae worm...Read more of this...
by Walcott, Derek

The sun has burst the sky

...The sun has burst the sky
Because I love you
And the river its banks.

The sea laps the great rocks
Because I love you
And takes no heed of the moon dragging it away
And saying coldly 'Constancy is not for you'.
The blackbird fills the air
Because I love you
With spring and lawns and shadows falling on lawns.

The people walk in the street and laugh
I love...Read more of this...
by Joseph, Jenny

The Sunset Years of Samuel Shy

...nnocent rousers of instincts primordial,
But even though health and wealth
Hadn't yet missed me,
None of them,
Not even Jenny,
Once kissed me.

These very same girls
Who with me have grown older
Now freely relax with a head on my shoulder,
And now come the kisses,
A flood in full spate,
The meaningless kisses, too many too late.
They kiss me hello,
They kiss me goodbye,
Should I offer a light, there's a kiss for reply.
They kiss me at weddings,
They kiss me at wakes,
The drop...Read more of this...
by Nash, Ogden

Warning

...When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And ma...Read more of this...
by Joseph, Jenny

Washington McNeely

...s.
They were strong children, promising as apples
Before the bitten places show.
But John fled the country in disgrace.
Jenny died in child-birth --
I sat under my cedar tree.
Harry killed himself after a debauch,
Susan was divorced --
I sat under my cedar tree.
Paul was invalided from over study,
Mary became a recluse at home for love of a man --
I sat under my cedar tree.
All were gone, or broken-winged or devoured by life --
I sat under my cedar tree.
My mate, the mother o...Read more of this...
by Masters, Edgar Lee

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