Famous Paralysis Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Paralysis poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous paralysis poems. These examples illustrate what a famous paralysis poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Sexton, Anne
...the night I was defiled.
3. ANGEL OF FLIGHT AND SLEIGH BELLS
Angel of flight and sleigh bells, do you know paralysis,
that ether house where your arms and legs are cement?
You are as still as a yardstick. You have a doll's kiss.
The brain whirls in a fit. The brain is not evident.
I have gone to that same place without a germ or a stroke.
A little solo act--that lady with the brain that broke.
In this fashion I have become a tree.
I h...Read more of this...
by
Gregory, Rg
...ey wait
shall i go with them
indoor delights that slowly breed into lies
need to be dumped out of doors - and paralysis with them
no leave it
there's still one more
the need now
the need now is to chronicle new times
by their own statutes not as ***-ends of the old
ideas stand out bravely against the surrounding grey
seeking their own order in what themselves proclaim
fortresses no longer belong by right to an older day
i want to gather in my hands th...Read more of this...
by
Masters, Edgar Lee
...infected my four sons with it,
And I brooded upon retaliation,
Until the great physician, Nature,
Smote me through with paralysis
To give my soul and body a rest.
Did my sons get power and money?
Did they serve the people or yoke them,
To till and harvest fields of self?
For how could they ever forget
My face at my bed-room window,
Sitting helpless amid my golden cages
Of singing canaries,
Looking at the old court-house?...Read more of this...
by
Dickinson, Emily
...I've dropped my Brain -- My Soul is numb --
The Veins that used to run
Stop palsied -- 'tis Paralysis
Done perfecter on stone
Vitality is Carved and cool.
My nerve in Marble lies --
A Breathing Woman
Yesterday -- Endowed with Paradise.
Not dumb -- I had a sort that moved --
A Sense that smote and stirred --
Instincts for Dance -- a caper part --
An Aptitude for Bird --
Who wrought Carrara in me
And chiselled all my tune
Were it a Witchcr...Read more of this...
by
Plath, Sylvia
...le stricken patients let him have his say;
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
Each virile bachelor dreads paralysis,
The old maid in the gable cries all day:
Never try to trick me with a kiss.
The suave eternal serpents promise bliss
To mortal children longing to be gay;
The dying man will scoff and scorn at this.
Sooner or later something goes amiss;
The singing birds pack up and fly away;
So never try to trick me with a kiss:
The dying man will scoff...Read more of this...
by
Brooke, Rupert
...For moveless limbs no pity I crave,
That never were swift! Still all I prize,
Laughter and thought and friends, I have;
No fool to heave luxurious sighs
For the woods and hills that I never knew.
The more excellent way's yet mine! And you
Flower-laden come to the clean white cell,
And we talk as ever -- am I not the same?
With our hearts we love, immu...Read more of this...
by
Schwartz, Delmore
...ng breath.
When I but think of how her years are spent
Deadening that one talent which -- for woman is --
Death or paralysis, denied: nature's intent
That each girl be a mother -- whether or not she is
Or has become a lawful wife or bride
-- 0 Alma Magna Mater, deathless the living death of pride....Read more of this...
by
Hudgins, Andrew
...y.
Once, standing where Jeff Davis took his oath,
I saw the Capitol. He shrank into his chair,
so flaccid with paralysis he looked
like melting flesh, white as a maggot. He's fatter now.
He courts black votes, and life is calmer than
when Muslims shot whites on this street, and calmer
than when the Klan blew up Judge Johnson's house
or Martin Luther King's. My history could be worse.
I could be Birmingham. I could be Selma.
I could be Philadel...Read more of this...
by
Gregory, Rg
...un
weightless stretcher far too heavy
sweating fingers burn like ice
legs revolve in all directions
thoughts race into paralysis
ahead the village breathes as normal
innocent of the eternal bloom
about to bleed its hope-fear petals
into each mortal living room...Read more of this...
by
Dickinson, Emily
...ciers -- when a Boy --
And Tinder -- guessed -- by power
Of Opposite -- to balance Odd --
If White -- a Red -- must be!
Paralysis -- our Primer -- dumb --
Unto Vitality!...Read more of this...
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