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Famous Paid Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...of dying, though I knew soon 
That all the gold in all the sunken ships 
That have gone down since Tyre would not have paid 
For me the ferriage of myself alone 
To that infernal shore. I was in hell,
Remember; and if you have never been there 
You may as well not say how easy it is 
To find the best way out. There may not be one. 
Well, I was there; and I was there alone— 
Alone for the first time since I was born;
And I was not alone. That’s what it is 
To be in hell. I ho...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington



...ir lord
happened to need them. They were a good band. (ll. 1242-50)

 

XVIIII.

Then they slid into slumber—one paid a heavy price
for his evening-rest, as it had happened to them so often
when Grendel kept the gold-hall, doing unrighteous deeds,
until his end came upon him, a slaying after his sins.
It became obvious, widely-known to men,
that an avenger still remained after that hateful one,
after that war-trouble, for a long time. (ll. 1251-58a)

Grendel’s ...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,
...ned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
To him an heir was afterward born,
a son in his halls, whom heaven sent
to favor the folk, feeling their woe
that erst they had lacked an earl for leader
so long a whil...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,
...fist alone the gate he battered down 
 Of Sickingen in flames, and saved the town. 
 'Twas he, indignant at the honor paid 
 To crime, who with his heel an onslaught made 
 Upon Duke Lupus' shameful monument, 
 Tore down, the statue he to fragments rent; 
 Then column of the Strasburg monster bore 
 To bridge of Wasselonne, and threw it o'er 
 Into the waters deep. The people round 
 Blazon the noble deeds that so abound 
 From Altorf unto Chaux-de-Fonds, and say, 
...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor
...p of coffee is growing and growing 
and they're gonna stick your little doll's head 
into it and your lungs a gonna get paid 
and your clothes a gonna melt. 
Hear that, Ms. Dog! 
You of the songs, 
you of the classroom, 
you of the pocketa-pocketa, 
you hungry mother, 
you spleen baby! 
Them angels gonna be cut down like wheat. 
Them songs gonna be sliced with a razor. 
Them kitchens gonna get a boulder in the belly. 
Them phones gonna be torn out at the root. 
There's power ...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne



....

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers--desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot ...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on ...Read more of this...
by Angelou, Maya
...nd his lieutenant mild, 
Brounker--Love's squire--through all the field arrayed, 
No troop was better clad, nor so well paid. 
Then marched the troop of Clarendon, all full 
Haters of fowl, to teal preferring bull: 
Gross bodies, grosser minds, and grossest cheats, 
And bloated Wren conducts them to their seats. 
Charlton advances next, whose coif does awe 
The Mitre troop, and with his looks gives law. 
He marched with beaver cocked of bishop's brim, 
And hid much fraud unde...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew
...iver.
Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on
Traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name,
You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,
You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,
Then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers--
Desperate for gain, starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,
Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a n...Read more of this...
by Angelou, Maya
...
Our servile offerings? This must be our task 
In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome 
Eternity so spent in worship paid 
To whom we hate! Let us not then pursue, 
By force impossible, by leave obtained 
Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state 
Of splendid vassalage; but rather seek 
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own 
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, 
Free and to none accountable, preferring 
Hard liberty before the easy yoke 
Of servile pomp. ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...l the east 
Of Paradise and Eden's happy plains, 
Lowly they bowed adoring, and began 
Their orisons, each morning duly paid 
In various style; for neither various style 
Nor holy rapture wanted they to praise 
Their Maker, in fit strains pronounced, or sung 
Unmeditated; such prompt eloquence 
Flowed from their lips, in prose or numerous verse, 
More tuneable than needed lute or harp 
To add more sweetness; and they thus began. 
These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...ave kept
Tacit, was in thy power; true; and thou hear'st 
Enough, and more the burden of that fault;
Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying
That rigid score. A worse thing yet remains,
This day the Philistines a popular Feast
Here celebrate in Gaza, and proclaim
Great Pomp, and Sacrifice, and Praises loud
To Dagon, as their God who hath deliver'd
Thee Samson bound and blind into thir hands,
Them out of thine, who slew'st them many a slain.
So Dagon shall be magnifi'd, ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...leep.”

“Lucky for you you did. Lucky for you
You had us for a half-way station
To stop at. If you were the kind of man
Paid heed to women, you’d take my advice
And for your family’s sake stay where you are.
But what good is my saying it over and over?
You’ve done more than you had a right to think
You could do—now. You know the risk you take
In going on.”

“Our snow-storms as a rule
Aren’t looked on as man-killers, and although
I’d rather be the beast that sleeps the sleep
U...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert
...est village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid,
And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed:
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, where every sport could please,
How often have I loitered o'er your green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene;
How often have I paused on every charm,
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
The dec...Read more of this...
by Goldsmith, Oliver
..., key and clue;
Tale of a loving woman's fall; soul swept hell-ward, and God! it's true.
I was the man -- Oh, yes, I've paid, paid with mighty and mordant pain.
Look! here's the masterpiece I've made out of my sin, my manhood slain.
Art supreme! yet the world would stare, know my mistress and blaze my shame.
I have a wife and daughter -- there! take it and thrust it in the flame."

Brown answered: "Master, you have dipped pen in your heart, your phrases sear.
Ruthless, unflin...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...Godde's sake that sits above,
See how they bleed! be they not well array'd?
Thus hath their lord, the god of love, them paid
Their wages and their fees for their service;
And yet they weene for to be full wise,
That serve love, for aught that may befall.
But this is yet the beste game* of all, *joke
That she, for whom they have this jealousy,
Can them therefor as muchel thank as me.
She wot no more of all this *hote fare*, *hot behaviour*
By God, than wot a cuckoo or an hare....Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.
     III.

     Yelled on the view the opening pack;
     Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back;
     To many a mingled sound at once
     The awakened mountain gave response.
     A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong,
     Clattered a hundred steeds along,
     Their peal the merry horns rung out,
     A hundred voices joined the shout;
     With hark and whoop and wild halloo,
     No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew.
     Far f...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter
...e river.
Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river.
Each of you, descendant of some passed on
Traveller, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name,
You Pawnee, Apache and Seneca,
You Cherokee Nation, who rested with me,
Then forced on bloody feet,
Left me to the employment of other seekers--
Desperate for gain, starving for gold.
You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot...
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru,
Bought, sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
...Read more of this...
by Angelou, Maya
...escended to his watches and rings,
And he gave his mistresses many things
To make them forget his age and smile
When he paid visits, and they could while
The time away with a diamond locket
Exceedingly well. So they picked his pocket,
And he paid in jewels for his slobbering kisses.
This watch was made to buy him blisses
From an Austrian countess on her way
Home, and she meant to start next day.

Paul worked by the pointed, tulip-flame
Of a tallow candle, and became
So absorb...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy
...and glory; he had call'd 
Reviewing (1)'the ungentle craft,' and then 
Become as base a critic as e'er crawl'd — 
Fed, paid, and pamper'd by the very men 
By whom his muse and morals had been maul'd: 
He had written much blank verse, and blanker prose, 
And more of both than anybody knows. 

XCIX 

He had written Wesley's life: — here turning round 
To Satan, 'Sir, I'm ready to write yours, 
In two octavo volumes, nicely bound, 
With notes and preface, all that most allures ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...ope had sitten them beside,
I would not spare them at their owen board,
For, by my troth, I quit* them word for word *repaid
As help me very God omnipotent,
Though I right now should make my testament
I owe them not a word, that is not quit* *repaid
I brought it so aboute by my wit,
That they must give it up, as for the best
Or elles had we never been in rest.
For, though he looked as a wood* lion, *furious
Yet should he fail of his conclusion.
Then would I say, "Now, goode l...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things