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Famous Rootless Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...ead on high,
 And firm the root below.


But he whose blossom buds in guilt
 Shall to the ground be cast,
And, like the rootless stubble, tost
 Before the sweeping blast.


For why? that God the good adore,
 Hath giv’n them peace and rest,
But hath decreed that wicked men
 Shall ne’er be truly blest....Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert



...denies the Word. 

One sees only a surface 
pocked with rushes, the starved clumps 
pressed between water and space -- 
rootless, perennial stumps 

fixed in position, entombed 
in nothing; it is too late 
to bring forth branches, to bloom 
or die, only the long wait 

lies ahead, a parody 
of perfection. Who denies 
this is creation, this sea 
constant before the stunned eye's 

insatiable gaze, shall find 
nothing he can comprehend. 
Here the mind beholds the mind 
as it sh...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip
...sudden need; 
Then dozed awhile herself, but overtoiled 
By that day's grief and travel, evermore 
Seemed catching at a rootless thorn, and then 
Went slipping down horrible precipices, 
And strongly striking out her limbs awoke; 
Then thought she heard the wild Earl at the door, 
With all his rout of random followers, 
Sound on a dreadful trumpet, summoning her; 
Which was the red cock shouting to the light, 
As the gray dawn stole o'er the dewy world, 
And glimmered on his ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...Better a jungle in the head
than rootless concrete.
Better to stand bewildered
by the fireflies' crooked street;

winter lamps do not show
where the sidewalk is lost,
nor can these tongues of snow
speak for the Holy Ghost;

the self-increasing silence 
of words dropped from a roof
points along iron railings,
direction, in not proof.

But best is this night surf
with slow scriptures of sand,...Read more of this...
by Walcott, Derek
...res that inly burn for thee.
Rave not, rage not, wrath is fruitless,
Fury cannot change my mind;
I but deem the feeling rootless
Which so whirls in passion's wind.
Can I love ? Oh, deeply­truly­
Warmly­fondly­but not thee;
And my love is answered duly,
With an equal energy.
Wouldst thou see thy rival ? Hasten,
Draw that curtain soft aside,
Look where yon thick branches chasten
Noon, with shades of eventide.
In that glade, where foliage blending
Forms a green arch overhead,
Si...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Charlotte



...stripping the spirit bare, 
Time for the burning of days ended and done, 
Idle solace of things that have gone before, 
Rootless hope and fruitless desire are there: 
Let them go to the fire with never a look behind. 
That world that was ours is a world that is ours no more. 
They will come again, the leaf and the flower, to arise 
From squalor of rottenness into the old splendour, 
And magical scents to a wondering memory bring; 
The same glory, to shine upon different eyes....Read more of this...
by Binyon, Laurence
...s straight?
--Nay, though our life were blind, our death were fruitless,
Not therefore were the whole world's high hope rootless;
But man to man, nation would turn to nation,
And the old life live, and the old great world be great.

--Pass on then and pass by us and let us be,
For what light think ye after life to see?
And if the world fare better will ye know?
And if man triumph who shall seek you and say?
--Enough of light is this for one life's span,
That all men born are ...Read more of this...
by Swinburne, Algernon Charles

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry