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Famous Lessened Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Alighieri, Dante
...? lo profondo inferno li riceve, 
ch'alcuna gloria i rei avrebber d'elli ». 

The heavens, that their beauty not be lessened, 
have cast them out, nor will deep Hell receive them- 
even the wicked cannot glory in them." 


E io: «Maestro, che ? tanto greve 
a lor, che lamentar li fa s? forte?». 
Rispuose: «Dicerolti molto breve . 

And I: "What is it, master, that oppresses 
these souls, compelling them to wail so loud?" 
He answered: "I shall tell you in few ...Read more of this...



by Meredith, George
...ow light, 
To make it threefold, it must be all mine. 
First secret; then avowed. For I must shine 
Envied,--I, lessened in my proper sight! 
Be watchful of your beauty, Lady dear! 
How much hangs on that lamp you cannot tell. 
Most earnestly I pray you, tend it well: 
And men shall see me as a burning sphere; 
And men shall mark you eyeing me, and groan 
To be the God of such a grand sunflower! 
I feel the promptings of Satanic power, 
While you do homage unto me...Read more of this...

by Bradstreet, Anne
...e,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still m...Read more of this...

by Doty, Mark
...u. You came back so I could see you
once more, plainly, so I could rest against you
without thinking this happiness lessened anything,
without thinking you were alive again....Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...they endured in silence,
That the rights of guest and stranger,
That the virtue of free-giving,
By a look might not be lessened,
By a word might not be broken.
Once at midnight Hiawatha,
Ever wakeful, ever watchful,
In the wigwam, dimly lighted
By the brands that still were burning,
By the glimmering, flickering firelight
Heard a sighing, oft repeated,
From his couch rose Hiawatha,
From his shaggy hides of bison,
Pushed aside the deer-skin curtain,
Saw the pallid guests,...Read more of this...



by Graham, Jorie
...esire 
opening upon themselves 
without us; the objects of faith. 
The way things work 
is by solution, 
resistance lessened or 
increased and taken 
advantage of. 
The way things work 
is that we finally believe 
they are there, 
common and able 
o illustrate themselves. 
Wheel, kinetic flow, 
rising and falling water, 
ingots, levers and keys, 
I believe in you, 
cylinder lock, pully, 
lifting tackle and 
crane lift your small head-- 
I believe in you--
your hea...Read more of this...

by Levis, Larry
...e was like
And equation that drank up light & never ended,
Not even in summer. Before my fever broke,
And the pains lessened, I could actually see
Myself, in the exact center of that square.
How still it had become in my absence, & how
Immaculate, windless, sunlit. I could see
The outline of every leaf on the nearest tree,
See it more clearly than ever, more clearly than
I had seen anything before in my whole life:
Against the modest, dark gray, solemn trunk,
The ...Read more of this...

by McHugh, Heather
...by the language of America: they asked us
what does "flat drink" mean? and the mysterious
"cheap date" (no explanation lessened
this one's mystery). Among Italian writers we

could recognize our counterparts: the academic,
the apologist, the arrogant, the amorous,
the brazen and the glib. And there was one
administrator (The Conservative), in suit
of regulation gray, who like a good tour guide
with measured pace and uninflected tone
narrated sights and histories
the ...Read more of this...

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