Famous Predicament Poems by Famous Poets

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

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127. Stanzas on Naething

...thing,
Her fingers I lovingly squeezed,
 And kissed her, and promised her—naething.


The priest anathèmas may threat—
 Predicament, sir, that we’re baith in;
But when honour’s reveillé is beat,
 The holy artillery’s naething.


And now I must mount on the wave—
 My voyage perhaps there is death in;
But what is a watery grave?
 The drowning a Poet is naething.


And now, as grim death’s in my thought,
 To you, sir, I make this bequeathing;
My service as long as ye’ve ought,
 ...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


Absalom And Achitophel

...amuel us'd to Saul.
What others in his evidence did join,
(The best that could be had for love or coin,)
In Corah's own predicament will fall:
For Witness is a common name to all.

Surrounded thus with friends of every sort,
Deluded Absalom forsakes the court:
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near possession of a crown:
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise,
And on his goodly person feed their eyes:
His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show;
...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

At A Vacation Exercise In The Colledge Part Latin Part English. The Latin Speeches Ended The English Thus Began

...dost stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,
Thou know'st it must he now thy only bent
To keep in compass of thy Predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my Roome

Then Ens is represented as Father of the Predicaments his ten
Sons, whereof the Eldest stood for Substance with his Canons,
which Ens thus speaking, explains.

Good luck befriend thee Son; for at thy birth
The Faiery Ladies daunc't upon the hearth; 
Thy drowsie ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Country Of Marriage

...ssess nothing worthy to give you, nothing
not belittled by my saying that I possess it.
Even an hour of love is a moral predicament, a blessing
a man may be hard up to be worthy of. He can only
accept it, as a plant accepts from all the bounty of the light
enough to live, and then accepts the dark,
passing unencumbered back to the earth, as I
have fallen tine and again from the great strength
of my desire, helpless, into your arms.

VI.

What I am learning to give you is my d...Read more of this...
by Berry, Wendell

The Equilibrists

...mbering on his shoulder, saying, Arise, 
Leave me now, and never let us meet, 
Eternal distance now command thy feet. 

Predicament indeed, which thus discovers 
Honor among thieves, Honor between lovers. 
O such a little word is Honor, they feel! 
But the grey word is between them cold as steel. 

At length I saw these lovers fully were come 
Into their torture of equilibrium; 
Dreadfully had forsworn each other, and yet 
They were bound each to each, and they did not forget...Read more of this...
by Ransom, John Crowe


the singing dog

...ibrarians in their thousands
begged mercy from the trees

the dog sang in the market
it didn't understand
the panic and predicament
it'd loosed upon the land

its head had always been
a lot where songs were parking
but when it tried to sing
the noise came out like barking

maybe this time the air
crystal-clear since rain
stripped raucousness to leave
such a melodious strain

none could bear the sweet
enchantment of their ears
dogs sing - then pigs could vote
such an avalanche...Read more of this...
by Gregory, Rg

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