Famous No Good Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous No Good 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 good poems. These examples illustrate what a famous no good poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Tis good -- the looking back on Grief --

by Emily Dickinson
 'Tis good -- the looking back on Grief --
To re-endure a Day --
We thought the Mighty Funeral --
Of All Conceived Joy --

To recollect how Busy Grass
Did meddle -- one by one --
Till all the Grief with Summer -- waved
And none could see the stone.

And though the Woe you have Today
Be larger -- As the Sea
Exceeds its Unremembered Drop --
They're...Read more of this...

Belly Good

by Marge Piercy
 A heap of wheat, says the Song of Songs 
but I've never seen wheat in a pile. 
Apples, potatoes, cabbages, carrots 
make lumpy stacks, but you are sleek 
as a seal hauled out in the winter sun. 
I can see you as a great goose egg 
or a single juicy and fully ripe peach. 
You swell like a natural...Read more of this...

Enumerate my good qualities one by one; my faults,

by Omar Khayyam
Enumerate my good qualities one by one; my faults,
pass by in tens. Pardon each sin committed for the love
of God. Fan not the fire of hatred by the breath of
passion, pardon, rather, in memory of the tomb of the
Prophet of God [Mohammed]....Read more of this...

Yes, it is beautiful to enjoy good fame; it is shameful

by Omar Khayyam
Yes, it is beautiful to enjoy good fame; it is shameful
to complain of the injustice of heaven; it is better to
become drunk with the juice of the grape, than to be
puffed up with false devotion....Read more of this...

Good-Bye Little Cabin

by Robert William Service
 O dear little cabin, I've loved you so long,
And now I must bid you good-bye!
I've filled you with laughter, I've thrilled you with song,
And sometimes I've wished I could cry.
Your walls they have witnessed a weariful fight,
And rung to a won Waterloo:
But oh, in my triumph I'm dreary to-night --
Good-bye, little cabin, to you!

Your roof is bewhiskered, your floor...Read more of this...

The Fury Of Gods Good-bye

by Anne Sexton
 One day He
tipped His top hat
and walked
out of the room,
ending the arguement.
He stomped off
saying:
I don't give guarentees.
I was left
quite alone
using up the darkenss.
I rolled up
my sweater,
up into a ball,
and took it 
to bed with me,
a kind of stand-in
for God,
what washerwoman 
who walks out
when you're clean
but not ironed.
When I woke up
the sweater
had turned to
bricks of gold.
I'd won the world
but like...Read more of this...

The Good-Natured Girls

by Jane Taylor
 Two good little children, named Mary and Ann, 
Both happily live, as good girls always can; 
And though they are not either sullen or mute, 
They seldom or never are heard to dispute. 

If one wants a thing that the other would like­
Well,­what do they do? Must they quarrel and strike? 
No, each is so willing to give up...Read more of this...

The good Will of a Flower

by Emily Dickinson
 The good Will of a Flower
The Man who would possess
Must first present
Certificate
Of minted Holiness....Read more of this...

If Death be Good

by Bliss Carman
 (Sappho LXXIV)
If death be good,
Why do the gods not die?
If life be ill,
Why do the gods still live?
If love be naught,
Why do the gods still love?
If love be all,
What should men do but love?...Read more of this...

A Good Boy

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, 
I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. 

And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, 
And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. 

My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair,...Read more of this...

A Good Play

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 We built a ship upon the stairs 
All made of the back-bedroom chairs, 
And filled it full of soft pillows 
To go a-sailing on the billows. 

We took a saw and several nails, 
And water in the nursery pails; 
And Tom said, "Let us also take 
An apple and a slice of cake;"-- 
Which was enough for Tom and...Read more of this...

How They Brought The Good News From Ghent To Aix

by Robert Browning
 I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by...Read more of this...

Unto my Books -- so good to turn --

by Emily Dickinson
 Unto my Books -- so good to turn --
Far ends of tired Days --
It half endears the Abstinence --
And Pain -- is missed -- in Praise --

As Flavors -- cheer Retarded Guests
With Banquettings to be --
So Spices -- stimulate the time
Till my small Library --

It may be Wilderness -- without --
Far feet of failing Men --
But Holiday -- excludes...Read more of this...

Dream Song 128: A hemorrhage of his left ear of Good Friday

by John Berryman
 A hemorrhage of his left ear of Good Friday-”
so help me Jesus-”then made funny too
the other, further one.
There must have been a bit. Sheets scrubbed away 
soon all but three nails. Doctors in this city O
will not (his wife cried) come.

Perhaps he's for it. IF that Filipino doc
had diagnosed ah here in Washington
that ear-infection ha
he'd have been grounded, so...Read more of this...

Good Advice

by Ruth Stone
Here is not exactly here
because it passed by there
two seconds ago;
where it will not come back.
Although you adjust to this- 
it's nothing, you say,
just the way it is.
How poor we are,
with all this running
through our fingers.
"Here," says the Devil,
"Eat. It's Paradise." ...Read more of this...

How Good Are The Poor

by Victor Hugo
 ("Il est nuit. La cabane est pauvre.") 
 
 {Bk. LII. iii.} 
 
 'Tis night—within the close stout cabin door, 
 The room is wrapped in shade save where there fall 
 Some twilight rays that creep along the floor, 
 And show the fisher's nets upon the wall. 
 
 In the dim corner, from the oaken...Read more of this...

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced...Read more of this...

God Is Good

by Anonymous
Morn amid the mountains,Lovely solitude,Gushing streams and fountains,Murmur, “God is good.”Now the glad sun, breaking,Pours a golden flood;Deepest vales awaking,Echo, “God is good.”Wake and join the chorus,Man with soul endued!He, whose smile is o’er us,God,—our God,—is good....Read more of this...

O heart! act as if all the good things of this world

by Omar Khayyam
O heart! act as if all the good things of this world
belonged to you; imagine that this house is provided
with everything, that it is richly furnished, and live joyously
in this domain of disorder. Realize that thou restest
here for two or three days, and that thereafter thou
shalt rise and go away....Read more of this...

World Take Good Notice

by Walt Whitman
 WORLD, take good notice, silver stars fading, 
Milky hue ript, weft of white detaching, 
Coals thirty-eight, baleful and burning, 
Scarlet, significant, hands off warning, 
Now and henceforth flaunt from these shores. 5...Read more of this...

The Good Man in Hell

by Edwin Muir
 If a good man were ever housed in Hell
By needful error of the qualities,
Perhaps to prove the rule or shame the devil,
Or speak the truth only a stranger sees,

Would he, surrendering quick to obvious hate,
Fill half eternity with cries and tears,
Or watch beside Hell's little wicket gate
In patience for the first ten thousand years,

Feeling the curse climb slowly to...Read more of this...

O thou who hast not done good, but who hast done

by Omar Khayyam
O thou who hast not done good, but who hast done
evil, and who hast afterward sought refuge in the Divinity,
guard thyself from relying upon pardon; for he who
has done nothing resembles no more him who has sinned
than he who has sinned resembles him who has done
nothing!...Read more of this...

What General has a Good Army

by Walt Whitman
 WHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army; 
He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy, 
But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a
 child
 by others....Read more of this...

Good. I have done. My heart weighs. I am sad

by Fernando Pessoa
Good. I have done. My heart weighs. I am sad.

The outer day, void statue of lit blue,

Is altogether outward, other, glad

At mere being not-I (so my aches construe).

I, that have failed in everything, bewail

Nothing this hour but that I have bewailed,

For in the general fate what is't to fail?

Why, fate being past for Fate, 'tis but to have failed.

Whatever hap-or...Read more of this...

Good-night

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The lark is silent in his nest,
The breeze is sighing in its flight,
Sleep, Love, and peaceful be thy rest.
[Pg 62]Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night.
Sweet dreams attend thee in thy sleep,
To soothe thy rest till morning's light,
And angels round thee vigil keep.
Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night.
Sleep well, my love, on night's dark breast,
And ease thy soul with slumber bright;
Be...Read more of this...

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