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Famous Prices Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...news 
Got around that this here amateur was stiff, 
And our good stuff was blued, and all the books 
Was in it, and the prices lengthened out, 
And every book was bustin' of his throat, 
And layin' five to one the favourite. 
So there was we that couldn't win ourselves, 
And this here amateur that wouldn't try, 
And all the books was layin' five to one. 

So Smithy says to me, "You take a hold 
Of that there moke of yours, and round the turn 
Come up behind Enchantres...Read more of this...



by Hecht, Anthony
...o earth.

And that was all, except for the cold and silence
That promised to last forever, like the hill.

Then prices came through, and fingers, and I was restored
To the sunlight and my friends. But for more than a week
I was scared by the plain bitterness of what I had seen.
All this happened about ten years ago,
And it hasn't troubled me since, but at last, today,
I remembered that hill; it lies just to the left
Of the road north of Poughkeepsie; and as a ...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...department or Treasury department, or in the daily
 papers
 or
 the weekly papers,
Or in the census or revenue returns, prices current, or any accounts of stock. 

4
The sun and stars that float in the open air; 
The apple-shaped earth, and we upon it—surely the drift of them is something grand! 
I do not know what it is, except that it is grand, and that it is happiness, 
And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation, or bon-mot, or
 reconnoissance,
And ...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...r bonded Papists, they let out.

Here, landlords, here, polemics nail you,
Arm'd with all rubbish they can rake up;
Prices and Texts at once assail you --
From Daniel these, and those from Jacob.

And when you sleep, with head still torn
Between the two, their shapes you mix,
Till sometimes Catholics seem Corn --
Then Corn again seems Catholics.

Now, Dantzic wheat before you floats --
Now, Jesuits from California --
Now, Ceres, link'd with Titus Oats,
Comes danci...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...eautiful --

But I tell you every step is a Trough --
And every stop a Well --
Now will you have the Rope or the Floss?
Prices reasonable --...Read more of this...



by Raine, Craig
...ures bobbed and trampolined

around the bodies, then swirled
a mile above their heads

like scalded tea leaves.
The Prices buried everything--

all the tattered clothes and flesh,
Mrs. Helmore's bright chains of hair,

were wrapped in bits of calico
then given to the sliding sand.

'In the beginning was the Word'--
Roger read from Helmore's Bible

found open at St. John.
Isabella moved her lips,

'The Word was Manchester.'
Shhh, shhh, the shovel said.<...Read more of this...

by Merwin, W S
...Soon I will be gone
The tall spirit who lodged here has
Left already
On the avenues the colorless thread lies under
Old prices

When you look back there is always the past
Even when it has vanished
But when you look forward
With your dirty knuckles and the wingless
Bird on your shoulder
What can you write

The bitterness is still rising in the old mines
The fist is coming out of the egg
The thermometers out of the mouths of the corpses

At a certain height
The tails of the ki...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...nd the 
 lack of shelters, 
And the cities hostile and the towns 
 unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high
 prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all 
 night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, 
 saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a 
 temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of 
 vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill
 beating the darkness,
And three tr...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...weeds
Suffice me for tomorrow's needs--
Until my verse the public reads.

I used to go to Savile Row,
But now their prices are so high,
With royalties at all time low,
Because my books few want to buy . . .
No, I don't blame them, but that's why.

Well, anyway I'd rather fare
In tattered rags and ring my chimes
Than strut around in wealthy wear.
--So in these tough and trying times
Let me flaunt like defiant flags
The jubilation of my RAGS....Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...pint or more of boarding-school beer: so also - 


I NEVER loved a dear Gazelle -
NOR ANYTHING THAT COST ME MUCH:
HIGH PRICES PROFIT THOSE WHO SELL,
BUT WHY SHOULD I BE FOND OF SUCH? 

To glad me with his soft black eye
MY SON COMES TROTTING HOME FROM SCHOOL;
HE'S HAD A FIGHT BUT CAN'T TELL WHY -
HE ALWAYS WAS A LITTLE FOOL! 

But, when he came to know me well,
HE KICKED ME OUT, HER TESTY SIRE:
AND WHEN I STAINED MY HAIR, THAT BELLE
MIGHT NOTE THE CHANGE, AND THUS ADMIRE 

A...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...His "Going, going, gone"
Shouts even from the Crucifix,
And brings his Hammer down --
He only sells the Wilderness,
The prices of Despair
Range from a single human Heart
To Two -- not any more --...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...ristians! To all devout Jews! you all 
Must each bring a stone -- Great sport will be shown; 
Enormous Attractions! And prices as usual! 
Roll up to the Hall!! Wives, children and all, 
For naught the most delicate feelings to hurt is meant!!" 
Here his eyes opened wide, for close by his side 
Was the scapegoat: And eating his latest advertisement! 
One shriek from him burst -- "You creature accurst!" 
And he ran from the spot like one fearing the worst. 
His language was...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...body away,
And the watches were sold that Saturday.
The Auctioneer said one could seldom buy
Such watches, and the prices were high....Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...ught him and christened him The Trap. 

When grass was good and horses dear, 
He changed his owner now and then 
At prices ranging somewhere near 
The neighbourhood of two-pound-ten: 
And manfully he earned his keep 
By yarding cows and ration sheep. 

They brought him in from off the grass 
And fed and groomed the old horse up; 
His coat began to shine like glass -- 
You'd think he'd win the Melbourne Cup. 
And when they'd got him fat and flash 
They asked the ne...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...I never loved a dear Gazelle-- 
Nor anything that cost me much: 
High prices profit those who sell, 
But why should I be fond of such? 
To glad me with his soft black eye 
My son comes trotting home from school; 
He's had a fight but can't tell why-- 
He always was a little fool! 

But, when he came to know me well, 
He kicked me out, her testy Sire: 
And when I stained my hair, that Belle 
Might note the change and this admir...Read more of this...

by Ayres, Pam
...e told’em then and there.
His thoughts on immigration, teenage mothers, Tony Blair,
The future of the monarchy, house prices in the south
The wait for hip replacements, BSE and foot and mouth.

Yes . . . they should have asked my husband he can sort out any mess
He can rejuvenate the railways he can cure the NHS
So any little niggle, anything you want to know
Just run it past my husband, wind him up and let him go.

Congestion on the motorways, free holidays for thu...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs