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Famous Ranting Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...r with wits profane to range,
 Be complaisance extended;
An atheist-laugh’s a poor exchange
 For Deity offended!


When ranting round in pleasure’s ring,
 Religion may be blinded;
Or if she gie a random sting,
 It may be little minded;
But when on life we’re tempest driv’n—
 A conscience but a canker—
A correspondence fix’d wi’ Heav’n,
 Is sure a noble anchor!


Adieu, dear, amiable youth!
 Your heart can ne’er be wanting!
May prudence, fortitude, and truth,
 Erect your brow ...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
..., as glad to see him,
An’ stroan’t on stanes an’ hillocks wi’ him.
 The tither was a ploughman’s collie—
A rhyming, ranting, raving billie,
Wha for his friend an’ comrade had him,
And in freak had Luath ca’d him,
After some dog in Highland Sang, 2
Was made lang syne,—Lord knows how lang.
 He was a gash an’ faithfu’ tyke,
As ever lap a sheugh or dyke.
His honest, sonsie, baws’nt face
Aye gat him friends in ilka place;
His breast was white, his touzie back
Weel clad...Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...poker o’ the spin’le,
An’ my auld mither brunt the trin’le.


 For men, I’ve three mischievous boys,
Run-deils for ranting an’ for noise;
A gaudsman ane, a thrasher t’ other:
Wee Davock hauds the nowt in fother.
I rule them as I ought, discreetly,
An’ aften labour them completely;
An’ aye on Sundays duly, nightly,
I on the Questions targe them tightly;
Till, faith! wee Davock’s grown sae gleg,
Tho’ scarcely langer than your leg,
He’ll screed you aff Effectual Calling...Read more of this...

by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...asistance then adresses 
As our fourth Edward (beauty suing)
From but releiving fell to wooing
Who by Heroick speech or ranting
Had ne'er been melted to galanting
Nor had th'Egyptian Queen defying 
Drawn off that fleet she led by flying
Whilst Cesar and his ships crew hollow'd
To see how Tony row'd and follow'd
Oh Action triumph of the Ladies
And plea for her who most afraid is 
Then let my conduct work no wonder
When fame who cleaves the air asunder
And every thing in time d...Read more of this...

by Matthew, John
...de him crying for want of pixels and time.

Out there he stands that man on a moonlit night
Shining like a tube and ranting like one possessed
Talking his story that no one cares to understand
Because it’s not his story but ghost stories they craved!...Read more of this...



by Yeats, William Butler
...cret track
With the delicate mother-of-pearl,
Made the joints of Heaven crack:
So never hang your heart upon
A roaring, ranting journeyman.
Fol de rol, fol de rol....Read more of this...

by Lawson, Henry
...t the word go through the land, 
Every tradesman, clerk and peasant should have these two things at hand. 

No - no ranting song is needed, and no meeting, flag or fuss - 
In the future, still unheeded, shall the spirit come to us! 
Without feathers, drum or riot on the day that is to be, 
We shall march down, very quiet, to our stations by the sea. 
While the bitter parties stifle every voice that warns of war, 
Every man should own a rifle and have cartridges in sto...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...it of Mallarm?,

Defiler of poetry’s purity as defined by Rilke and Val?ry

Praiser of ultimate poetastry-Duhig’s penny ranting-condemner of Jimmy Simmons-

One Leeds Jimmy who could fix the world’s Duhigs once and for all,

Write them into the ground and still have a hundred lyrics in his quiver....Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...the footlights' glare,
And quaking for him was Millie, as she followed every word;
Then just as he reached the climax, ranting and sawing the air -
Ugh! How it makes me shudder! The horrible thing occurred...

'Twas the day when frocks were frilly, and skirts were scraping the ground,
And the snowy flounces of Millie like sea foam round her swept;
Humbly adoring I watched her - when oh, my heart gave a bound!
Hoary and scarred and hideous, out from the tree.....Read more of this...

by Cowper, William
...ng face
Sweats in the crowded theatre, and, squeez'd
And bor'd with elbow-points through both his sides,
Out-scolds the ranting actor on the stage:
Nor his, who patient stands till his feet throb,
And his head thumps, to feed upon the breath
Of patriots, bursting with heroic rage,
Or placemen, all tranquility and smiles.
This folio of four pages, happy work!
Which not ev'n critics criticise; that holds
Inquisitive attention, while I read,
Fast bound in chains of silence, ...Read more of this...

by Schiller, Friedrich von
...free,
Though the tyrant may deem him but born for his tool.
Whatever the shout of the rabble may be--
Whatever the ranting misuse of the fool--
Still fear not the slave, when he breaks from his chain,
For the man made a freeman grows safe in his gain.

And virtue is more than a shade or a sound,
And man may her voice, in this being, obey;
And though ever he slip on the stony ground,
Yet ever again to the godlike way,
To the science of good though the wise may be blin...Read more of this...

by Bosselaar, Laure-Anne
...your garden or behind the walls of your chest: 
is it longing? Fear? Will it matter?

Listen to that wind, listen to it ranting
 The doors of heaven never close,
  that’s the Curse, that’s the Miracle....Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...ver lay behind four walls
He had such character,
Nor ever made an iron red
Nor soldered pot or pan;
His roaring and his ranting
Best please a wandering man.

From mountain to mountain ride the fierce horsemen.

Could Crazy Jane put off old age
And ranting time renew,
Could that old god rise up again
We'd drink a can or two,
And out and lay our leadership
On country and on town,
Throw likely couples into bed
And knock the others down.

From mountain to mountain rid...Read more of this...

by Akhmatova, Anna
...
In the cast-iron gates you will enter,
Blissful tremor the flesh does rile,
You don't live, but you're screaming and ranting
Or you live in another style.

In late autumn fresh and biting
Wanders wind, for its loneliness glad.
In white gowns dressed the black fir trees
On the molten snow stand.

And, filled up with a burning fever,
Dear voice sounds like song without word,
And on copper shoulder of Cytharus
Sits the red-chested bird.



x x ...Read more of this...

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