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Famous Life Span Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry 
...There's sunshine in the heart of me,
My blood sings in the breeze;
The mountains are a part of me,
I'm fellow to the trees.
My golden youth I'm squandering,
Sun-libertine am I;
A-wandering, a-wandering,
Until the day I die.

I was once, I declare, a Stone-Age man,
 And I roomed in the cool of a cave;
I have known, I will swear, in a new life-span,
 The fre...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

...CANZONE I. Che debb' io far? che mi consigli, Amore? HE ASKS COUNSEL OF LOVE, WHETHER HE SHOULD FOLLOW LAURA, OR STILL ENDURE EXISTENCE.  What should I do? what, Love, dost thou advise?Full time it is to die:Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...CANZONE VII. Quell' antiquo mio dolce empio signore. LOVE, SUMMONED BY THE POET TO THE TRIBUNAL OF REASON, PASSES A SPLENDID EULOGIUM ON LAURA.  Long had I suffer'd, till—to combat moreIn strength, in hope too sunk—at last before...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...CANZONE VIII. Perchè la vita è breve. IN PRAISE OF LAURA'S EYES: THE DIFFICULTY OF HIS THEME.  Since human life is frail,And genius trembles at the lofty theme,I little confidence in either place;Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...CANZONE XX. Ben mi credea passar mio tempo omai. HE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT SEEING HER, BUT WOULD NOT DIE THAT HE MAY STILL LOVE HER.  As pass'd the years which I have left behind,To pass my future years I fondly thought,Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

...CANZONE XXI. I' vo pensando, e nel pensier m' assale. SELF-CONFLICT.  Ceaseless I think, and in each wasting thoughtSo strong a pity for myself appears,[Pg 227]Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...In Sleeping Beauty's castle
the clock strikes one hundred years
and the girl in the tower returns to the world.
So do the servants in the kitchen,
who don't even rub their eyes.
The cook's right hand, lifted
an exact century ago,
completes its downward arc
to the kitchen boy's left ear;
the boy's tensed vocal cords
finally let go
the trapped, enduring whim...Read more of this...
by Mueller, Lisel 
...Silently without my window,
Tapping gently at the pane,
Falls the rain.
Through the trees sighs the breeze
Like a soul in pain.
Here alone I sit and weep;
Thought hath banished sleep.
Wearily I sit and listen
To the water's ceaseless drip.
To my lip
Fate turns up the bitter cup,
Forcing me to sip;
'T is a bitter, bitter drink,
Thus I sit and th...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul 
...be fed
by such pure exhaustion. Actually
she is in the dark, for the man
she's about to address in her odd prose
had a life span of one 125th of a second
in the eye of a Nikon, and then he
politely asked the photographer to
get lost, whispering the request so as
not to offend the teacher presiding.
Those students are now in their thirties,
the Episcopal girls in their plaid skirts
and bright crested blazers have gone
unprepared, though French-speaking, into
a world of liars,...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip 
...SESTINA IV. Chi è fermato di menar sua vita. HE PRAYS GOD TO GUIDE HIS FRAIL BARK TO A SAFE PORT.  Who is resolved to venture his vain lifeOn the deceitful wave and 'mid the rocks,Alone, unfearing death, in ...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...[Pg 145] SONNET CXVI. Non Tesin, Po, Varo, Arno, Adige e Tebro. HE EXTOLS THE LAUREL AND ITS FAVOURITE STREAM.  Not all the streams that water the bright earth,No...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...SONNET IV. La vita fugge, e non s' arresta un' ora. PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE ARE NOW ALIKE PAINFUL TO HIM.  Life passes quick, nor will a moment stay,And death with hasty journeys still draws near;And all t...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...SONNET IX. Quando 'l pianeta che distingue l' ore. WITH A PRESENT OF FRUIT IN SPRING.  When the great planet which directs the hoursTo dwell with Taurus from the North is borne,Such virtue rays from each enk...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...[Pg 92] SONNET LXXIII. Quando giugne per gli occhi al cor profondo. HE DESCRIBES THE STATE OF TWO LOVERS, AND RETURNS IN THOUGHT TO HIS OWN SUFFERINGS.  When reaches through the eyes the...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...SONNET LXXIV. Spinse amor e dolor ove ir non debbe. REFLECTING THAT LAURA IS IN HEAVEN, HE REPENTS HIS EXCESSIVE GRIEF, AND IS CONSOLED.  Sorrow and Love encouraged my poor tongue,Discreet in sadness, where it should not go,Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...SONNET XXVII. Apollo, s' ancor vive il bel desio. HE COMPARES HER TO A LAUREL, WHICH HE SUPPLICATES APOLLO TO DEFEND.  O Phœbus, if that fond desire remains,Which fired thy breast near the Thessalian wave;If...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...Jean, death comes close to us all,
flapping its awful wings at us
and the gluey wings crawl up our nose.
Our children tremble in their teen-age cribs,
whirling off on a thumb or a motorcycle,
mine pushed into gnawing a stilbestrol cancer
I passed on like hemophilia,
or yours in the seventh grade, with her spleen
smacked in by the balance beam.
And we, moth...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne 
...THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH. PART I. Questa leggiadra e gloriosa Donna.  The glorious Maid, whose soul to heaven is goneAnd left the rest cold earth, she who was grownA pillar of true valour, and had gain'd<...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...[Pg 400] THE TRIUMPH OF ETERNITY. Da poi che sotto 'l ciel cosa non vidi.  When all beneath the ample cope of heavenI saw, like clouds before the tempest driven,Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco 
...THE TRIUMPH OF FAME. PART I. Da poi che Morte trionfò nel volto.  When cruel Death his paly ensign spreadOver that face, which oft in triumph ledMy subject thoughts; and beauty's sovereign light,Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry