Famous Nibble Poems by Famous Poets

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

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76. To a Mouse

...rash! the cruel coulter past
 Out thro’ thy cell.


That wee bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble,
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,
 But house or hald,
To thole the winter’s sleety dribble,
 An’ cranreuch cauld!


But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
 Gang aft agley,
An’lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
 For promis’d joy!


Still thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me
The p...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Childs Christmas In Wales

...ernoon, the Uncles breathing like dolphins and the snow descending, I would sit among
festoons and Chinese lanterns and nibble dates and try to make a model man-o'-war, following the Instructions
for Little Engineers, and produce what might be mistaken for a sea-going tramcar.

Or I would go out, my bright new boots squeaking, into the white world, on to the seaward hill, to call on Jim
and Dan and Jack and to pad through the still streets, leaving huge footprints on the hidd...Read more of this...
by Thomas, Dylan

A Roxbury Garden

...tals.
"One I love,
Two I love,
Three I love I say . . ."
The ground is peppered with daisy petals,
And the little girls nibble the golden centres,
And play it is cake.
A bell rings.
Dinner-time;
And after dinner there are lessons....Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

Ape

...You didn't eat the hands, and I went to all the 
trouble to make onion rings for its fingers, said mother.

 I'll just nibble on its forehead, and then I've had enough, 
said father.

 I stuffed its nose with garlic, just like you like it, said 
mother.

 Why don't you have the butcher cut these apes up? You lay 
the whole thing on the table every night; the same fractured 
skull, the same singed fur; like someone who died horribly. These 
aren't dinners, these are post-mort...Read more of this...
by Edson, Russell

Dave Lilly

...to smoke.
It's fifteen years, they tell me, since anyone 
fished that brook;
And there's nothing in it but minnows that nibble the bait off your 
hook.
But before the sun has risen and after the moon has set
I know that it's full of ghostly trout for Lilly's ghost to get.
I guess I'll go to the tavern and get a bottle 
of rye
And leave it down by the hollow oak, where Lilly's ghost went by.
I meant to go up on the hillside and try to find his grave
And put some flowers on it ...Read more of this...
by Kilmer, Joyce


Diary of a Church Mouse

...Here among long-discarded cassocks,
Damp stools, and half-split open hassocks,
Here where the vicar never looks
I nibble through old service books.
Lean and alone I spend my days
Behind this Church of England baize.
I share my dark forgotten room
With two oil-lamps and half a broom.
The cleaner never bothers me,
So here I eat my frugal tea.
My bread is sawdust mixed with straw;
My jam is polish for the floor.
Christmas and Easter may be feasts
For congregations and for ...Read more of this...
by Betjeman, John

Endymion: Book I

..., where sweet air stirs
Blue hare-bells lightly, and where prickly furze
Buds lavish gold; or ye, whose precious charge
Nibble their fill at ocean's very marge,
Whose mellow reeds are touch'd with sounds forlorn
By the dim echoes of old Triton's horn:
Mothers and wives! who day by day prepare
The scrip, with needments, for the mountain air;
And all ye gentle girls who foster up
Udderless lambs, and in a little cup
Will put choice honey for a favoured youth:
Yea, every one att...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Fishing

...els, need n' swim erroun' an' grin,
I 'll be grinnin' in a minute w'en I 'mence to haul you in.
W'en de fish begin to nibble, an' de co'k begin to jump,
I 's erfeahed dat dey 'll quit bitin', case dey hyeah my hea't go "thump,"
'Twell de co'k go way down undah, an' I raise a awful shout,
Ez a big ol' yallah belly comes a gallivantin' out.
Need n't wriggle, Mistah Catfish, case I got you jes' de same,
You been eatin', I 'll be eatin', an' we needah ain't to blame.
But ...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul

In Summer Time

...all day long the willows dream,
And idly droop to kiss the stream,
And there to loll from morn till night—
Unheeding nibble, run, or bite—
Just for the joy of being there
And drinking in the summer air,
The summer sounds, and summer sights,
That set a restless mind to rights
When grief and pain and raging doubt
Of men and creeds have worn it out;
The birds' song and the water's drone,
The humming bees' low monotone,
The murmur of the passing breeze,
And all the s...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul

Papa above!

...gard a Mouse
O'erpowered by the Cat!
Reserve within thy kingdom
A "Mansion" for the Rat!

Snug in seraphic Cupboards
To nibble all the day
While unsuspecting Cycles
Wheel solemnly away!...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Pretty John Watts

...sp; We have mice, too, in plenty,  That feast in the pantry,  But let them stay  And nibble away,What harm in a little brown mouse?...Read more of this...
by Goose, Mother

Robert Fulton Tanner

...t you hear a step:
The ogre, Life, comes into the room,
(He was waiting and heard the clang of the spring)
To watch you nibble the wondrous cheese,
And stare with his burning eyes at you,
And scowl and laugh, and mock and curse you,
Running up and down in the trap,
Until your misery bores him....Read more of this...
by Masters, Edgar Lee

sacked

...fog owns the town

in its palm
lawyers nibble each other's fingers
the churches take their cut

at the fat lunch
the men of business
carve themselves prayers and praises

the fog comes to my window
and lisping in says

 i've drained the town of you
 and you of the town
 come outside
 and let me smother you
 to the border

no person calls
and only the headless
watch and watch in the street...Read more of this...
by Gregory, Rg

The Caterpillar

...Under this loop of honeysuckle, 
A creeping, coloured caterpillar, 
I gnaw the fresh green hawthorn spray, 
I nibble it leaf by leaf away. 

Down beneath grow dandelions,
Daisies, old-man’s-looking-glasses; 
Rooks flap croaking across the lane. 
I eat and swallow and eat again. 

Here come raindrops helter-skelter; 
I munch and nibble unregarding:
Hawthorn leaves are juicy and firm. 
I’ll mind my business: I’m a good worm. 

When I’m old, tired, melancholy, 
I’ll bu...Read more of this...
by Graves, Robert

The Lawyers Know Too Much

...rovided whereas,
Too many doors to go in and out of.

When the lawyers are through
What is there left, Bob?
Can a mouse nibble at it
And find enough to fasten a tooth in?

Why is there always a secret singing
When a lawyer cashes in?
Why does a hearse horse snicker
Hauling a lawyer away?
The work of a bricklayer goes to the blue.
The knack of a mason outlasts a moon.
The hands of a plasterer hold a room together.
The land of a farmer wishes him back again.
 Singers of songs a...Read more of this...
by Sandburg, Carl

To a Mouse

...ruel coulter past
          Out thro' thy cell.

That wee bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble!
Now thou's turned out, for a' thy trouble,
          But house or hald,
To thole the winter's sleety dribble,
          An' cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
          Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
          For promised joy!...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert

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