Famous Labelled Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Bush Christening

...ay to the scrub
 Where he knew that pursuit would be risky,
The priest, as he fled, flung a flask at his head
 That was labelled "Maginnis's Whisky"! 

And Maginnis Magee has been made a J.P.,
 And the one thing he hates more than sin is
To be asked by the folk, who have heard of the joke,
 How he came to be christened Maginnis!...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton


Bush Christening

...y to the scrub 
Where he knew that pursuit would be risky, 
The priest, as he fled, flung a flask at his head 
That was labelled `MAGINNIS'S WHISKY'! 

And Maginnis Magee has been made a J.P., 
And the one thing he hates more than sin is 
To be asked by the folk, who have heard of the joke, 
How he came to be christened `Maginnis'!...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Commandeering

...d it. 

On his subsequent proceedings we must draw a little veil, 
For the Boers had left some sheep dip in that bottle labelled "Ale"; 
But the doctor said he's shift it -- if all other methods fail, 
We must use the stomach pump and commandeer it....Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Confessions

...green to a healthy eye?

To mine, it serves for the old June weather
Blue above lane and wall;
And that farthest bottle labelled "Ether"
Is the house o'ertopping all.

At a terrace, somewhere near the stopper,
There watched for me, one June,
A girl; I know, sir, it's improper,
My poor mind's out of tune.

Only, there was a way... you crept
Close by the side, to dodge
Eyes in the house, two eyes except:
They styled their house "The Lodge".

What right had a lounger up their la...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Honey Harvest

...edifice. Not otherwise he sacks
Those many-chambered palaces of wax.

Then let a choice of every kind be made,
And, labelled, set upon your storehouse racks —
Of Hawthorn-honey that of almond smacks:
The luscious Lime-tree-honey, green as jade:
Pale Willow-honey, hived by the first rover:
That delicate honey culled
From Apple-blossom, that of sunlight tastes:
And sunlight-coloured honey of the Clover.
Then, when the late year wastes,
When night falls early and the...Read more of this...
by Armstrong, Martin


Inside Ayers Rock

...at is turned off at night.
A high bank of medal-ribbony
lolly jars preside over
island counters like opened crates,
one labelled White Mugs, and covered with them.
A two-dimensional policeman
discourages shoplifting of gifts
and near the entrance, where you pay
for fuel, there stands a tribal man
in rib-paint and pubic tassel.
It is all gentle and kind.
In beyond the children's playworld
there are fossils, like crumpled
old drawings of creatures in rock....Read more of this...
by Murray, Les

Observation Car

...dless evacuation 
Of the long monotonous Now, the repetitive, tidy 
Officialdom of each siding, of each little station 
Labelled Monday, Tuesday - and goodness ! what happened to - Friday ? 

And the maddening way the other passengers alter: 
The schoolgirl who goes to the Ladies' comes back to her seat 
A lollipop blonde who leads you on to assault her, 
And you've just got her skirts round her waist and her pants round her feet 

When you find yourself fumbling about the ni...Read more of this...
by Hope, Alec Derwent (A D)

Robert William Service - Laughter

...ame, at those who scheme for pelf. . . .
But best of all the laughing game - is laughing at myself.

Some poet chap had labelled man the noblest work of God:
I see myself a charlatan, a humbug and a fraud.
Yea, 'spite of show and shallow wit, an sentimental drool,
I know myself a hypocrite, a coward and a fool.
And though I kick myself with glee profoundly on the pants,
I'm little worse, it seems to me, than other human ants.
For if you probe your private mind, impervious to ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Federal Bus Conductor and the Old Lady

...m -- for harm to one is harm to all the rest. 

Now, don't go trudgin' on alone, but get aboard the trap; 
That basket, labelled "Capital", you take it in your lap! 
It's nearly time we made a start, so let's 'ave no more talk: 
You 'urry up and get aboard, or else stop out and walk. 
We've got a flag; we've got a band; out 'orses travels fast; 
Ho! Right away, Bill! Let 'em go! The old 'un's come at last!...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Red Lacquer Music-Stand

...m the gilded pear
Upon the music-stand, startled him waiting there.
The sun would rise and he would meet it unprepared,
Labelled a fool in having missed what he had dared.
He ran across the room, took his pastilles and laid
Them on the flat-topped pear, most carefully displayed
To light with ease, then stood a little to one side,
Focussed a burning-glass and painstakingly tried
To hold it angled so the bunched and prismed rays
Should leap upon each other and spring into a bla...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

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