Famous Renouncing Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Beowulf (Modern English)

...this wall,
just as the way of the world assigns us,
the Measurer of every man. (ll. 2516-27a)

“I am firm of heart, renouncing the boastful word
against this battle-flyer. You all wait here
on the hillside, protected by your sarks,
men in armor, for which of us two should
be able to survive the better,
wounded after the deadly clash.
This is none of your mission, not fit for man,
except me alone, fighting against that monster,
doing a nobleman’s work. I must survi...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Godmother

...g came and listened
At the white church door,
A-hearing her that bore me
And all my kith and kin
Considerately, for me,
Renouncing sin.
While some gave me corals,
And some gave me gold,
And porringers, with morals
Agreeably scrolled,
The hag stood, buckled
In a dim gray cloak;
Stood there and chuckled,
Spat, and spoke:
"There's few enough in life'll
Be needing my help,
But I've got a trifle
For your fine young whelp.
I give her sadness,
And the gift of pain,
The new-moon madn...Read more of this...
by Parker, Dorothy

Sonnet 10

...y rainbow, baffling all pursuit, 
And tasted Pleasure, but it was a fruit 
More fair of outward hue than sweet within. 
Renouncing both, a flake in the ferment 
Of battling hosts that conquer or recoil, 
There only, chastened by fatigue and toil, 
I knew what came the nearest to content. 
For there at least my troubled flesh was free 
From the gadfly Desire that plagued it so; 
Discord and Strife were what I used to know, 
Heartaches, deception, murderous jealousy; 
By War tr...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan

The Prisoner of Zenda

...Prisoner of Zenda,"
The King being out of danger,
Stewart Granger
(As Rudolph Rassendyll)
Must swallow a bitter pill
By renouncing his co-star,
Deborah Kerr.

It would be poor behavia
In him and in Princess Flavia
Were they to put their own
Concerns before those of the Throne.
Deborah Kerr must wed
The King instead.

Rassendyll turns to go.
Must it be so?
Why can’t they have their cake
And eat it, for heaven’s sake?
Please let them have it both ways,
The audience prays.
And y...Read more of this...
by Wilbur, Richard

The Tear

...foe
When in battle laid low,
And bathes every wound with a Tear.

If, with high-bounding pride,
He return to his bride!
Renouncing the gore-crimson'd spear;
All his toils are repaid
When, embracing the maid,
From her eyelid he kisses the Tear.

Sweet scene of my youth!
Seat of Friendship and Truth,
Where Love chas'd each fast-fleeting year
Loth to leave thee, I mourn'd,
For a last look I turn'd,
But thy spire was scarce seen through a Tear:

Though my vows I can pour,
To my M...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)


What Birds Plunge Through Is Not The Intimate Space

...it, from that space
that lives in you. Encircle it with restraint.
It has no limits. For the first time, shaped
in your renouncing, it becomes fully tree....Read more of this...
by Rilke, Rainer Maria

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