Famous Rise Above Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Archibald Higbie

...I loathed you, Spoon River. I tried to rise above you,
I was ashamed of you. I despised you
As the place of my nativity.
And there in Rome, among the artists,
Speaking Italian, speaking French,
I seemed to myself at times to be free
Of every trace of my origin.
I seemed to be reaching the heights of art
And to breathe the air that the masters breathed,
And to see the world with their eyes.
But st...Read more of this...
by Masters, Edgar Lee


Drink of This Cup

...lity. 
Would you forget the dark world we are in 
Just taste of the bubble that gleams on the top of it; 
But would you rise above earth, till akin 
To immortals themselves, you must drain every drop of it! 
Send round the cup -- for oh there's a spell in 
Its every drop 'gainst the ills of mortality; 
Talk of the cordial that sparkled for Helen! 
Her cup was a fiction, but this is reality. 

Never was philter form'd with such power 
To charm and bewilder as this we are quaff...Read more of this...
by Moore, Thomas

Freedom XIV

...without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, 

But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound. 

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour? 

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes. 

And what is it but fragments of...Read more of this...
by Gibran, Kahlil

Giant Snail

...already tired. I give the impression of mysterious ease, but it is 
only with the greatest effort of my will that I can rise above the 
smallest stones and sticks. And I must not let myself be dis-
tracted by those rough spears of grass. Don't touch them. Draw 
back. Withdrawal is always best. 
 The rain has stopped. The waterfall makes such a noise! (And
what if I fall over it?) The mountains of black rock give off such 
clouds of steam! Shiny streamers are hanging down thei...Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

It Rained The Day They Buried Tito Puente

...mami’s
‘cause boricuas do it better


Tito’s rambunctious and unruly rhythms never touched them 
never inspired them to rise above the ghetto 
and, like La Bruja said, “Ghet Over It!”
his timbales never echoed 
in the salsa of their souls
though they had probably danced 
to his cha-cha-cha
they never listened to the message 
between the beats
urging them to follow their hearts

On a train back to Brooklyn
feeling dispossessed and dreamless
I look up to read one of those 
Poet...Read more of this...
by Xavier, Emanuel


Juvenilia An Ode to Natural Beauty

...feet 
On any venture set, but 'twas the thirst 
For Beauty willed them, yea, whatever be 
The faults I wanted wings to rise above; 
I am cheered yet to think how steadfastly 
I have been loyal to the love of Love!...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan

My Country 'Tis of Thee

...e I love. 
I love thy rocks and rills 
And o’er thy hate which chills, 
My heart with purpose thrills, 
         To rise above. 

Let laments swell the breeze 
And wring from all the trees 
          Sweet freedom’s song. 
Let laggard tongues awake, 
Let all who hear partake, 
Let Southern silence quake, 
         The sound prolong. 

Our fathers’ God to thee 
Author of Liberty, 
         To thee we sing 
Soon may our land be bright, 
With Freedom’s happy li...Read more of this...
by Du Bois, W. E. B.

No Thank You John

...more, no less; and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in veiw ulterior ends, And points not understood

In open treaty. Rise above
Quibbles and shuffling off and on:
Here's friendship for you if you like; but love,-
No, thank you, John....Read more of this...
by Rossetti, Christina

Reason and Passion XV

...it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes. 

I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guests in your house. 

Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and the faith of both. 

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and s...Read more of this...
by Gibran, Kahlil

Religion XXVI

...ge and the mallet and the lute, 

The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight. 

For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures. 

And take with you all men: 

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair. 

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles. 

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children. 

And look into space; ...Read more of this...
by Gibran, Kahlil

Sonnet 16 - And yet because thou overcomest so

...ho lifts him from the bloody earth,
Even so, Beloved, I at last record,
Here ends my strife. If thou invite me forth,
I rise above abasement at the word.
Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth....Read more of this...
by Browning, Elizabeth Barrett

The Cornfields

...The cornfields rise above mankind, 
Lifting white torches to the blue, 
Each season not ashamed to be 
Magnificently decked for you. 

What right have you to call them yours, 
And in brute lust of riches burn 
Without some radiant penance wrought, 
Some beautiful, devout return?...Read more of this...
by Lindsay, Vachel

The Debate Between Villon And His Heart

...your head's harder than a rock
Or you actually prefer misery to honor
Now what do you say to that?—
Once I'm dead I'll rise above it—
God, what comfort—What wise eloquence—
I've nothing more to tell you—I'll survive without it—

Why are you miserable?—Because of my miseries
When Saturn packed my satchel I think
He put in these troubles—That's mad
You're his lord and you talk like his slave
Look what Solomon wrote in his book
"A wise man" he says "has authority
Over the plane...Read more of this...
by Villon, Francois

The Growth of Love

...farewell, nor look to bide with me.
Go find thy friends, if there be one to love thee:
Casting thee forth, my child, I rise above thee. 

27
The fabled sea-snake, old Leviathan,
Or else what grisly beast of scaly chine
That champ'd the ocean-wrack and swash'd the brine,
Before the new and milder days of man,
Had never rib nor bray nor swindging fan
Like his iron swimmer of the Clyde or Tyne,
Late-born of golden seed to breed a line
Of offspring swifter and more huge of plan....Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour

The White Cliffs

...tow 
That threatened wisdom; blindly still we yearn 
 After a virtue that we do not know, 
Until our thirst and longing rise above 
The barriers of reason—and we love. 

XIII 
And still I did not see my life was changed, 
Utterly different—by this love estranged 
For ever and ever from my native land; 
That I was now of that unhappy band 
Who lose the old, and cannot gain the new 
However loving and however true 
To their new duties. I could never be 
An English woman, there ...Read more of this...
by Miller, Alice Duer

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