Famous No Count Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous No Count poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous no count poems. These examples illustrate what a famous no count poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Thou canst not count to-day on seeing the day after

by Omar Khayyam
Thou canst not count to-day on seeing the day after
to-morrow; even to think of this to-morrow would be the
part of folly; if thy heart is awakened, lose not in inaction
this instant of life [which remains to thee] and for
the duration of which I see no warranty....Read more of this...

I Know Not How But As I Count

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 I KNOW not how, but as I count
The beads of former years,
Old laughter catches in my throat
With the very feel of tears....Read more of this...

Weltschmertz

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
You ask why I am sad to-day,
I have no cares, no griefs, you say?
Ah, yes, 't is true, I have no grief—
But—is there not the falling leaf?
The bare tree there is mourning left
With all of autumn's gray bereft;
It is not what has happened me,
Think of the bare, dismantled tree.
The birds go South along the sky,
I hear their lingering, long good-bye.
Who...Read more of this...

The Count Of Hapsburg

by Friedrich von Schiller
 At Aix-la-Chapelle, in imperial array,
In its halls renowned in old story,
At the coronation banquet so gay
King Rudolf was sitting in glory.
The meats were served up by the Palsgrave of Rhine,
The Bohemian poured out the bright sparkling wine,
And all the Electors, the seven,
Stood waiting around the world-governing one,
As the chorus of stars encircle the sun,
That honor might duly be given.

And...Read more of this...

Octobers Bright Blue Weather

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 O suns and skies and clouds of June, 
And flowers of June together, 
Ye cannot rival for one hour 
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, 
Belated, thriftless vagrant, 
And goldenrod is dying fast, 
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight 
To save them for the morning, 
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs...Read more of this...

Count That Day Lost

by George Eliot
 If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard, 
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay...Read more of this...

The world will ever count me as depraved. Natheless

by Omar Khayyam
The world will ever count me as depraved. Natheless
I am not guilty, Men of Holiness! Look on yourselves
and question what you are. Ye say I contravene the
Koran's law. Yet I have only known the sins of drunkenness,
debauchery and leasing.
301...Read more of this...

When I count the seeds

by Emily Dickinson
 When I count the seeds
That are sown beneath,
To bloom so, bye and bye --

When I con the people
Lain so low,
To be received as high --

When I believe the garden
Mortal shall not see --
Pick by faith its blossom
And avoid its Bee,
I can spare this summer, unreluctantly....Read more of this...

Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time

by William Shakespeare
 When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silvered o'er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green all girded up in sheaves
Borne on the bier with white and bristly...Read more of this...

11. Song—Here's to thy health my bonie lass

by Robert Burns
 HERE’S to thy health, my bonie lass,
 Gude nicht and joy be wi’ thee;
I’ll come nae mair to thy bower-door,
 To tell thee that I lo’e thee.
O dinna think, my pretty pink,
 But I can live without thee:
I vow and swear I dinna care,
 How lang ye look about ye.


Thou’rt aye sae free informing me,
 Thou hast nae mind...Read more of this...

Ballad Of The Banished And Returning Count

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 [Goethe began to write an opera called Lowenstuhl, 
founded upon the old tradition which forms the subject of this Ballad, 
but he never carried out his design.]

OH, enter old minstrel, thou time-honour'd one!
We children are here in the hall all alone,

The portals we straightway will bar.
Our mother is praying, our father is gone

To the forest, on wolves to make...Read more of this...

305. Song—Gudewife count the lawin

by Robert Burns
 GANE is the day, and mirk’s the night,
But we’ll ne’er stray for faut o’ light;
Gude ale and bratdy’s stars and moon,
And blue-red wine’s the risin’ sun.


Chorus.—Then gudewife, count the lawin,
The lawin, the lawin,
Then gudewife, count the lawin,
 And bring a coggie mair.


There’s wealth and ease for gentlemen,
And simple folk maun fecht and fen’;
But here we’re a’ in ae accord,
For...Read more of this...

I reckon -- when I count it all --

by Emily Dickinson
 I reckon -- when I count it all --
First -- Poets -- Then the Sun --
Then Summer -- Then the Heaven of God --
And then -- the List is done --

But, looking back -- the First so seems
To Comprehend the Whole --
The Others look a needless Show --
So I write -- Poets -- All --

Their Summer -- lasts a...Read more of this...

Prothalamion

by Delmore Schwartz
 "little soul, little flirting,
 little perverse one
 where are you off to now?
 little wan one, firm one
 little exposed one...
 and never make fun of me again."


Now I must betray myself.
The feast of bondage and unity is near,
And none engaged in that great piety
When each bows to the other, kneels, and takes
Hand in hand, glance and glance, care...Read more of this...

On Count Voronstov

by Alexander Pushkin
 One half Milord, one half in trade, 
One half a sage, one half a dunce, 
One half a crook, but here for once 
There's every hope he'll make the grade....Read more of this...

Repression of War Experience

by Siegfried Sassoon
 Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth; 
What silly beggars they are to blunder in 
And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame— 
No, no, not that,—it’s bad to think of war, 
When thoughts you’ve gagged all day come back to scare you;
And it’s been proved that soldiers don’t go mad 
Unless they lose control of ugly...Read more of this...

Storm Fear

by Robert Frost
 WHEN the wind works against us in the dark,
And pelts with snow
The lowest chamber window on the east,
And whispers with a sort of stifled bark,
The beast,
‘Come out! Come out!’--
It costs no inward struggle not to go,
Ah, no!
I count our strength,
Two and a child,
Those of us not asleep subdued to mark
How the cold creeps as the fire dies at length,--
How...Read more of this...

8 Count

by Charles Bukowski
 from my bed
I watch
3 birds
on a telephone
wire.
one flies 
off.
then
another.
one is left,
then
it too
is gone.
my typewriter is 
tombstone 
still.
and I am
reduced to bird
watching.
just thought I'd
let you
know,
fucker....Read more of this...

To The Right Honourable The Lady Penelope Dowager Of The Late Vis-Count Bayning

by William Strode
 Great Lady,


Humble partners of like griefe
In bringing Comfort may deserve beliefe,
Because they Feele and Feyne not: Thus we say
Unto Ourselves, Lord Bayning, though away,
Is still of Christ-Church; somewhat out of sight,
As when he travel'd, or did bid good night,
And was not seen long after; now he stands
Remov'd in Worlds, as heretofore in Lands;
But is not lost. The spight of...Read more of this...

Count not to live beyond your sixtieth year,

by Omar Khayyam
Count not to live beyond your sixtieth year,
To walk in jovial courses persevere;
And ere your skull be turned into a cup,
Let wine-cups ever to your hand adhere!...Read more of this...

In this world, this house of pilferers, it is useless to

by Omar Khayyam
In this world, this house of pilferers, it is useless to
count upon a friend. Listen to the counsel I give you,
and confide it to no one. Bear your suffering and seek
no remedy here, be happy in your sorrows and try not to
divide them with another....Read more of this...

Count Eberhard The Groaner Of Wurtembert. A War Song

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Now hearken, ye who take delight
In boasting of your worth!
To many a man, to many a knight,
Beloved in peace and brave in fight,
The Swabian land gives birth.

Of Charles and Edward, Louis, Guy,
And Frederick, ye may boast;
Charles, Edward, Louis, Frederick, Guy--
None with Sir Eberhard can vie--
Himself a mighty host!

And then young Ulerick, his son,
Ha! how he loved the fray!
Young Ulerick,...Read more of this...

Count not that far that can be had

by Emily Dickinson
 Count not that far that can be had,
Though sunset lie between --
Nor that adjacent, that beside,
Is further than the sun....Read more of this...

I Know The Face Of Falsehood And Her Tongue

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I know the face of Falsehood and her Tongue
Honeyed with unction, Plausible with guile,
Are dear to men, whom count me not among,
That owe their daily credit to her smile;
Such have been succoured out of great distress
By her contriving, if accounts be true:
Their deference now above the board, I guess,
Dishcharges what beneath the board is due.
As for myself, I'd liefer...Read more of this...

Count upon life not longer than the sixtieth year

by Omar Khayyam
Count upon life not longer than the sixtieth year.
Place thy foot in no direction without being overcome
with wine. As long as thy skull hath not been made a
pitcher, go always on thy way, nor take the wine-gourd
from thy shoulder or the wine-cup from thy hand....Read more of this...

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