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Famous Rascal Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...and prose!
Thou art a dainty chield, O Grose!—
Whae’er o’ thee shall ill suppose,
 They sair misca’ thee;
I’d take the rascal by the nose,
 Wad say, “Shame fa’ thee!”...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...of yore,
And vermin’d gipsies litter’d heretofore.


Why, Lonsdale, thus thy wrath on vagrants pour?
Must earth no rascal save thyself endure?
Must thou alone in guilt immortal swell,
And make a vast monopoly of hell?
Thou know’st the Virtues cannot hate thee worse;
The Vices also, must they club their curse?
Or must no tiny sin to others fall,
Because thy guilt’s supreme enough for all?


Maria, send me too thy griefs and cares;
In all of thee sure thy Esopus shares.Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...them yet
 In fiery flame.


Dalrymple 6 has been lang our fae,
M’Gill 7 has wrought us meikle wae,
An’ that curs’d rascal ca’d M’Quhae, 8
 And baith the Shaws, 9
That aft hae made us black an’ blae,
 Wi’ vengefu’ paws.


Auld Wodrow 10 lang has hatch’d mischief;
We thought aye death wad bring relief;
But he has gotten, to our grief,
 Ane to succeed him,
A chield wha’ 11 soundly buff our beef;
 I meikle dread him.


And mony a ane that I could tell,
Wha fain wad o...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...own dah,
Wif a axe and killed de bah.
Dah now, ain't dat sto'y fine?
Run erlong now, nevah min'.
Want some mo', you rascal, you?
No, suh! no, suh! dat 'll do.
...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...eat?
Whut's dat un'neaf yo' coat?
Looks des lak a little shoat.
'T ain't no possum! Bless de Lamb!
Yes, it is, you rascal, Sam!
Gin it to me; whut you say?
Ain't you sma't now! Oh, go 'way!
Possum do look mighty nice,
But you ax too big a price.
Tell me, is you talkin' true,
Dat 's de gal's whut ma'ies you?
Come back, Sam; now whah 's you gwine?
Co'se you knows dat possum's mine!
...Read more of this...



by Dryden, John
...b.
Let friendship's holy band some names assure:
Some their own worth, and some let scorn secure.
Nor shall the rascal rabble here have place,
Whom kings no titles gave, and God no grace:
Not bull-faced Jonas, who could statutes draw
To mean rebellion, and make treason law.
But he, though bad, is follow'd by a worse,
The wretch, who Heav'n's Anointed dar'd to curse.
Shimei, whose youth did early promise bring
Of zeal to God, and hatred to his king;
Did wisely ...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...Loren to mirth 
By going to him of all people on earth 
To ask if he knew any fruit to be had 
For the picking. The rascal, he said he'd be glad 
To tell if he knew. But the year had been bad. 
There had been some berries--but those were all gone. 
He didn't say where they had been. He went on: 
'I'm sure--I'm sure'--as polite as could be. 
He spoke to his wife in the door, 'Let me see, 
Mame, we don't know any good berrying place?' 
It was all he coul...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...past,
And all his best-of-life the easy prey
Of squandering scamps and quacks that lined his way
With vile array,
From rascal statesman down to petty knave;
Himself, at best, for all his bragging brave,
A gamester's catspaw and a banker's slave.
Then, worn and gray, and sick with deep unrest,
He fled away into the oblivious West,
Unmourned, unblest.

Old hill! old hill! thou gashed and hairy Lear
Whom the divine Cordelia of the year,
E'en pitying Spring, will vainly ...Read more of this...

by Meredith, George
...n't they love rarely
Fighting the devil in other men's fields!
Stand up yourself and match him fairly:
Then see how the rascal yields!

I, lass, have lived no gipsy, flaunting
Finery while his poor helpmate grubs:
Coin I've stored, and you won't be wanting:
You shan't beg from the troughs and tubs.
Nobly you've stuck to me, though in his kitchen
Many a Marquis would hail you Cook!
Palaces you could have ruled and grown rich in,
But your old Jerry you never forsook.

H...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...adier, 
 The marshal, constable. Call the game fair, 
 And pay your winners! Show the trump, I say! 
 A renegade's a rascal—till the day 
 They make him Pasha: is he rascal then? 
 What with these sequins? Bah! you speak to Men, 
 And Men want money—power—luck—life's joy— 
 Those take who can: we could, and fobbed Savoy; 
 For those who live content with honest state, 
 They're public pests; knock we 'em on the pate! 
 They set a vile example! Quick—arrest 
 That F...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...se among the local sheds and shanties
Rose like a factor's at a trading station.
And be was rich, and I was still a rascal.
I couldn't keep from asking impolitely,
Where bad he been and what had he been doing?
How did he get so? (Rich was understood.)
In dealing in "old rags" in San Francisco.
Ob, it was terrible as well could be.
We both of us turned over in our graves.

Just specimens is all New Hampshire has,
One each of everything as in a showcase,...Read more of this...

by Lindsay, Vachel
...e sweet Russian,
The dancer of the age.

Your pen's the Queen of Sheba,
Such serious questions bringing,
That merry rascal Solomon
Would show a sober face: —
And then again Pavlova
To set our spirits singing,
The snowy-swan bacchante 
All glamour, glee and grace.


IV. IN PRAISE OF GLORIANA'S REMARKABLE GOLDEN HAIR

The gleaming head of one fine friend 
Is bent above my little song,
So through the treasure-pits of Heaven
In fancy's shoes, I march along. 

I wa...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...is God-bless-you: then my eyes
Pursued him down the street, and far away,
Among the honest shoulders of the crowd,
Read rascal in the motions of his back,
And scoundrel in the supple-sliding knee.' 

`Was he so bound, poor soul?' said the good wife;
`So are we all: but do not call him, love,
Before you prove him, rogue, and proved, forgive.
His gain is loss; for he that wrongs his friend
Wrongs himself more, and ever bears about
A silent court of justice in his breast...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...comin' sho's you bo'n.
Hyeahs dat tu'key gobbler braggin',
Den his face break in a smile --
Nebbah min', you sassy rascal,
He's gwine nab you atter while.
Choppin' suet in de kitchen,
Stonin' raisins in de hall,
Beef a-cookin' fu' de mince meat,
Spices groun' -- I smell 'em all.
Look hyeah, Tu'key, stop dat gobblin',
You ain' luned de sense ob feah,
You ol' fool, yo' naik's in dangah,
Do' you know Thanksgibbin's hyeah?...Read more of this...

by Graves, Robert
...
With Gideon by the water brink, 
But search the benches of the Plough, 
The Tun, the Sun, the Spotted Cow, 
For jolly rascal lads who pray,
Pewter in hand, at close of day, 
“Teach me to live that I may fear 
The grave as little as my beer.”...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...> bier." 
 
 He sprang aloof as springald from detested school, 
 Or ocean-rover from protected port. 
 "The little rascal has the laugh on us! no fool 
 To breast our bullets!"—but the scoff was short, 
 For soon! the rogue is racing from his court; 
 
 And with still fearless front he faces them and calls: 
 "READY! but level low—she's kissed these eyes!" 
 From cooling hands of men each rifle falls, 
 And their gray officer, in grave surprise, 
 L...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...pt, probably borrowed from the
kitchen; a cook, in base Latin, being termed "coquinarius."
compare French "coquin," rascal.

25. Unhardy is unsely: the cowardly is unlucky; "nothing
venture, nothing have;" German, "unselig," unhappy.

26. Holy cross of Bromeholm: A common adjuration at that
time; the cross or rood of the priory of Bromholm, in Norfolk,
was said to contain part of the real cross and therefore held in
high esteem.

27. In manus tuas:...Read more of this...

by Abercrombie, Lascelles
...> I'll put your cunning heels 
Where they'll not budge more than a shuffled inch. 
My lord, if you'll bide with the rascal here 
I'll get the irons ready. Here's your sum. -- 

Stranger 
Now, Thomas, know thy sin. It was not fear; 
Easily may a man crouch down for fear, 
And yet rise up on firmer knees, and face 
The hailing storm of the world with graver courage. 
But prudence, prudence is the deadly sin, 
And one that groweth deep into a life, 
With hard...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...changed his ways,
Since Nature, in the antique fable-days,
Was hid from man's true love by proxy fays,
False fauns and rascal gods that stole her praise.
The nymphs, cold creatures of man's colder brain,
Chilled Nature's streams till man's warm heart was fain
Never to lave its love in them again.
Later, a sweet Voice `Love thy neighbor' said;
Then first the bounds of neighborhood outspread
Beyond all confines of old ethnic dread.
Vainly the Jew might wag his cove...Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...mountain pass?
No, no, my son, not yet;
That is an airy spot,
And no man knows what treads the grass.

We know what rascal might has defiled,
The lofty innocence that it has slain,
Were we not born in the peasant's cot
Where men forgive if the belly gain?
More dread the life that we live,
How can the mind forgive?

What marches down the mountain pass?
No, no, my son, not yet;
That is an airy spot,
And no man knows what treads the grass.

What if there's nothing up the...Read more of this...

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