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Famous Labourers Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Moore, Thomas
...p,
'Twas Pitt began dancing the hay;
Hands round! -- why the deuce should we stop?
'Tis all in the family way.


My labourers used to eat mutton,
As any great man of the State does;
And now the poor devils are put on
Small rations of tea and potatoes.
But cheer up John, Sawney and Paddy,
The King is your father, they say;
So ev'n if you starve for your Daddy,
'Tis all in the family way.


My rich manufacturers tumble,
My poor ones have nothing to chew;
And, even i...Read more of this...



by Smart, Christopher
...ast Indies. 

Let Blomer, house of Blomer rejoice with Halimus a Shrub to hedge with. Lord have mercy upon poor labourers this bitter frost Deer 29 N.S. 1762. 

Let Merrick, house of Merrick rejoice with Lageus a kind of Grape. God all-sufficient bless and forward the Psalmist in the Lord Jesus. 

Let Appleby, house of Appleby rejoice with Laburnum a shrub whose blossom is disliked by bees. 

Let Waite, house of Waite rejoice with the Shittah-T...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...his cream-bowl duly set,
When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end;
Then lies him down, the lubber fiend,
And, stretched out all the chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength,
And crop-full out of doors he flings,
Ere the first cock his matin rings.
Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
By whispering winds soon lulled asleep.
Towered cities please us then,
And the busy hum of m...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...ow below; 
To the last moment true, from his hand ere it fell, 
Its point was still turn'd to a flying foe. 
Fellow-labourers in life, let them slumber in death, 
Side by side, as becomes the reposing brave -- 
That sword which he loved still unbroke in its sheath, 
And himself unsubdued in his grave. 

Yet pause -- for, in fancy, a still voice I hear, 
As if breathed from his brave heart's remains; -- 
Faint echo of that which, in Slavery's ear, 
Once sounded the war...Read more of this...

by Clare, John
...solitudes
Wi sharpend axes felling down
The oak trees budding into brown
Where as they crash upon the ground
A crowd of labourers gather round
And mix among the shadows dark
To rip the crackling staining bark
From off the tree and lay when done
The rolls in lares to meet the sun
Depriving yearly where they come
The green wood pecker of its home
That early in the spring began
Far from the sight of troubling man
And bord their round holes in each tree
In fancys sweet security
T...Read more of this...



by Lawrence, D. H.
...A gang of labourers on the piled wet timber
That shines blood-red beside the railway siding
Seem to be making out of the blue of the morning
Something faery and fine, the shuttles sliding,

The red-gold spools of their hands and faces shuttling
Hither and thither across the morn's crystalline frame
Of blue: trolls at the cave of ringing cerulean mining,
And la...Read more of this...

by Allingham, William
...hes by their side,
And, creeping on behind them, Paudeen Dhu 
Pretends his needful duty much to rue. 
Six big-boned labourers, clad in common frieze,
Walk in the midst, the Sheriff's staunch allies; 
Six crowbar men, from distant county brought, - 
Orange, and glorying in their work, 'tis thought,
But wrongly,- churls of Catholics are they, 
And merely hired at half a crown a day. 

The hamlet clustering on its hill is seen, 
A score of petty homesteads, dark and mean...Read more of this...

by Trumbull, John
...power to chatter,
And spoke the mother tongue of nature.
Each stock or stone could prate and gabble,
Worse than ten labourers of Babel.
Along the street, perhaps you'd see
A Post disputing with a Tree,
And mid their arguments of weight,
A Goose sit umpire of debate.
Each Dog you met, though speechless now,
Would make his compliments and bow,
And every Swine with congees come,
To know how did all friends at home.
Each Block sublime could make a speech,
In style...Read more of this...

by Heaney, Seamus
...blasphemy,
Consecrate the cauldron bog
Our holy ground and pray
Him to make germinate

The scattered, ambushed
Flesh of labourers,
Stockinged corpses
Laid out in the farmyards,

Tell-tale skin and teeth
Flecking the sleepers
Of four young brothers, trailed
For miles along the lines.

III

Something of his sad freedom
As he rode the tumbril
Should come to me, driving,
Saying the names

Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard,
Watching the pointing hands
Of country people,
Not knowin...Read more of this...

by Lawrence, D. H.
...:--
You are all these, and strange, it is my duty
To take you all, sordid or radiant tissued.


III

=Men=

Oh labourers, oh shuttles across the blue frame of morning,
You feet of the rainbow balancing the sky!
Oh you who flash your arms like rockets to heaven,
Who in lassitude lean as yachts on the sea-wind lie!
You who in crowds are rhododendrons in blossom,
Who stand alone in pride like lighted lamps;
Who grappling down with work or hate or passion,
Take st...Read more of this...

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