Get Your Premium Membership

Famous Not Long Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Not Long poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous not long poems. These examples illustrate what a famous not long poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

See also:

by Wilde, Oscar
...spear and fawnskin by the river side
Weary of hunting with the Bassarid,
And wise indeed were we away to fly:
They live not long who on the gods immortal come to spy.'

So turned they back, and feared to look behind,
And told the timid swain how they had seen
Amid the reeds some woodland god reclined,
And no man dared to cross the open green,
And on that day no olive-tree was slain,
Nor rushes cut, but all deserted was the fair domain,

Save when the neat-herd's lad, his ...Read more of this...



by Keats, John
...old couch of space
And airy cradle, lowly bow'd his face
Desponding, o'er the marble floor's cold thrill.
But 'twas not long; for, sweeter than the rill
To its old channel, or a swollen tide
To margin sallows, were the leaves he spied,
And flowers, and wreaths, and ready myrtle crowns
Up heaping through the slab: refreshment drowns
Itself, and strives its own delights to hide--
Nor in one spot alone; the floral pride
In a long whispering birth enchanted grew
Before his fo...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...w tiger-passion'd, lion-thoughted, wroth,
He meditated, plotted, and even now
Was hurling mountains in that second war,
Not long delay'd, that scar'd the younger Gods
To hide themselves in forms of beast and bird.
Not far hence Atlas; and beside him prone
Phorcus, the sire of Gorgons. Neighbour'd close
Oceanus, and Tethys, in whose lap
Sobb'd Clymene among her tangled hair.
In midst of all lay Themis, at the feet
Of Ops the queen; all clouded round from sight,
No ...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...ct arms upon the air,
And on her couch low murmuring, "Where? O where?"

XXXI.
But Selfishness, Love's cousin, held not long
Its fiery vigil in her single breast;
She fretted for the golden hour, and hung
Upon the time with feverish unrest--
Not long--for soon into her heart a throng
Of higher occupants, a richer zest,
Came tragic; passion not to be subdued,
And sorrow for her love in travels rude.

XXXII.
In the mid days of autumn, on their eves
The breath of Win...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...they know not, why they need not guess; 
They more might marvel, when the greeting's o'er, 
Not that he came, but came not long before: 
No train is his beyond a single page, 
Of foreign aspect, and of tender age. 
Years had roll'd on, and fast they speed away 
To those that wander as to those that stay; 
But lack of tidings from another clime 
Had lent a flagging wing to weary Time. 
They see, they recognise, yet almost deem 
The present dubious, or the past a dream...Read more of this...



by Frost, Robert
...by Herrick.

She has a touch of gold. New Hampshire gold—
You may have heard of it. I had a farm
Offered me not long since up Berlin way
With a mine on it that was worked for gold;
But not gold in commercial quantities,
Just enough gold to make the engagement rings
And marriage rings of those who owned the farm.
What gold more innocent could one have asked for?
One of my children ranging after rocks
Lately brought home from Andover or Canaan
A specimen of bery...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...n, and rocks of gold; 
The palace of great Lucifer, (so call 
That structure in the dialect of men 
Interpreted,) which not long after, he 
Affecting all equality with God, 
In imitation of that mount whereon 
Messiah was declared in sight of Heaven, 
The Mountain of the Congregation called; 
For thither he assembled all his train, 
Pretending so commanded to consult 
About the great reception of their King, 
Thither to come, and with calumnious art 
Of counterfeited truth th...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ghty styled, six nights and days 
Continued making; and who knows how long 
Before had been contriving? though perhaps 
Not longer than since I, in one night, freed 
From servitude inglorious well nigh half 
The angelick name, and thinner left the throng 
Of his adorers: He, to be avenged, 
And to repair his numbers thus impaired, 
Whether such virtue spent of old now failed 
More Angels to create, if they at least 
Are his created, or, to spite us more, 
Determined to advanc...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...hears 
On all sides, from innumerable tongues, 
A dismal universal hiss, the sound 
Of publick scorn; he wondered, but not long 
Had leisure, wondering at himself now more, 
His visage drawn he felt to sharp and spare; 
His arms clung to his ribs; his legs entwining 
Each other, till supplanted down he fell 
A monstrous serpent on his belly prone, 
Reluctant, but in vain; a greater power 
Now ruled him, punished in the shape he sinned, 
According to his doom: he would have s...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...

Man: With cause this hope relieves thee, and these words
I as a Prophecy receive: for God,
Nothing more certain, will not long defer
To vindicate the glory of his name
Against all competition, nor will long
Endure it, doubtful whether God be Lord,
Or Dagon. But for thee what shall be done?
Thou must not in the mean while here forgot
Lie in this miserable loathsom plight 
Neglected. I already have made way
To some Philistian Lords, with whom to treat
About thy ransom...Read more of this...

by Cowper, William
...Albion's coast,
With warmer wishes sent.
He lov'd them both, but both in vain,
Nor him beheld, nor her again.

Not long beneath the whelming brine,
Expert to swim, he lay;
Nor soon he felt his strength decline,
Or courage die away;
But wag'd with death a lasting strife,
Supported by despair of life.

He shouted: nor his friends had fail'd
To check the vessel's course,
But so the furious blast prevail'd,
That, pitiless perforce,
They left their outcast mate behind...Read more of this...

by Pushkin, Alexander
...Not long ago, in a charming dream,
I saw myself -- a king with crown's treasure;
I was in love with you, it seemed,
And heart was beating with a pleasure.
I sang my passion's song by your enchanting knees.
Why, dreams, you didn't prolong my happiness forever?
But gods deprived me not of whole their favor:
I only lost the kingdom of my dreams....Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...of prayer, 
Praise, fast, and alms; and leaving for the cowl 
The helmet in an abbey far away 
From Camelot, there, and not long after, died. 

And one, a fellow-monk among the rest, 
Ambrosius, loved him much beyond the rest, 
And honoured him, and wrought into his heart 
A way by love that wakened love within, 
To answer that which came: and as they sat 
Beneath a world-old yew-tree, darkening half 
The cloisters, on a gustful April morn 
That puffed the swaying branche...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...s, who saw his features bold
     When kindled by the tales of old
     Said, were that youth to manhood grown,
     Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown
     Be foremost voiced by mountain fame,
     But quail to that of Malcolm Graeme.
     XXVI.

     Now back they wend their watery way,
     And, 'O my sire!' did Ellen say,
     'Why urge thy chase so far astray?
     And why so late returned? And why '—
     The rest was in her speaking eye.
     'My child,...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...in peace,
Save my life, and be not reckeless
To gette her that hath my life in cure,* *keeping
For in this woe I may not long endure."

What needeth greater dilatation?
I say, by treaty and ambassadry,
And by the Pope's mediation,
And all the Church, and all the chivalry,
That in destruction of Mah'metry,* *Mahometanism
And in increase of Christe's lawe dear,
They be accorded* so as ye may hear; *agreed

How that the Soudan, and his baronage,
And all his lieges, shall ...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...y he had so long preferred
To hang upon her every word:
"In truth," he said, "it was absurd." 


The Third Voice 


NOT long this transport held its place:
Within a little moment's space
Quick tears were raining down his face 

His heart stood still, aghast with fear;
A wordless voice, nor far nor near,
He seemed to hear and not to hear. 

"Tears kindle not the doubtful spark.
If so, why not? Of this remark
The bearings are profoundly dark." 

"Her speech," he...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...ell into the same track at last & were
"Borne onward.--I among the multitude
Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long,
Me not the shadow nor the solitude,
"Me not the falling stream's Lethean song,
Me, not the phantom of that early form
Which moved upon its motion,--but among
"The thickest billows of the living storm
I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime
Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.--
"Before the chariot had begun to climb
The opposing s...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...> Southey laudeth grievously 'one Mr. Landor,' who cultivates much prevate renown in the shape of Latin verses; and not long ago, the poet laureate dedicated to him, it appeareth, one of his fugitive lyrics, upon the strength of a poem called 'Gebir.' Who could suppose, that in this same Gebir the aforesaid Savage Landor (for such is his grim cognomen) putteth into the infernal regions no less a person than the hero of his friend Mr. Southey's heaven, — yea, even ...Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...an's will 
Into compliance with external fate, 
How next the powers would use her to work ill 
On suffering men; we had not long to wait. 

For soon the outcry of derision rose, 
"Here comes the Wanderer!" the expected cry. 
Guessing the cause, our mockings joined with those 
Yelled from the shipping as they towed her by. 

She passed us close, her seamen paid no heed 
To what was called: they stood, a sullen group, 
Smoking and spitting, careless of her need, 
Mo...Read more of this...

by Arnold, Matthew
...w The Wide Prospect, and the Asian Fen,
And Tmolus hill, and Smyrna bay, though blind.

Much he, whose friendship I not long since won,
That halting slave, who in Nicopolis
Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son
Cleared Rome of what most shamed him. But be his

My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul,
 From first youth tested up to extreme old age,
Business could not make dull, nor passion wild;

Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole;
The mellow glory of the...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Not Long poems.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things