Famous Repression Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Dedication

by Rainer Maria Rilke
 Dedication 
These to His Memory--since he held them dear, 
Perchance as finding there unconsciously 
Some image of himself--I dedicate, 
I dedicate, I consecrate with tears-- 
These Idylls. 

And indeed He seems to me 
Scarce other than my king's ideal knight, 
`Who reverenced his conscience as his king; 
Whose glory was, redressing human wrong; 
Who spake no slander, no, nor...Read more of this...

Repression of War Experience

by Siegfried Sassoon
 Now light the candles; one; two; there’s a moth; 
What silly beggars they are to blunder in 
And scorch their wings with glory, liquid flame— 
No, no, not that,—it’s bad to think of war, 
When thoughts you’ve gagged all day come back to scare you;
And it’s been proved that soldiers don’t go mad 
Unless they lose control of ugly...Read more of this...

Unexpressed

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Deep in my heart that aches with the repression,
And strives with plenitude of bitter pain,
There lives a thought that clamors for expression,
And spends its undelivered force in vain.
What boots it that some other may have thought it?
The right of thoughts' expression is divine;
The price of pain I pay for it has bought it,
I care not who lays claim to it—'t...Read more of this...

A Grave

by Marianne Moore
 Man looking into the sea,
taking the view from those who have as much right to it as
 you have to it yourself,
it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing,
but you cannot stand in the middle of this;
the sea has nothing to give but a well excavated grave.
The firs stand in a procession, each with an...Read more of this...

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