Famous Man Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Man poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous man poems. These examples illustrate what a famous man poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
A S J Tessimond
I am the unnoticed, the unnoticable man:
The man who sat on your right in the morning train:
The man who looked through like a windowpane:
The man who was the colour of the carriage, the colour of the mounting
Morning pipe smoke.
I am the man too busy with a living to live,
Too hurried and worried to see and smell and...Read more of this...
by
Louise Bogan
In fear of the rich mouth
I kissed the thin,--
Even that was a trap
To snare me in.
Even she, so long
The frail, the scentless,
Is become strong,
And proves relentless.
O, forget her praise,
And how I sought her
Through a hazardous maze
By shafted water....Read more of this...
by
Mother Goose
There was a man in our town,
And he was wondrous wise,
He jumped into a bramble bush,
And scratched out both his eyes;
But when he saw his eyes were out,
With all his might and main,
He jumped into another bush,
And scratched 'em in again....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Was e'er man born who never went astray?
Did ever mortal pass a sinless day?
If I do ill, do not requite with ill!
Evil for evil how can'st Thou repay?...Read more of this...
by
William Butler Yeats
A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown....Read more of this...
by
Robert Burns
IS there for honest Poverty
That hings his head, an’ a’ that;
The coward slave-we pass him by,
We dare be poor for a’ that!
For a’ that, an’ a’ that.
Our toils obscure an’ a’ that,
The rank is but the guinea’s stamp,
The Man’s the gowd for a’ that.
What though on hamely fare we dine,
Wear hoddin grey, an’ a...Read more of this...
by
Robert William Service
We pitied him because
He lived alone;
His tiny cottage was
His only own.
His little garden had
A wall around;
Yet never was so glad
A bit of ground.
It seemed to fair rejoice
With flowers and fruit;
With blooms it found a voice
When ours was muts.
It smiled without a pause
In gracious glow:
I think it was because
He loved it so.
He had no news to read,
No rent to pay;
His...Read more of this...
by
Mother Goose
A little old man of Derby,
How do you think he served me?
He took away my bread and cheese,
And that is how he served me....Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an Old Man on a hill,Who seldom, if ever, stood still;He ran up and down in his Grandmother's gown,Which adorned that Old Man on a hill. ...Read more of this...
by
Marge Piercy
In flat America, in Chicago,
Graceland cemetery on the German North Side.
Forty feet of Corinthian candle
celebrate Pullman embedded
lonely raisin in a cake of concrete.
The Potter Palmers float
in an island parthenon.
Barons of hogfat, railroads and wheat
are postmarked with angels and lambs.
But the Getty tomb: white, snow patterned
in a triangle of trees...Read more of this...
by
Adrian Green
Pottering around the stage,
a hyperactive ancient in his own backyard -
independent of the band it seems.
Disrhythmic shuffling of ashtray,
beer, a pack of cigarettes,
adjusting microphones,
then in the middle eight
he draws, exhales, and catches breath,
stoops forward to the mouthpiece
and blows,
a tumbling counterpoint,
scales soaring from his horn.
The melody flows
until the break,
and then he shoulders arms,
a truce between the music and...Read more of this...
by
Anthony Hecht
I'm mighty glad to see you, Mrs. Curtis,
And thank you very kindly for this visit--
Especially now when all the others here
Are having holiday visitors, and I feel
A little conspicuous and in the way.
It's mainly because of Thanksgiving. All these mothers
And wives and husbands gaze at me soulfully
And feel they should break up their box of chocolates
For a donation, or...Read more of this...
by
Paul Laurence Dunbar
I don't believe in 'ristercrats
An' never did, you see;
The plain ol' homelike sorter folks
Is good enough fur me.
O' course, I don't desire a man
To be too tarnal rough,
But then, I think all folks should know
When they air nice enough.
Now there is folks in this here world,
From peasant up to king,
Who want to be so awful nice
They overdo the thing.
That's jest...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an Old Man who supposedThat the street door was partially closed;But some very large Rats ate his coats and his hats,While that futile Old Gentleman dozed. ...Read more of this...
by
Amy Levy
(From Lenau.)
So late, and yet a nightingale?
Long since have dropp'd the blossoms pale,
The summer fields are ripening,
And yet a sound of spring?
O tell me, didst thou come to hear,
Sweet Spring, that I should die this year;
And call'st across from the far shore
To me one greeting more?...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an old man of Ibreem,Who suddenly threaten'd to scream;But they said, "If you do, we will thump you quite blue,You disgusting old man of Ibreem!" ...Read more of this...
by
Carl Sandburg
ON the street
Slung on his shoulder is a handle half way across,
Tied in a big knot on the scoop of cast iron
Are the overalls faded from sun and rain in the ditches;
Spatter of dry clay sticking yellow on his left sleeve
And a flimsy shirt open at the throat,
I know him for a shovel man,
A dago working for a dollar...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an old man of Ancona,Who found a small dog with no owner,Which he took up and down all the streets of the town,That anxious old man of Ancona. ...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an old man of Thermopyl?,
Who never did anything properly;
But they said, "If you choose, To boil eggs in your shoes,
You shall never remain in Thermopyl?."...Read more of this...
by
J R R Tolkien
There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he saws his bow
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.
The landlord keeps...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an Old Man of Vesuvius,Who studied the works of Vitruvius;When the flames burnt his book, to drinking he took,That morbid Old Man of Vesuvius. ...Read more of this...
by
Edward Lear
There was an Old Man of Melrose,Who walked on the tips of his toes;But they said, "It ain't pleasant to see you at present,You stupid Old Man of Melrose." ...Read more of this...
by
Stephen Crane
A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
He climbed for it,
And eventually he achieved it --
It was clay.
Now this is the strange part:
When the man went to the earth
And looked again,
Lo, there was the ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
It was a ball of gold.
Aye, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Man, like a ball, hither and thither goes,
As fate's resistless bat directs the blows;
But He, who gives thee up to this rude sport,
He knows what drives thee, yea, He knows, He knows!...Read more of this...
by
Stephen Crane
Once there was a man --
Oh, so wise!
In all drink
He detected the bitter,
And in all touch
He found the sting.
At last he cried thus:
"There is nothing --
No life,
No joy,
No pain --
There is nothing save opinion,
And opinion be damned."...Read more of this...
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