Famous Prior Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

A Better Answer

...Dear Chloe, how blubbered is that pretty face;
Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurled!
Prithee quit this caprice, and (as old Falstaff says)
Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world.

How canst thou presume thou hast leave to destroy
The beauties which Venus but lent to thy keeping?
Those looks were designed to inspire love and joy:
Mor...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew


A Literature Lesson. Sir Patrick Spens in the Eighteenth Century Manner

...l 
Great store of flatulence and rigmarole; 
-- All fled the Court, which shades of night invest, 
And Pope and Gay and Prior told the rest....Read more of this...
by Raleigh, Sir Walter

A Reasonable Affliction

...On his death-bed poor Lubin lies: 
His spouse is in despair: 
With frequent sobs, and mutual cries, 
They both express their care. 

A different cause, says Parson Sly, 
The same effect may give: 
Poor Lubin fears that he may die; 
His wife, that he may live....Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

A Simile

...Dear Thomas, didst thou never pop
Thy head into a tin-man's shop?
There, Thomas, didst thou never see
('Tis but by way of simile)
A squirrel spend his little rage
In jumping round a rolling cage?
The cage, as either side turn'd up,
Striking a ring of bells a-top?--

Mov'd in the orb, pleas'd with the chimes,
The foolish creature thinks he climbs:
But here ...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

A Tale of the Miser and the Poet

...
Instead of Honour'd, and Rewarded, 
Are you not Slighted, or Discarded? 
What have you met with, but Disgraces? 
Your PRIOR cou'd not keep in Places; 
And your VAN-BRUG had found no Quarter, 
But for his dabbling in the Morter. 
ROWE no Advantages cou'd hit on, 
Till Verse he left, to write North-Briton. 
PHILIPS, who's by the Shilling known, 
Ne'er saw a Shilling of his own. 
Meets {2} PHILOMELA, in the Town 
Her due Proportion of Renown? 
What Pref'rence has ARDELIA seen,...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill


A True Maid

...No, no; for my virginity,
When I lose that, says Rose, I'll die:
Behind the elms last night, cried Dick,
Rose, were you not extremely sick?...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

For my own Monument

...AS doctors give physic by way of prevention, 
 Mat, alive and in health, of his tombstone took care; 
For delays are unsafe, and his pious intention 
 May haply be never fulfill'd by his heir. 

Then take Mat's word for it, the sculptor is paid; 
 That the figure is fine, pray believe your own eye; 
Yet credit but lightly what more may be said, 
 For we fl...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

Fra Lippo Lippi

...Betwixt the ins and outs of verb and noun, 
On the wall, the bench, the door. The monks looked black. 
"Nay," quoth the Prior, "turn him out, d'ye say? 
In no wise. Lose a crow and catch a lark. 
What if at last we get our man of parts, 
We Carmelites, like those Camaldolese 
And Preaching Friars, to do our church up fine 
And put the front on it that ought to be!" 
And hereupon he bade me daub away. 
Thank you! my head being crammed, the walls a blank, 
Never was such prompt...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Horace Lib. I Epist. IX Imitated

...[To the right honourable Mr. Harley]


Dear Dick, how e'er it comes into his head,
Believes, as firmly as he does his creed,
That you and I, sir, are extremely great;
Though I plain Mat, you minister of state.
One word from me, without all doubt, he says,
Would fix his fortune in some little place.
Thus better than myself, it seems, he knows
How far my int...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

Jinny the Just

...Releas'd from the noise of the butcher and baker 
Who, my old friends be thanked, did seldom forsake her, 
And from the soft duns of my landlord the Quaker, 

From chiding the footmen and watching the lasses, 
From Nell that burn'd milk, and Tom that broke glasses 
(Sad mischiefs thro' which a good housekeeper passes!) 

From some real care but more fancie...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

My Philosophy of Life

...to the world, as they sat
and thought about what they'd do after using the toilet
and washing their hands at the sink, prior to stepping out
into the open again.Had they been coaxed in by principles,
and were their words philosophy, of however crude a sort?
I confess I can move no farther along this train of thought--
something's blocking it.Something I'm 
not big enough to see over.Or maybe I'm frankly scared.
What was the matter with how I acted before?
But maybe I can com...Read more of this...
by Ashbery, John

Niobe in Distress

...broke
On Cynthus' summit, and indignant spoke;
"Phoebus! behold, thy mother in disgrace,
"Who to no goddess yields the prior place
"Except to Juno's self, who reigns above,
"The spouse and sister of the thund'ring Jove.
"Niobe, sprung from Tantalus, inspires
"Each Theban bosom with rebellious fires;
"No reason her imperious temper quells,
"But all her father in her tongue rebels;
"Wrap her own sons for her blaspheming breath,
"Apollo! wrap them in the shades of death."
Laton...Read more of this...
by Wheatley, Phillis

On My Birthday July 21

...I, MY dear, was born to-day-- 
So all my jolly comrades say: 
They bring me music, wreaths, and mirth, 
And ask to celebrate my birth: 
Little, alas! my comrades know 
That I was born to pain and woe; 
To thy denial, to thy scorn, 
Better I had ne'er been born: 
I wish to die, even whilst I say-- 
'I, my dear, was born to-day.' 
I, my dear, was born to-day...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

Part 5 of Trout Fishing in America

...it-trench, pith helmet,

slingshot, biffy and if so number of holes and proximity of

keester to vermin and deposits of prior users."



 --From a Letter by a Friend



 Sheep. Everything smelled of sheep on Paradise Creek,

but there were no sheep in sight. I fished down from the

ranger station where there was a huge monument to the Civi-

lian Conservation Corps.

 It was a twelve-foot high marble statue of a young man

walking out on a cold morning to a crapper that had t...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Soliloquy Of The Spanish Cloister

...d men, Brother Lawrence,
God's blood, would not mine kill you!
What? your myrtle-bush wants trimming?
Oh, that rose has prior claims---
Needs its leaden vase filled brimming?
Hell dry you up with its flames!

II.

At the meal we sit together:
_Salve tibi!_ I must hear
Wise talk of the kind of weather,
Sort of season, time of year:
_Not a plenteous cork-crop: scarcely
Dare we hope oak-galls, I doubt:
What's the Latin name for ``parsley''?_
What's the Greek name for Swine's Sno...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Giaour

...stes the sacred bread and wine.
Great largess to these walls he brought,
And thus our abbot's favour bought;
But were I prior, not a day
Should brook such stranger's further stay,
Or pent within our penance cell
Should doom him there for aye to dwell.
Much in his visions mutters he
Of maiden whelmed beneath the sea;
Of sabres clashing, foemen flying,
Wrongs avenged, and Moslem dying.
On cliff he hath been known to stand,
And rave as to some bloody hand
Fresh severed from its ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Lost Pyx: A Mediaeval Legend

...ic tale 
 That ancient Vale-folk tell. 

Ere Cernel's Abbey ceased hereabout there dwelt a priest, 
 (In later life sub-prior 
Of the brotherhood there, whose bones are now bare 
 In the field that was Cernel choir). 

One night in his cell at the foot of yon dell 
 The priest heard a frequent cry: 
"Go, father, in haste to the cot on the waste, 
 And shrive a man waiting to die." 

Said the priest in a shout to the caller without, 
 "The night howls, the tree-trunks bow; 
On...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

The Question to Lisetta

...WHAT nymph should I admire or trust, 
But Chloe beauteous, Chloe just? 
What nymph should I desire to see, 
But her who leaves the plain for me? 
To whom should I compose the lay, 
But her who listens when I play? 
To whom in song repeat my cares, 
But her who in my sorrow shares? 
For whom should I the garland make, 
But her who joys the gift to take, 
An...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

The Waste Land

...entia plagae,'
 Dixit 'ut auctoris sortem in contraria mutet,
 Nunc quoque vos feriam!' percussis anguibus isdem
 Forma prior rediit genetivaque venit imago.
 Arbiter hic igitur sumptus de lite iocosa
 Dicta Iovis firmat; gravius Saturnia iusto
 Nec pro materia fertur doluisse suique
 Iudicis aeterna damnavit lumina nocte,
 At pater omnipotens (neque enim licet inrita
cuiquam
 Facta dei fecisse deo) pro lumine adempto
 Scire futura dedit poenamque levavit honore.
221. This ma...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

To Chloe Jealous

...Dear Chloe, how blubber'd is that pretty face;
Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurl'd:
Prythee quit this caprice; and (as old Falstaff says)
Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world.

How canst thou presume, thou hast leave to destroy
The beauties, which Venus but lent to thy keeping?
Those looks were design'd to inspire love and joy:
M...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Prior poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Hide Ad