Famous Purse Poems by Famous Poets

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

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403. The Soldier's Return: A Ballad

...ce, quoth I, “Sweet lass,
 Sweet as yon hawthorn’s blossom,
O! happy, happy may he be,
 That’s dearest to thy bosom:
My purse is light, I’ve far to gang,
 And fain would be thy lodger;
I’ve serv’d my king and country lang—
 Take pity on a sodger.”


Sae wistfully she gaz’d on me,
 And lovelier was than ever;
Quo’ she, “A sodger ance I lo’ed,
 Forget him shall I never:
Our humble cot, and hamely fare,
 Ye freely shall partake it;
That gallant badge-the dear cockade,
 Ye’re wel...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Dialogue between Old England and New

...
52 Dost feel the smart, or fear the consequence?
53 Your humble Child entreats you shew your grief.
54 Though Arms nor Purse she hath for your relief--
55 Such is her poverty,--yet shall be found
56 A suppliant for your help, as she is bound.

Old England. 

57 I must confess some of those Sores you name
58 My beauteous Body at this present maim,
59 But foreign Foe nor feigned friend I fear,
60 For they have work enough, thou knowest, elsewhere.
61 Nor is it Alcie's son and ...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

A Man

...ach a third with whiskey, two thirds
with water. He sat down on the bed with Constance. She took a cigarette out of her purse
and lit it. She was drunk and her hands trembled. 
"I took his damn money too. I took his damn money and split while he was at work.
You don't know how I've suffered with that son of a *****." "
Lemme have a smoke," said George. She handed it to him and as she leaned near,
George put his arm around her, pulled her over and kissed her. 
"You son of a bi...Read more of this...
by Bukowski, Charles

Astrophel and Stella

...s fury tell,
But, God wot, wot not what they meane by it;
And this I sweare by blackest brooke of hell,
I am no pick-purse of anothers wit.
How falles it then, that with so smooth an ease
My thoughts I speake; and what I speake doth flow
In verse, and that my verse best wits doth please?
Ghesse we the cause? What, is it this? Fie, no.
Or so? Much lesse. How then? Sure thus it is,
My lips are sweet, inspir'd with Stellas kisse. 
LXXV 

Of all the Kings that euer he...Read more of this...
by Sidney, Sir Philip

Goblin Market

...ird.

But sweet-tooth Laura spoke in haste:
"Good folk, I have no coin;
To take were to purloin:
I have no copper in my purse,
I have no silver either,
And all my gold is on the furze
That shakes in windy weather
Above the rusty heather."
"You have much gold upon your head,"
They answered altogether:
"Buy from us with a golden curl."
She clipped a precious golden lock,
She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,
Then sucked their fruit globes fair or red:
Sweeter than honey from...Read more of this...
by Rossetti, Christina


Last Instructions to a Painter

...Tax from the Excise turn round, 
Bought off with eighteen-hundred-thousand pound. 
Thus like fair theives, the Commons' purse they share, 
But all the members' lives, consulting, spare. 

Blither than hare that hath escaped the hounds, 
The House prorogued, the Chancellor rebounds. 
Not so decrepit Aeson, hashed and stewed, 
With bitter herbs, rose from the pot renewed, 
And with fresh age felt his glad limbs unite; 
His gout (yet still he cursed) had left him quite. 
What fr...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

New Hampshire

...e each of everything as in a showcase,
Which naturally she doesn't care to sell.

She had one President. (Pronounce him Purse,
And make the most of it for better or worse.
He's your one chance to score against the state.)
She had one Daniel Webster. He was all
The Daniel Webster ever was or shall be.
She had the Dartmouth' needed to produce him.

I call her old. She has one family
Whose claim is good to being settled here
Before the era of colonization,
And before that of exp...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Old Pictures In Florence

...bute so much, I ask him humbly?

XXVIII.

Margheritone of Arezzo,
With the grave-clothes garb and swaddling barret
(Why purse up mouth and beak in a pet so,
You bald old saturnine poll-clawed parrot?)
Not a poor glimmering Crucifixion,
Where in the foreground kneels the donor?
If such remain, as is my conviction,
The hoarding it does you but little honour.

XXIX.

They pass; for them the panels may thrill,
The tempera grow alive and tinglish;
Their pictures are left to the me...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

September On Jessore Road

...ice door

Baby at play I was washing the flood
Now they won't give us any more food
The pieces are here in my celluloid purse
Innocent baby play our death curse 

Two policemen surrounded by thousands of boys
Crowded waiting their daily bread joys
Carry big whistles & long bamboo sticks
to whack them in line They play hungry tricks

Breaking the line and jumping in front 
Into the circle sneaks one skinny runt
Two brothers dance forward on the mud stage
Teh gaurds blow their ...Read more of this...
by Ginsberg, Allen

The Everlasting Mercy

...though, I've a-sprained my thumb, 
We'll fight after the harvest hum. 
And Silas Jones, that bookie wide, 
Will make a purse five pounds a side." 
Those were the words, that was the place 
By which God brought me into grace. 

On Wood Top Field the peewits go 
Mewing and wheeling ever so; 
And like the shaking of a timbrel 
Cackles the laughter of the whimbrel.. 

In the old quarry-pit they say 
Head-keeper Pike was made away. 
He walks, head-keeper Pike, for harm, 
He taps ...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

The Flight Of The Duchess

...ime, the Duke would scarcely vouchsafe
A word in reply; and in vain she felt
With twitching fingers at her belt
For the purse of sleek pine-martin pelt,
Ready to ptlt what he gave in her pouch safe,---
Till, either to quicken his apprehension,
Or possibly with an after-intention,
She was come, she said, to pay her duty
To the new Duchess, the youthful beauty.
No sooner had she named his lady,
Than a shine lit up the face so shady,
And its smirk returned with a novel meaning--...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Four Ages of Man

...es,
1.38 But neither us'd (as yet) for he was wise,
1.39 Of Autumn fruits a basket on his arm,
1.40 His golden rod in's purse, which was his charm.
1.41 And last of all, to act upon this Stage,
1.42 Leaning upon his staff, comes up old age.
1.43 Under his arm a Sheaf of wheat he bore,
1.44 A Harvest of the best: what needs he more?
1.45 In's other hand a glass, ev'n almost run,
1.46 This writ about: This out, then I am done.
1.47 His hoary hairs and grave aspect made way,
1.4...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

The General Prologue

...Full often time he was *knight of the shire* *Member of Parliament*
An anlace*, and a gipciere** all of silk, *dagger **purse
Hung at his girdle, white as morning milk.
A sheriff had he been, and a countour
Was nowhere such a worthy vavasour.

 An HABERDASHER, and a CARPENTER,
A WEBBE*, a DYER, and a TAPISER**, *weaver **tapestry-maker
Were with us eke, cloth'd in one livery,
Of a solemn and great fraternity.
Full fresh and new their gear y-picked* was. *spruce
Their ...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Ghost

...er of a school; 
Only fight a wrong or falsehood when the crowd is at your back, 
And, till Charity repay you, shut the purse, and let her pack; 
At the fools who would do other let your lip in scorn be curled, 
`Self and Pelf', my friend, remember, that's the motto of the world. 

`Ne'er assail the shaky ladders Fame has from her niches hung, 
Lest unfriendly heels above you grind your fingers from the rung; 
Or the fools who idle under, envious of your fair renown, 
Heedles...Read more of this...
by Baudelaire, Charles

The Knights Tale

...I first the dark imagining
Of felony, and all the compassing;
The cruel ire, as red as any glede*, *live coal
The picke-purse, and eke the pale dread;
The smiler with the knife under the cloak,
The shepen* burning with the blacke smoke *stable 
The treason of the murd'ring in the bed,
The open war, with woundes all be-bled;
Conteke* with bloody knife, and sharp menace. *contention, discord
All full of chirking* was that sorry place. *creaking, jarring noise
The slayer...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Lady of the Lake

...th loud applauses rang,
     The Ladies' Rock sent back the clang.
     The King, with look unmoved, bestowed
     A purse well filled with pieces broad.
     Indignant smiled the Douglas proud,
     And threw the gold among the crowd,
     Who now with anxious wonder scan,
     And sharper glance, the dark gray man;
     Till whispers rose among the throng,
     That heart so free, and hand so strong,
     Must to the Douglas blood belong.
     The old men marked ...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Millers Tale

...n*
Than is the newe perjenete* tree; *young pear-tree
And softer than the wool is of a wether.
And by her girdle hung a purse of leather,
Tassel'd with silk, and *pearled with latoun*. *set with brass pearls*
In all this world to seeken up and down
There is no man so wise, that coude thenche* *fancy, think of
So gay a popelot*, or such a wench. *puppet 
Full brighter was the shining of her hue,
Than in the Tower the noble* forged new. *a gold coin 
But of her song, it w...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Most Beautiful Woman In Town

...ing me very unhappy." 
"Are you sure?" 
"Hell yes, I'm sure." 
Cass slowly pulled the pins out and put them back in her purse. 
"Why do you haggle your beauty?" I asked. "Why don't you just live with
it?" 
"Because people think it's all I have. Beauty is nothing, beauty won't stay. You
don't know how lucky you are to be ugly, because if people like you you know it's for
something else." 
"O.k.," I said, "I'm lucky." 
"I don't mean you're ugly. People just think you're ugly. Y...Read more of this...
by Bukowski, Charles

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

...ok to the Rose that blows about us -- "Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:
At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." 

XVI.
The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon
Turns Ashes -- or it prospers; and anon,
Like Snow upon the Desert's dusty Face
Lighting a little Hour or two -- is gone. 

XVII.
And those who husbanded the Golden Grain,
And those who flung it to the Winds like Rain,
Alike to no such aureate Earth are turn'...Read more of this...
by Khayyam, Omar

The Shadow

...ipped away as the dusk began
To dim the little shop. He ran
To the nearest inn, and chose with care
As much as his thin purse could bear.
As rapt-souled monks watch over the baking
Of the sacred wafer, and through the making
Of the holy wine whisper secret prayers
That God will bless this labour of theirs;
So Paul, in a sober ecstasy,
Purchased the best which he could buy.
Returning, he brushed his tools aside,
And laid across the table a wide
Napkin. He put a glass and plate...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

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