Famous Nor Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Nor poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous nor poems. These examples illustrate what a famous nor poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Milton: But in the Wine-presses the Human Grapes Sing not nor Dance

by William Blake
 But in the Wine-presses the human grapes sing not nor dance: 
They howl and writhe in shoals of torment, in fierce flames consuming,
In chains of iron and in dungeons circled with ceaseless fires,
In pits and dens and shades of death, in shapes of torment and woe:
The plates and screws and racks and saws and cords and fires and cisterns
The...Read more of this...

To His Mistress Objecting To Him Neither Toying Nor Talking

by Robert Herrick
 You say I love not, 'cause I do not play
 Still with your curls, and kiss the time away.
 You blame me, too, because I can't devise
 Some sport to please those babies in your eyes;—
By love's religion, I must here confess it,
 The most I love, when I the least express it.
 Small griefs find tongues; full casks...Read more of this...

494. Song—Farewell thou stream that winding flows

by Robert Burns
 FAREWELL, thou stream that winding flows
 Around Eliza’s dwelling;
O mem’ry! spare the cruel thoes
 Within my bosom swelling.
Condemn’d to drag a hopeless chain
 And yet in secret languish;
To feel a fire in every vein,
 Nor dare disclose my anguish.


Love’s veriest wretch, unseen, unknown,
 I fain my griefs would cover;
The bursting sigh, th’ unweeting groan,
 Betray the hapless lover.
I know...Read more of this...

Heed not the Sunna, nor the law divine;

by Omar Khayyam
Heed not the Sunna, nor the law divine;
If to the poor his portion you assign,
And never injure one, nor yet abuse,
I guarantee you heaven, and now some wine!...Read more of this...

Sonnet 107: Not mine own fears nor the prophetic soul

by William Shakespeare
 Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world, dreaming on things to come
Can yet the lease of my true love control,
Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom.
The mortal moon hath her eclipse endured,
And the sad augurs mock their own presage;
Incertainties now crown themselves assured,
And peace proclaims olives of endless age.
Now with the drops of this most...Read more of this...

Neither Out Far Nor In Deep

by Robert Frost
 The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be--
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.

They cannot...Read more of this...

Prayer for Patience

by William Cowper
 Lord, who hast suffer'd all for me,
My peace and pardon to procure,
The lighter cross I bear for Thee,
Help me with patience to endure.

The storm of loud repining hush;
I would in humble silence mourn;
Why should the unburnt, though burning bush,
Be angry as the crackling thorn?

Man should not faint at Thy rebuke,
Like Joshua falling on his face,
When the cursed thing that...Read more of this...

Nor We Of Her To Him

by Stevie Smith
 He said no word of her to us
Nor we of her to him,
But oh it saddened us to see
How wan he grew and thin.
We said: she eats him day and night
And draws the blood from him,
We did not know but said we thought
This was why he grew thin.

One day we called and rang the bell,
No answer came within,
We said:...Read more of this...

Neither This Nor That

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 IF thou to be a slave shouldst will,
Thou'lt get no pity, but fare ill;
And if a master thou wouldst be,
The world will view it angrily;
And if in statu quo thou stay,
That thou art but a fool, they'll say.

 1815.*...Read more of this...

Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments

by William Shakespeare
 Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme,
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth;...Read more of this...

The Penitent

by Anne Bronte
 I mourn with thee and yet rejoice
That thou shouldst sorrow so;
With Angel choirs I join my voice
To bless the sinner's woe. 
Though friends and kindred turn away
And laugh thy grief to scorn,
I hear the great Redeemer say
'Blessed are ye that mourn'. 

Hold on thy course nor deem it strange
That earthly cords are riven.
Man may lament the wondrous change
But 'There...Read more of this...

Nor you nor I can read the etern decree,

by Omar Khayyam
Nor you nor I can read the etern decree,
To that enigma we can find no key;
They talk of you and me behind the veil,
But, if that veil be lifted, where are we?...Read more of this...

Not marble nor the guilded monuments (Sonnet 55)

by William Shakespeare
 Not marble nor the gilded monuments
Of princes shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth;...Read more of this...

I am worthy neither of Hell nor a celestial abode; God

by Omar Khayyam
I am worthy neither of Hell nor a celestial abode; God
knows from what clay he has moulded me. Heretical as
a dervish and foul as a lost woman, I have neither
wealth, nor fortune, nor hope of Paradise....Read more of this...

Neither Bloody Nor Bowed

by Dorothy Parker
 They say of me, and so they should,
It's doubtful if I come to good.
I see acquaintances and friends
Accumulating dividends,
And making enviable names
In science, art, and parlor games.
But I, despite expert advice,
Keep doing things I think are nice,
And though to good I never come-
Inseparable my nose and thumb!...Read more of this...

Raise no question of the vicissitudes of this world, nor

by Omar Khayyam
Raise no question of the vicissitudes of this world, nor
of affairs of the future. Consider what a prize we have
in the present moment, and disturb not thyself with the
past or question me about the future....Read more of this...

Nor Mountain hinder Me

by Emily Dickinson
 Nor Mountain hinder Me
Nor Sea --
Who's Baltic --
Who's Cordillera?...Read more of this...

No man saw awe nor to his house

by Emily Dickinson
 No man saw awe, nor to his house
Admitted he a man
Though by his awful residence
Has human nature been.

Not deeming of his dread abode
Till laboring to flee
A grasp on comprehension laid
Detained vitality.

Returning is a different route
The Spirit could not show
For breathing is the only work
To be enacted now.

"Am not consumed," old Moses wrote,
"Yet saw him face to face" --
That very...Read more of this...

Reason not of the five, nor of the four,

by Omar Khayyam
Reason not of the five, nor of the four,
Be their dark problems one, or many score;
We are but earth, go, minstrel, bring the lute,
We are but air, bring wine, I ask no more!...Read more of this...

Sonnet CVII: Not Mine Own Fears Nor the Prophetic Soul

by William Shakespeare
 Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come,
Can yet the lease of my true love control,
Suppos'd as forfeit to a confin'd doom.
The mortal moon hath her eclipse endur'd
And the sad augurs mock their own presage;
Incertainties now crown themselves assur'd
And peace proclaims olives of endless age.
Now with the drops of this most...Read more of this...

If I drink wine 'tis not for mere desire; nor for the

by Omar Khayyam
If I drink wine 'tis not for mere desire; nor for the
rousing of the mob or insult to the Faith. No, 'tis for a
passing knowledge of relief from self. No other motive
could enwreath the cup....Read more of this...

To Sydney

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 NOT thine where marble-still and white
Old statues share the tempered light
And mock the uneven modern flight,
But in the stream
Of daily sorrow and delight
To seek a theme.

I too, O friend, have steeled my heart
Boldly to choose the better part,
To leave the beaten ways of art,
And wholly free
To dare, beyond the scanty chart,
The deeper sea.

All vain restrictions left behind,
Frail bark! I...Read more of this...

Sonnet 65: Since brass nor stone nor earth nor boundless sea

by William Shakespeare
 Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
Against the wrackful siege of batt'ring days,
When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
Nor gates of steel so strong but Time decays?
O, fearful meditation! Where,...Read more of this...

It knew no lapse nor Diminuation --

by Emily Dickinson
 It knew no lapse, nor Diminuation --
But large -- serene --
Burned on -- until through Dissolution --
It failed from Men --

I could not deem these Planetary forces
Annulled --
But suffered an Exchange of Territory --
Or World --...Read more of this...

To-day the season smiles; 'tis neither hot nor cold. The

by Omar Khayyam
To-day the season smiles; 'tis neither hot nor cold. The
clouds have washed away the dust which dimmed the
roses; and nightingales seem whispering to the yellow
flowers that wine is balm for all....Read more of this...

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