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Famous Phantasmagoria Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...ONE winter night, at half-past nine,
Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,
I had come home, too late to dine,
And supper, with cigars and wine,
Was waiting in the study. 

There was a strangeness in the room,
And Something white and wavy
Was standing near me in the gloom -
I took it for the carpet-broom
Left by that careless slavey. 

But presently the Thing ...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis



..."MY First - but don't suppose," he said,
"I'm setting you a riddle -
Is - if your Victim be in bed,
Don't touch the curtains at his head,
But take them in the middle, 

"And wave them slowly in and out,
While drawing them asunder;
And in a minute's time, no doubt,
He'll raise his head and look about
With eyes of wrath and wonder. 

"And here you must on no...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
..."AND did you really walk," said I,
"On such a wretched night?
I always fancied Ghosts could fly -
If not exactly in the sky,
Yet at a fairish height." 

"It's very well," said he, "for Kings
To soar above the earth:
But Phantoms often find that wings -
Like many other pleasant things -
Cost more than they are worth. 

"Spectres of course are rich, and so
C...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
..."OH, when I was a little Ghost, 
A merry time had we! 
Each seated on his favourite post, 
We chumped and chawed the buttered toast 
They gave us for our tea." 

"That story is in print!" I cried. 
"Don't say it's not, because 
It's known as well as Bradshaw's Guide!" 
(The Ghost uneasily replied 
He hardly thought it was). 

"It's not in Nursery Rhymes? A...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
..."DON'T they consult the 'Victims,' though?"
I said. "They should, by rights,
Give them a chance - because, you know,
The tastes of people differ so,
Especially in Sprites." 

The Phantom shook his head and smiled.
"Consult them? Not a bit!
'Twould be a job to drive one wild,
To satisfy one single child -
There'd be no end to it!" 

"Of course you can't lea...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis



...As one who strives a hill to climb,
Who never climbed before:
Who finds it, in a little time,
Grow every moment less sublime,
And votes the thing a bore: 

Yet, having once begun to try,
Dares not desert his quest,
But, climbing, ever keeps his eye
On one small hut against the sky
Wherein he hopes to rest: 

Who climbs till nerve and force are spent,
With ...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
..."WHAT'S this?" I pondered. "Have I slept? 
Or can I have been drinking?" 
But soon a gentler feeling crept 
Upon me, and I sat and wept 
An hour or so, like winking. 

"No need for Bones to hurry so!" 
I sobbed. "In fact, I doubt 
If it was worth his while to go - 
And who is Tibbs, I'd like to know, 
To make such work about? 

"If Tibbs is anything like m...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
...t like some dead thing killed
At the moment of birth. Then, deadly sick,
He would lie in a swoon for hours, while thick
Phantasmagoria crowded his brain,
And his body shrieked in the clutch of pain.
The crisis passed, he would wake and smile
With a vacant joy, half-imbecile
And quite confused, not being certain
Why he was suffering; a curtain
Fallen over the tortured mind beguiled
His sorrow. Like a little child
He would play with his watches and gems, with glee
Calling the S...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy
...nce at least 
As oft as they their minds; though in full sight 
He stood, the puzzle only was increased; 
The man was a phantasmagoria in 
Himself — he was so volatile and thin. 

LXXVIII 

The moment that you had pronounce him one, 
Presto! his face change'd and he was another; 
And when that change was hardly well put on, 
It varied, till I don't think his own mother 
(If that he had a mother) would her son 
Have known, he shifted so from one to t'other; 
Till guessing from...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...You ask me what is this phantasmagoria of things here
below. To tell you the whole truth regarding it would
be too long: it is a fantastic image which comes out of
a vast sea, and which re-enters, later, the same vast sea.
337...Read more of this...
by Khayyam, Omar

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry