Famous Moi Poems by Famous Poets

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

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La nuit souvre lorage

by Judith Skillman
 Poem by Anne-Marie Derése

La nuit s'ouvre, l'orage,
accouplement mauve,
boursouflure. 
Le ciel chargè
comme un bateau marchand
jette l'ancre.
Le danger plus lourd
chaque instant
distille une moiteur
de serre. 

Miroitante de mercure,
la vallèe des sept Meuses
souffle la brume
par ses narines grises. 

La vallèe a rejoint la nuit,
deux femelles humides
que l'orage pènétre. 

Et moi, debout,
dans le vent anxieux,
j'espére la dèchirure....Read more of this...

Desesperanto

by Marilyn Hacker
 After Joseph Roth

Parce que c'était lui; parce que c'était moi.
Montaigne, De L'amitië

The dream's forfeit was a night in jail
and now the slant light is crepuscular.
Papers or not, you are a foreigner
whose name is always difficult to spell.
You pack your one valise. You ring the bell.
Might it not be prudent to disappear
beneath that mauve-blue sky above the square
fronting your cosmopolitan...Read more of this...

The Father's Curse

by Victor Hugo
 ("Vous, sire, écoutez-moi.") 
 
 {LE ROI S'AMUSE, Act I.} 


 M. ST. VALLIER (an aged nobleman, from whom King Francis I. 
 decoyed his daughter, the famous beauty, Diana of 
 Poitiers). 
 
 A king should listen when his subjects speak: 
 'Tis true your mandate led me to the block, 
 Where pardon came upon me,...Read more of this...

The Negatives

by Philip Levine
 On March 1, 1958, four deserters from the French Army of North Africa, 
August Rein, Henri Bruette, Jack Dauville, & Thomas Delain, robbed a 
government pay station at Orleansville. Because of the subsequent 
confession of Dauville the other three were captured or shot. Dauville 
was given his freedom and returned to the land of his birth, the U.S.A.

AUGUST REIN:...Read more of this...

Madelaine

by Victor Hugo
 ("Ecoute-moi, Madeline.") 
 
 {IX., September, 1825.} 


 List to me, O Madelaine! 
 Now the snows have left the plain, 
 Which they warmly cloaked. 
 Come into the forest groves, 
 Where the notes that Echo loves 
 Are from horns evoked. 
 
 Come! where Springtide, Madelaine, 
 Brings a sultry breath from Spain, 
 Giving...Read more of this...

The Lion For Real

by Allen Ginsberg
 "Soyez muette pour moi, Idole contemplative..."


I came home and found a lion in my living room
Rushed out on the fire escape screaming Lion! Lion!
Two stenographers pulled their brunnette hair and banged the window shut
I hurried home to Patterson and stayed two days

Called up old Reichian analyst
who'd kicked me out of therapy for smoking marijuana
'It's happened' I panted 'There's a...Read more of this...

Dans le Restaurant

by T S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot
 LE garçon délabré qui n’a rien à faire
Que de se gratter les doigts et se pencher sur mon épaule:
“Dans mon pays il fera temps pluvieux,
Du vent, du grand soleil, et de la pluie;
C’est ce qu’on appelle le jour de lessive des gueux.”
(Bavard, baveux, à la croupe arrondie,
Je te prie, au moins, ne bave pas dans la soupe).
“Les saules trempés,...Read more of this...

Dire Cure

by William Matthews
 "First, do no harm," the Hippocratic
Oath begins, but before she might enjoy
such balm, the docs had to harm her tumor.
It was large, rare, and so anomalous
in its behavior that at first they mis-
diagnosed it. "Your wife will die of it
within a year." But in ten days or so
I sat beside her bed with hot-and-sour
soup and heard an intern congratulate
her...Read more of this...

Ce que je demande

by Dimitris P Kraniotis
 Une boule
les prières
murmurent
peureuses.
Des «Moi» bêtes
s’ inondent,
sans que tu saches
jamais,
ce que je demande....Read more of this...

The Girl Of Otaheite

by Victor Hugo
 ("O! dis-moi, tu veux fuir?") 
 
 {Bk. IV, vii., Jan. 31, 1821.} 


 Forget? Can I forget the scented breath 
 Of breezes, sighing of thee, in mine ear; 
 The strange awaking from a dream of death, 
 The sudden thrill to find thee coming near? 
 Our huts were desolate, and far away 
 I heard...Read more of this...

The Poet's Love For Liveliness

by Victor Hugo
 ("Moi, quelque soit le monde.") 
 
 {XV., May 11, 1830.} 


 For me, whate'er my life and lot may show, 
 Years blank with gloom or cheered by mem'ry's glow, 
 Turmoil or peace; never be it mine, I pray, 
 To be a dweller of the peopled earth, 
 Save 'neath a roof alive with children's mirth...Read more of this...

Rhénane dAutomne

by Guillaume Apollinaire
 Mon verre est plein d'un vin trembleur comme une flamme
Ecoutez la chanson lente d'un batelier
Qui raconte avoir vu sous la lune sept femmes
Tordre leurs cheveux verts et longs jusqu'à leurs pieds

Debout chantez plus haut en dansant une ronde
Que je n'entende plus le chant du batelier
Et mettez près de moi toutes les filles blondes
Au regard immobile aux nattes repliées

Le Rhin...Read more of this...

Debout Sur Mon Orgueil Je Veux Montrer Au Soir

by Delmira Agustini
SpanishDebout sur mon orgueil je veux montrer au soirL'envers de mon manteau endeuillé de tes charmes,Son mouchoir infini, son mouchoir noir et noir,Trait à trait, doucement, boira toutes mes larmes.Il donne des lys blancs à mes roses de flammeEt des bandeaux de calme à mon front délirant…Que le soir sera bon.. Il aura pour moi l'âmeClaire et le corps profond...Read more of this...

The Ballad of Persse OReilly

by James Joyce
 Have you heard of one Humpty Dumpty
How he fell with a roll and a rumble
And curled up like Lord Olofa Crumple
By the butt of the Magazine Wall,
 (Chorus) Of the Magazine Wall,
 Hump, helmet and all?

He was one time our King of the Castle
Now he's kicked about like a rotten old parsnip.
And from Green street he'll be sent by...Read more of this...

Le Verbe ?tre

by Andre Breton
 Je connais le d?sespoir dans ses grandes lignes. Le d?sespoir n'a pas d'ailes, il ne
se tient pas n?cessairement ? une table desservie sur une terrasse, le soir, au bord de
la mer. C'est le d?sespoir et ce n'est pas le retour d'une quantit? de petits faits
comme des graines qui quittent ? la nuit tombante un sillon pour un autre. Ce...Read more of this...

To His Orphan Grandchildren

by Victor Hugo
 ("O Charles, je te sens près de moi.") 
 
 {July, 1871.} 


 I feel thy presence, Charles. Sweet martyr! down 
 In earth, where men decay, 
 I search, and see from cracks which rend thy tomb, 
 Burst out pale morning's ray. 
 
 Close linked are bier and cradle: here the dead, 
 To charm us,...Read more of this...

Les pas

by Paul Valery
 Tes pas, enfants de mon silence,
Saintement, lentement placés,
Vers le lit de ma vigilance
Procèdent muets et glacés.

Personne pure, ombre divine,
Qu'ils sont doux, tes pas retenus !
Dieux !... tous les dons que je devine
Viennent à moi sur ces pieds nus ! 

Si, de tes lèvres avancées,
Tu prépares pour l'apaiser,
A l'habitant de mes pensées
La nourriture d'un baiser, 

Ne hâte pas cet acte...Read more of this...

Tribute To The Vanquished

by Victor Hugo
 ("Laissez-moi pleurer sur cette race.") 
 
 {I. v.} 


 Oh! let me weep that race whose day is past, 
 By exile given, by exile claimed once more, 
 Thrice swept away upon that fatal blast. 
 Whate'er its blame, escort we to our shore 
 These relics of the monarchy of yore; 
 And to th' outmarching...Read more of this...

Harmonie du Soir

by Charles Baudelaire
 Voici venir les temps o? vibrant sur sa tige
Chaque fleur s'?vapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir;
Valse m?lancolique et langoureux vertige! 
Chaque fleur s'?vapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Le violon fr?mit comme un coeur qu'on afflige;
Valse m?lancolique et langoureux vertige!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir.
Le violon fr?mit comme un coeur qu'on...Read more of this...

Parlez-Vous Francais?

by Delmore Schwartz
 Caesar, the amplifier voice, announces
Crime and reparation. In the barber shop
Recumbent men attend, while absently
The barber doffs the naked face with cream.
Caesar proposes, Caesar promises
Pride, justice, and the sun
Brilliant and strong on everyone,
Speeding one hundred miles an hour across the land:
Caesar declares the will. The barber firmly
Planes the stubble with a steady hand,
While all in barber chairs reclining,
In wet...Read more of this...

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