Famous Roll Over Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Conquerors Grave

by William Cullen Bryant
WITHIN this lowly grave a Conqueror lies  
And yet the monument proclaims it not  
Nor round the sleeper's name hath chisel wrought 
The emblems of a fame that never dies ¡ª 
Ivy and amaranth in a graceful sheaf 5 
Twined with the laurel's fair imperial leaf. 
A simple name alone  
To the great world unknown  
Is...Read more of this...

Come Oer the Sea

by Thomas Moore
 Come o'er the sea, 
Maiden with me, 
Mine through sunshine, storm, and snows; 
Seasons may roll, 
But the true soul 
Burns the same, where'er it goes. 
Let fate frown on, so we love and part not; 
'Tis life where thou art, 'tis death were thou are not. 
Then come o'er the sea, 
Maiden with me, 
Come wherever the wild...Read more of this...

Momma Welfare Roll

by Maya Angelou
 Her arms semaphore fat triangles,
Pudgy HANDS bunched on layered hips
Where bones idle under years of fatback
And lima beans.

Her jowls shiver in accusation
Of crimes cliched by Repetition. 
Her children, strangers
To childhood's TOYS, play
Best the games of darkened doorways,
Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel of
Other people's property.

Too fat to whore,
Too mad to work,
Searches her dreams for the
Lucky sign and walks...Read more of this...

Captain Strattons Fancy

by John Masefield
 OH some are fond of red wine, and some are fond of white, 
And some are all for dancing by the pale moonlight; 
But rum alone's the tipple, and the heart's delight 
Of the old bold mate of Henry Morgan. 

Oh some are fond of Spanish wine, and some are fond of French, 
And some'll swallow tay and stuff...Read more of this...

Sonnet XXXV: What Means the Mist

by Mary Darby Robinson
 What means the mist opaque that veils these eyes;
Why does yon threat'ning tempest shroud the day?
Why does thy altar, Venus, fade away,
And on my breast the dews of horror rise?
Phaon is false! be dim ye orient Skies;
And let black Erebus succeed your ray;
Let clashing thunders roll, and lightning play;
Phaon is false! and hopeless Sappho dies!
"Farewell! my Lesbian love, you...Read more of this...

The Souls Expression

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 WITH stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound
And inly answering all the senses round
With octaves of a mystic depth and height
Which step out grandly to the infinite
From the dark edges of the sensual ground.
This song of soul I struggle to outbear
Through portals...Read more of this...

The Roll Of The De Silva Race

by Victor Hugo
 ("Celui-ci, des Silvas, c'est l'aîné.") 
 
 {HERNANI, Act III.} 


 In that reverend face 
 Behold the father of De Silva's race, 
 Silvius; in Rome he filled the consul's place 
 Three times (your patience for such honored names). 
 This second was Grand Master of St. James 
 And Calatrava; his strong limbs sustained 
 Armor...Read more of this...

Sonnet XL: My Heart the Anvil

by Michael Drayton
 My heart the anvil where my thoughts do beat; 
My words the hammers fashioning my desire; 
My breast the forge including all the heat; 
Love is the fuel which maintains the fire; 
My sighs the bellows which the flame increaseth, 
Filling mine ears with noise and nightly groaning; 
Toiling with pain, my labor never ceaseth, 
In grievous passions my...Read more of this...

281. Sonnet to R. Graham Esq. on Receiving a Favour

by Robert Burns
 I CALL no Goddess to inspire my strains,
A fabled Muse may suit a bard that feigns:
Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns,
And all the tribute of my heart returns,
For boons accorded, goodness ever new,
The gifts still dearer, as the giver you.
Thou orb of day! thou other paler light!
And all ye many sparkling stars of night!
If aught that giver...Read more of this...

Before A Crucifix

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Here, down between the dusty trees,
At this lank edge of haggard wood,
Women with labour-loosened knees,
With gaunt backs bowed by servitude,
Stop, shift their loads, and pray, and fare
Forth with souls easier for the prayer.

The suns have branded black, the rains
Striped grey this piteous God of theirs;
The face is full of prayers and pains,
To which they bring their pains and prayers;
Lean...Read more of this...

Song of the Wagons

by Du Fu
 Wagons rumble rumble Hhorses whinny whinny Foot person bow arrow each at waist Father mother wife children go mutual see off Dust dust not see Xianyang bridge Pull clothes stamp foot bar way weep Weep sound directly up strike clouds clouds Road side passerby ask foot person Foot person only say mark down often Some from ten...Read more of this...

Impatience

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 How can I wait until you come to me? 
The once fleet mornings linger by the way; 
Their sunny smiles touched with malicious glee
At my unrest, they seem to pause, and play
Like truant children, while I sigh and say, 
How can I wait? 

How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hours
Refused to pause or loiter with me long;...Read more of this...

Anchor Song

by Rudyard Kipling
 Heh! Walk her round. Heave, ah heave her short again!
 Over, snatch her over, there, and hold her on the pawl.
Loose all sail, and brace your yards back and full --
 Ready jib to pay her off and heave short all!
 Well, ah fare you well; we can stay no more with you, my love --
 Down, set down...Read more of this...

The Reply to Time

by Mary Darby Robinson
 O TIME, forgive the mournful song 
That on thy pinions stole along, 
When the rude hand of pain severe 
Chas'd down my cheek the burning tear; 
When sorrow chill'd each warm desire 
That kindles FANCY'S lambent fire; 
When HOPE, by fost'ring FRIENDSHIP rear'd, 
A phantom of the brain appear'd; 
Forgive the song, devoid of art, 
That stole spontaneous from...Read more of this...

Hold your mad hands

by Robert Southey
 Hold your mad hands! for ever on your plain 
Must the gorged vulture clog his beak with blood? 
For ever must your Niger's tainted flood, 
Roll to the ravenous shark his banquet slain? 
Hold your mad hands! and learn at length to know, 
And turn your vengeance on the common foe, 
Yon treacherous vessel and her godless crew! 
Let...Read more of this...

Memory

by Fannie Isabelle Sherrick
A treasured link of shining pearls,
  A by-gone melody,
A shower of tears with smiles between—
  And this is memory.
A thing so light a breath of air
  May waft its life away;
A thing so dark that moments of pain
  Seem like some endless day.
A careless word may wound the heart,
  And quickly it may die;
Yet in...Read more of this...

The Hemp

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 (A Virginia Legend.) 

The Planting of the Hemp.

Captain Hawk scourged clean the seas 
(Black is the gap below the plank) 
From the Great North Bank to the Caribbees 
(Down by the marsh the hemp grows rank). 

His fear was on the seaport towns, 
The weight of his hand held hard the downs. 
And the merchants cursed him, bitter and...Read more of this...

The Days Work

by Rudyard Kipling
 We now, held in captivity,
 Spring to our bondage nor grieve--
 See now, how it is blesseder,
 Brothers, to give than receive!
 Keep trust, wherefore we were made,
 Paying the debt that we owe;
 For a clean thrust, and the shear of the blade,
 Will carry us where would go.
 The Ship that Found Herself.

 All the world over,...Read more of this...

A Forest Hymn

by William Cullen Bryant
THE GROVES were God's first temples. Ere man learned 
To hew the shaft and lay the architrave  
And spread the roof above them¡ªere he framed 
The lofty vault to gather and roll back 
The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood 5 
Amidst the cool and silence he knelt down  
And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks 
And...Read more of this...

Should the wide world roll away

by Stephen Crane
 Should the wide world roll away,
Leaving black terror,
Limitless night,
Nor God, nor man, nor place to stand
Would be to me essential,
If thou and thy white arms were there,
And the fall to doom a long way....Read more of this...

Renascence

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 All I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked another way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line 
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I'd started from; 
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains...Read more of this...

The Celebrated Woman - An Epistle By A Married Man

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Can I, my friend, with thee condole?--
Can I conceive the woes that try men,
When late repentance racks the soul
Ensnared into the toils of hymen?
Can I take part in such distress?--
Poor martyr,--most devoutly, "Yes!"
Thou weep'st because thy spouse has flown
To arms preferred before thine own;--
A faithless wife,--I grant the curse,--
And yet, my friend, it might be worse!
Just hear another's tale...Read more of this...

Hymn To Joy

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Joy, thou goddess, fair, immortal,
Offspring of Elysium,
Mad with rapture, to the portal
Of thy holy fame we come!
Fashion's laws, indeed, may sever,
But thy magic joins again;
All mankind are brethren ever
'Neath thy mild and gentle reign.

CHORUS.
Welcome, all ye myriad creatures!
Brethren, take the kiss of love!
Yes, the starry realms above
Hide a Father's smiling features!

He, that noble prize possessing--
He that boasts a friend...Read more of this...

A Marching Song

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 We mix from many lands,
We march for very far;
In hearts and lips and hands
Our staffs and weapons are;
The light we walk in darkens sun and moon and star.

It doth not flame and wane
With years and spheres that roll,
Storm cannot shake nor stain
The strength that makes it whole,
The fire that moulds and moves it of the sovereign soul.

We are they...Read more of this...

The Young British Soldier

by Rudyard Kipling
 When the 'arf-made recruity goes out to the East
'E acts like a babe an' 'e drinks like a beast,
An' 'e wonders because 'e is frequent deceased
 Ere 'e's fit for to serve as a soldier.
 Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
 Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
 Serve, serve, serve as a soldier,
 So-oldier OF the Queen!

Now all you...Read more of this...

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