Famous Rank And File Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Leipzig

by Thomas Hardy
 "OLD Norbert with the flat blue cap--
A German said to be--
Why let your pipe die on your lap,
Your eyes blink absently?"--

--"Ah!... Well, I had thought till my cheek was wet
Of my mother--her voice and mien
When she used to sing and pirouette,
And touse the tambourine

"To the march that yon street-fiddler plies;
She told me 'twas the same
She'd heard from the trumpets,...Read more of this...

The Ballade Of The Mistletoe Bough

by Ellis Parker Butler
 I am standing under the mistletoe,
 And I smile, but no answering smile replies
For her haughty glance bids me plainly know
 That not for me is the thing I prize;
Instead, from her coldly scornful eyes,
 Indifference looks on my barefaced guile;
She knows, of course, what my act implies—
 But look at those lips! Do they hint a smile?

I stand...Read more of this...

Old Schooldays

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Awake, of Muse, the echoes of a day 
Long past, the ghosts of mem'ries manifold -- 
Youth's memories that once were green and gold 
But now, alas, are grim and ashen grey. 
The drowsy schoolboy wakened up from sleep, 
First stays his system with substantial food, 
Then off for school with tasks half understood, 
Alas, alas, that cribs should...Read more of this...

56. Epistle to Davie A Brother Poet

by Robert Burns
 WHILE winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw,
An’ bar the doors wi’ driving snaw,
 An’ hing us owre the ingle,
I set me down to pass the time,
An’ spin a verse or twa o’ rhyme,
 In hamely, westlin jingle.
While frosty winds blaw in the drift,
 Ben to the chimla lug,
I grudge a wee the great-folk’s gift,
 That live sae bien an’ snug:
...Read more of this...

Jimmy Dooleys Army

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 There's a dashin' sort of boy 
Which they call his Party's Joy, 
And his smile-that-won't-come-off would quite disarm ye; 
And he played the leadin' hand 
In the Helter-Skelter Band, 
Known as Jimmy Dooley's Circulating Army. 
When the rank and file they found, 
They were marchin' round and round, 
They one and all began to act unruly; 
And the letter...Read more of this...

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