Famous Mode Poems by Famous Poets

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

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106. To Gavin Hamilton Esq. Mauchline recommending a Boy

...hat night at e’en,
 To meet the warld’s worm;
To try to get the twa to gree,
An’ name the airles an’ the fee,
 In legal mode an’ form:
I ken he weel a snick can draw,
 When simple bodies let him:
An’ if a Devil be at a’,
 In faith he’s sure to get him.
 To phrase you and praise you,.
 Ye ken your Laureat scorns:
 The pray’r still you share still
 Of grateful MINSTREL BURNS....Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Letter from Artemesia in the Town to Chloe in the Country

...e governed, love that rules the state,
And pray, who are the men most worn of late?
When I was married, fools were a la mode.
The men of wit were then held incommode,
Slow of belief, and fickle in desire,
Who, ere they'll be persuaded, must inquire
As if they came to spy, not to admire.
With searching wisdom, fatal to their ease,
They still find out why what may, should not please;
Nay, take themselves for injured when we dare
Make 'em think better of us than we are,
And if w...Read more of this...
by Wilmot, John

Barmaid

...gives her dignity away.
Her head's a work of art, and, if her eyes
Be tired and ignorant, she has a waist;
Cheaply the Mode she shadows; and she tries
From penny novels to amend her taste;
And, having mopped the zinc for certain years,
And faced the gas, she fades and disappears....Read more of this...
by Henley, William Ernest

Gawain and the Green Knight

...burde watz borne oure baret to quelle;
And therfore sykyng he sayde, "I beseche the, lorde,
And Mary, that is myldest moder so dere,
Of sum herber ther heyghly I myyght here masse,
Ande thy matynez to-morne, mekely I ask,
And therto prestly I pray my pater and aue
and crede."
He rode in his prayere,
And cryed for his mysdede,

He sayned hym in sythes sere,
And sayde "Cros Kryst me spede!"
NADE he sayned hymself, segge, bot thrye,
Er he watz war in the wod of a wo...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

Inferno (English)

..., that its rule, as here ye see, 
 Endureth, nor the bitter blast contrives 
 To part us. Love to one death led us. The mode 
 Afflicts me, shrinking, still. The place of Cain 
 Awaits our slayer." 
 They ceased, and I my head 
 Bowed down, and made no answer, till my guide 
 Questioned, "What wouldst thou more?" and replied, 
 "Alas my thought I what sweet keen longings led 
 These spirits, woeful, to their dark abode!" 
 And then to them, - "Francesca, all thy pain 
 Is min...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante


Initial Love

...etray;
He has the Muses by the heart,
And the Parcæ all are of his part.

His many signs cannot be told,
He has not one mode, but manifold,
Many fashions and addresses,
Piques, reproaches, hurts, caresses,
Action, service, badinage,
He will preach like a friar,
And jump like Harlequin,
He will read like a crier,
And fight like a Paladin.
Boundless is his memory,
Plans immense his term prolong,
He is not of counted age,
Meaning always to be young.
And his wish is intimacy,
Int...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Jinny the Just

...ace where she came; 
Her outside still chang'd, but her inside the same: 

At the Hague in her slippers and hair as the mode is, 
At Paris all falbalow'd fine as a goddess, 
And at censuring London in smock sleeves and bodice. 

She order'd affairs that few people could tell 
In what part about her that mixture did dwell 
Of Frow, or Mistress, or Mademoiselle. 

For her surname and race let the herald's e'en answer; 
Her own proper worth was enough to advance her, 
And he who...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

Leaves From Australian Forests - Dedication

...hat waits upon the man of letters here;- 
Who, unawares, her deep affection showed, 
By many a touching little wifely mode;- 
Whose spirit, self-denying, dear, divine, 
Its sorrows hid, so it might lessen mine, - 
To her, my bright, best friend, I dedicate 
This book of songs. 'Twill help to compensate 
For much neglect. The act, if not the rhyme, 
Will touch her heart, and lead her to the time 
Of trials past. That which is most intense 
Within these leaves is of h...Read more of this...
by Kendall, Henry

Maktoob

...in the book of Destiny, 
Whose leaves are time, whose cover, space, 
The day when you shall cease to be, 
The hour, the mode, the place, 

Are marked, they say; and you shall not 
By taking thought or using wit 
Alter that certain fate one jot, 
Postpone or conjure it. 

Learn to drive fear, then, from your heart. 
If you must perish, know, O man, 
'Tis an inevitable part 
Of the predestined plan. 

And, seeing that through the ebon door 
Once only you may pass, and meet 
Of ...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan

MFingal - Canto IV

...I said in strains unwelcome,
Till interrupted thus by Malcolm.


"Blame not, said he, but learn the reason
Of this new mode of conq'ring treason.
'Tis but a wise, politic plan
To root out all the rebel clan;
For surely treason ne'er can thrive
Where not a soul is left alive;
A scheme all other chiefs to surpass,
And do th' effectual work to purpose.
Know, War itself is nothing further
Than th' art and mystery of Murther;
He, who most methods has essay'd,
Is the best Gen'ral ...Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

On Mr. Miltons Paradise Lost

...is Bells.
Their Fancies like our bushy Points appear,
The Poets tag them; we for fashion wear.
I too transported by the Mode offend,
And while I meant to Praise thee, must Commend.
Thy verse created like thy Theme sublime,
In Number, Weight, and Measure, needs not Rhime....Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Paradise Lost: Book 01

...nd gained a king-- 
Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew 
God's altar to disparage and displace 
For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn 
His odious offerings, and adore the gods 
Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared 
A crew who, under names of old renown-- 
Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train-- 
With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused 
Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek 
Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms 
Rather than human. Nor did Israel sca...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Regained: The Second Book

...end,
Our Saviour, lifting up his eyes, beheld,
In ample space under the broadest shade,
A table richly spread in regal mode, 
With dishes piled and meats of noblest sort
And savour—beasts of chase, or fowl of game,
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boiled,
Grisamber-steamed; all fish, from sea or shore,
Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,
And exquisitest name, for which was drained
Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast.
Alas! how simple, to these cates compared...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror

...of the friends
Who came to see me, of what yesterday
Was like. A peculiar slant
Of memory that intrudes on the dreaming model
In the silence of the studio as he considers
Lifting the pencil to the self-portrait.
How many people came and stayed a certain time,
Uttered light or dark speech that became part of you
Like light behind windblown fog and sand,
Filtered and influenced by it, until no part
Remains that is surely you. Those voices in the dusk
Have told you all and still...Read more of this...
by Ashbery, John

Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse

...ol! 

For the world cries your faith is now
But a dead time's exploded dream;
My melancholy, sciolists say,
Is a pass'd mode, an outworn theme--
As if the world had ever had
A faith, or sciolists been sad! 

Ah, if it be pass'd, take away,
At least, the restlessness, the pain;
Be man henceforth no more a prey
To these out-dated stings again!
The nobleness of grief is gone
Ah, leave us not the fret alone! 

But--if you cannot give us ease--
Last of the race of them who grieve
...Read more of this...
by Arnold, Matthew

The Battle of the Nile

...t, as far as he could see,
Was to anchor his ships on the quarter of each of the enemy. 

And when he had explained hid mode of attack to his officers and men,
He said, form as convenient, and anchor at the stern;
The first gain the victory, and make the best use of it you can,
Therefore I hope every one here to-day, will do their duty to a man. 

When Captain Berry perceived the boldness of the plan,
He said, my Lord, I'm sure the men will do their duty to a man;
And, my Lor...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Philistine And The Bohemian

...She was a Philistine spick and span,
He was a bold Bohemian.
She had the mode, and the last at that;
He had a cape and a brigand hat.
She was so riant and chic and trim;
He was so shaggy, unkempt and grim.
On the rue de la Paix she was wont to shine;
The rue de la Gaîté was more his line.
She doted on Barclay and Dell and Caine;
He quoted Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine.
She was a triumph at Tango teas;
At Vorticist's suppers he sough...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Princess (part 2)

...en wood, see ye warp not. Look, our hall! 
Our statues!--not of those that men desire, 
Sleek Odalisques, or oracles of mode, 
Nor stunted squaws of West or East; but she 
That taught the Sabine how to rule, and she 
The foundress of the Babylonian wall, 
The Carian Artemisia strong in war, 
The Rhodope, that built the pyramid, 
Clelia, Cornelia, with the Palmyrene 
That fought Aurelian, and the Roman brows 
Of Agrippina. Dwell with these, and lose 
Convention, since to look ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Retired Cat

...e serene repose,
Where neither cold might come, nor air
Too rudely wanton with her hair,
And sought it in the likeliest mode
Within her master's snug abode.

A drawer, it chanc'd, at bottom lin'd
With linen of the softest kind,
With such as merchants introduce
From India, for the ladies' use--
A drawer impending o'er the rest,
Half-open in the topmost chest,
Of depth enough, and none to spare,
Invited her to slumber there;
Puss with delight beyond expression
Survey'd the scen...Read more of this...
by Cowper, William

The Vision of Judgment

...arkness and his Brightness 
There pass'd a mutual glance of great politeness. 

XXXVI 

The Archangel bow'd, not like a modern beau, 
But with a graceful Oriental bend, 
Pressing one radiant arm just where below 
The heart in good men is supposed to tend; 
He turn'd as to an equal, not too low, 
But kindly; Satan met his ancient friend 
With more hauteur, as might an old Castilian 
Poor noble meet a mushroom rich civilian. 

XXXVII 

He merely bent his diabolic brow 
An insta...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

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