Famous Leapt Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Childs Nightmare

...uel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."

He had faded, he was gone
Years ago with Nursery Land,
When he leapt on me again
From the clank of a night train,
Overpowered me foot and head,
Lapped my blood, while on and on
The old voice cruel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."

Morphia drowsed, again I lay
In a crater by High Wood:
He was there with straddling legs,
Staring eyes as big as eggs,
Purring as he lapped my blood,
His black bulk darkenin...Read more of this...
by Graves, Robert


Al Aaraaf

...,
And woman's loveliness- and passionate love."

"But, list, Ianthe! when the air so soft
Fail'd, as my pennon'd spirit leapt aloft,
Perhaps my brain grew dizzy- but the world
I left so late was into chaos hurl'd-
Sprang from her station, on the winds apart.
And roll'd, a flame, the fiery Heaven athwart.
Methought, my sweet one, then I ceased to soar
And fell- not swiftly as I rose before,
But with a downward, tremulous motion thro'
Light, brazen rays, this golden star unto!
...Read more of this...
by Poe, Edgar Allan

Beowulf (Modern English)

...shes.
Keep your patience this day, among many woes,
just as I would expect you to be.” (ll. 1383-96)

The older man leapt up, thanking God,
the Mighty Lord, for how this man spoke.
Then was his horse bridled for Hrothgar,
a steed with braided mane. The wise prince
went forth, magnificent. His retinue proceeded by foot,
shield-having. Those tracks were clearly visible
through the forest-paths, her going over the ground,
straightways she had gone across the murky moo...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Charmides

...rough the open roof above the full and brimming moon

Flooded with sheeny waves the marble floor,
When from his nook up leapt the venturous lad,
And flinging wide the cedar-carven door
Beheld an awful image saffron-clad
And armed for battle! the gaunt Griffin glared
From the huge helm, and the long lance of wreck and ruin flared

Like a red rod of flame, stony and steeled
The Gorgon's head its leaden eyeballs rolled,
And writhed its snaky horrors through the shield,
And gaped...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar

Endymion: Book IV

...audacious in the sun,
Where that same treacherous wax began to run,
Felt not more tongue-tied than Endymion.
His heart leapt up as to its rightful throne,
To that fair shadow'd passion puls'd its way--
Ah, what perplexity! Ah, well a day!
So fond, so beauteous was his bed-fellow,
He could not help but kiss her: then he grew
Awhile forgetful of all beauty save
Young Phoebe's, golden hair'd; and so 'gan crave
Forgiveness: yet he turn'd once more to look
At the sweet sleeper,--...Read more of this...
by Keats, John


Guinevere

...and crying with full voice 
`Traitor, come out, ye are trapt at last,' aroused 
Lancelot, who rushing outward lionlike 
Leapt on him, and hurled him headlong, and he fell 
Stunned, and his creatures took and bare him off, 
And all was still: then she, `The end is come, 
And I am shamed for ever;' and he said, 
`Mine be the shame; mine was the sin: but rise, 
And fly to my strong castle overseas: 
There will I hide thee, till my life shall end, 
There hold thee with my life ag...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Heritage

...,
Stalking gentle flesh that feeds
By the river brink; no more
Does the bugle-throated roar
Cry that monarch claws have leapt
From the scabbards where they slept.
Silver snakes that once a year
Doff the lovely coats you wear,
Seek no covert in your fear
Lest a mortal eye should see;
What's your nakedness to me?
Here no leprous flowers rear
Fierce corollas in the air;
Here no bodies sleek and wet,
Dripping mingled rain and sweat,
Tread the savage measures of 
Jungle boys and g...Read more of this...
by Cullen, Countee

Hyperion

...deep to the high towers
Jarr'd his own golden region; and before
The quavering thunder thereupon had ceas'd,
His voice leapt out, despite of godlike curb,
To this result: "O dreams of day and night!
O monstrous forms! O effigies of pain!
O spectres busy in a cold, cold gloom!
O lank-eared phantoms of black-weeded pools!
Why do I know ye? why have I seen ye? why
Is my eternal essence thus distraught
To see and to behold these horrors new?
Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall?
A...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Inferno (English)

...all growth on either hand, 
 Or moving life, a spotted pard except, 
 That yawning rose, and stretched, and purred and leapt 
 So closely round my feet, that scarce I kept 
 The course I would. 
 That sleek and lovely thing, 
 The broadening light, the breath of morn and spring, 
 The sun, that with his stars in Aries lay, 
 As when Divine Love on Creation's day 
 First gave these fair things motion, all at one 
 Made lightsome hope; but lightsome hope was none 
 When down t...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Love

...Fiend,    This miserable Knight!   And that, unknowing what he did,  He leapt amid a murd'rous Band,  And sav'd from Outrage worse than Death    The Lady of the Land;   And how she wept and clasp'd his knees  And how she tended him in vain—  And ever strove to expiate    The Scorn, that craz'd his Brain   And that she nurs'd h...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

Pickthorn Manor

...n a fallen rake.

XXXI
She gave a little cry and fell quite prone In 
the long grass, and lay there very still.
Gervase leapt from the tree at her soft moan, And kneeling 
over her, with clumsy skill
Unloosed her bodice, fanned her with his hat, And his unguarded 
lips pronounced his heart.
"Eunice, my Dearest Girl, where are you hurt?" His 
trembling fingers dart
Over her limbs seeking some wound. She strove
To answer, opened wide her eyes, above
Her knelt Sir Everard, with ...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed

...es were placed, each in a small,
And slim, and burnished candlestick
Of pewter. The old man lit each wick,
And the room leapt more obviously
Upon my mind, and I could see
What the flickering fire had hid from me.
Above the chimney's yawning throat,
Shoulder high, like the dark wainscote,
Was a mantelshelf of polished oak
Blackened with the pungent smoke
Of firelit nights; a Cromwell clock
Of tarnished brass stood like a rock
In the midst of a heaving, turbulent sea
Of every s...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

Tamerlane

...ning of his eagle eye-
How was it that Ambition crept,
Unseen, amid the revels there,
Till growing bold, he laughed and leapt
In the tangles of Love's very hair?...Read more of this...
by Poe, Edgar Allan

The Everlasting Mercy

...ace, and drank at spring, 
And watched two wild ducks on the wing, 
The moon come pale, the wind come cool, 
A big pike leapt in Lower Pool, 
The Peacock screamed, the clouds were straking, 
My cut cheek felt the weather breaking; 
An orange sunset waned and thinned 
Foretelling rain and western wind, 
And while I watched I heard distinct 
The metals on the railway clinked. 
The blood-edged clouds were all in tatters, 
The sky and earth seemed mad as hatters; 
they had a deat...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

The Holy Grail

...here was none 
Stood near it but a lion on each side 
That kept the entry, and the moon was full. 
Then from the boat I leapt, and up the stairs. 
There drew my sword. With sudden-flaring manes 
Those two great beasts rose upright like a man, 
Each gript a shoulder, and I stood between; 
And, when I would have smitten them, heard a voice, 
`Doubt not, go forward; if thou doubt, the beasts 
Will tear thee piecemeal.' Then with violence 
The sword was dashed from out my hand, a...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Last Tournament

...d, 
From less and less to nothing; thus he fell 
Head-heavy; then the knights, who watched him, roared 
And shouted and leapt down upon the fallen; 
There trampled out his face from being known, 
And sank his head in mire, and slimed themselves: 
Nor heard the King for their own cries, but sprang 
Through open doors, and swording right and left 
Men, women, on their sodden faces, hurled 
The tables over and the wines, and slew 
Till all the rafters rang with woman-yells, 
And...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Negatives

...he darkness, disturb 
 what little wildlife was left 
 in the alleys: birds moved from 
 branch to branch, and the dogs leapt 
 at the garbage. Winter numbed 
 even the hearts of the young 
 who had only their hearts. We 
 heard the war coming; the long 
 wait was over, and we moved 
 along the crowded roads south 
 not looking for what lost loves 
 fell by the roadsides. To flee 
 at all cost, that was my youth. 

 Here in the African night 
 wakened by what I do not 
 know ...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip

The Rape of the Lock

...e is all thy Guardian can.
Beware of all, but most beware of Man!

He said; when Shock, who thought she slept too long,
Leapt up, and wak'd his Mistress with his Tongue.
'Twas then Belinda, if Report say true,
Thy Eyes first open'd on a Billet-doux.
Wounds, Charms, and Ardors, were no sooner read,
But all the Vision vanish'd from thy Head. 

And now, unveil'd, the Toilet stands display'd,
Each Silver Vase in mystic Order laid.
First, rob'd in White, the Nymph intent adores
Wi...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Triumph of Life

...new thoughts of men, and still had kept
The jealous keys of truth's eternal doors
"If Bacon's spirit [[blank]] had not leapt
Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled
The Proteus shape of Nature's as it slept
"To wake & to unbar the caves that held
The treasure of the secrets of its reign--
See the great bards of old who inly quelled
"The passions which they sung, as by their strain
May well be known: their living melody
Tempers its own contagion to the vein
"Of those who...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The Witch Of Atlas

...ever upon mortal stream did float.

And others say that, when but three hours old,
The firstborn Love out of his cradle leapt,
And clove dun chaos with his wings of gold,
And, like a horticultural adept,
Stole a strange seed, and wrapped it up in mould,
And sowed it in his mother's star, and kept
Watering it all the summer with sweet dew,
And with his wings fanning it as it grew.

The plant grew strong and green--the snowy flower
Fell, and the long and gourd-like fruit began
...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

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