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Famous Scope Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Pope, Alexander
...y

You then whose Judgment the right Course wou'd steer,
Know well each ANCIENT's proper Character,
His Fable, Subject, Scope in ev'ry Page,
Religion, Country, Genius of his Age:
Without all these at once before your Eyes,
Cavil you may, but never Criticize.
Be Homer's Works your Study, and Delight,
Read them by Day, and meditate by Night,
Thence form your Judgment, thence your Maxims bring,
And trace the Muses upward to their Spring;
Still with It self compar'd, his Text...Read more of this...



by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope
I no longer strive to strive towards such things
(Why should the agèd eagle stretch its wings?)
Why should I mourn
The vanished power of the usual reign?

Because I do not hope to know
The infirm glory of the positive hour
Because I do not think
Because I know I shall not know
The one veritable transitory power
Because I cannot drink
There, where trees...Read more of this...

by Sidney, Sir Philip
...om that sea deriu'd, teares spring did flow.
Alas, if Fancie, drawne by imag'd things
Though false, yet with free scope, more grace doth breed
Than seruants wracke, where new doubts honour brings;
Then thinke, my deare, that you in me do reed
Of louers ruine some thrise-sad tragedie.
I am not I: pitie the tale of me. 
XLVI 

I curst thee oft, I pitie now thy case,
Blind-hitting Boy, since she that thee and me
Rules with a becke, so tyranniseth thee,
Th...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...ere to be happy, 
If you are careless, I may have to laugh. 
I have disliked a few men in my life,
But never to the scope of wishing them 
To this particular pedestrian hell 
Of your affection. I should not like that. 
Forgive me, for this time it was your fault.” 

He drummed with all his fingers on his chair,
And, after a made smile of acquiescence, 
Took up again the theme of his aversion, 
Which now had flown along with him alone 
For twenty years, like Io...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...now 'tis tatter'd; leaving my bark bar'd
And sullenly drifting: yet my higher hope
Is of too wide, too rainbow-large a scope,
To fret at myriads of earthly wrecks.
Wherein lies happiness? In that which becks
Our ready minds to fellowship divine,
A fellowship with essence; till we shine,
Full alchemiz'd, and free of space. Behold
The clear religion of heaven! Fold
A rose leaf round thy finger's taperness,
And soothe thy lips: hist, when the airy stress
Of music's kiss...Read more of this...



by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...days  
Estate good fame  
Plans credit and the Muse¡ª 5 
Nothing refuse. 

'Tis a brave master; 
Let it have scope: 
Follow it utterly  
Hope beyond hope: 10 
High and more high 
It dives into noon  
With wing unspent  
Untold intent; 
But it is a god 15 
Knows its own path  
And the outlets of the sky. 

It was never for the mean; 
It requireth courage stout  
Souls above doubt 20 
Valour unbending: 
Such 'twill reward;¡ª 
They shall return 
M...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...ee to me. But thyself shalt tell 
 The sins that scourged thee to this foul resort, 
 That more displeasing not the scope of Hell 
 Can likely yield, though greater pains may lie 
 More deep." 
 And he to me, "Thy city, so high 
 With envious hates that swells, that now the sack 
 Bursts, and pours out in ruin, and spreads its wrack 
 Far outward, was mine alike, while clearer air 
 Still breathed I. Citizens who knew me there 
 Called me Ciacco. For the vice ...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...benevolent,
 clean, is so much profit to him or her, in the unshakable order of the universe, and
 through
 the
 whole scope of it forever. 

5
Who has been wise, receives interest, 
Savage, felon, President, judge, farmer, sailor, mechanic, literat, young, old, it is the
 same,
The interest will come round—all will come round. 

Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time, will forever affect all of the past,
 and
 all of
 the present, and all of the future, ...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...aels and Rafaels, you hum and buzz
Round the works of, you of the little wit!
Do their eyes contract to the earth's old scope,
Now that they see God face to face,
And have all attained to be poets, I hope?
'Tis their holiday now, in any case.

VIII.

Much they reck of your praise and you!
But the wronged great souls---can they be quit
Of a world where their work is all to do,
Where you style them, you of the little wit,
Old Master This and Early the Other,
Not dreamin...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ms, 
In what he counsels and in what excels 
Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair 
And utter dissolution, as the scope 
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge. 
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are filled 
With armed watch, that render all access 
Impregnable: oft on the bodering Deep 
Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing 
Scout far and wide into the realm of Night, 
Scorning surprise. Or, could we break our way 
By force, and at our heels all H...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...or blood-drops! 
You human forms with the fathomless ever-impressive countenances of brutes! 
I dare not refuse you—the scope of the world, and of time and space, are upon me.

You poor koboo whom the meanest of the rest look down upon, for all your glimmering
 language
 and
 spirituality! 
You low expiring aborigines of the hills of Utah, Oregon, California! 
You dwarf’d Kamtschatkan, Greenlander, Lapp! 
You Austral *****, naked, red, sooty, with protrusive lip, grovelli...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee—and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
   For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings
   That then I scorn to change my state with kings....Read more of this...

by Wilde, Oscar
...
We were as men who through a fen
Of filthy darkness grope:
We did not dare to breathe a prayer,
Or to give our anguish scope:
Something was dead in each of us,
And what was dead was Hope.

For Man's grim Justice goes its way,
And will not swerve aside:
It slays the weak, it slays the strong,
It has a deadly stride:
With iron heel it slays the strong,
The monstrous parricide!

We waited for the stroke of eight:
Each tongue was thick with thirst:
For the stroke of eight is...Read more of this...

by Stevens, Wallace
...ir latest, lucent paramour. 
344 These are the broadest instances. Crispin, 
345 Progenitor of such extensive scope, 
346 Was not indifferent to smart detail. 
347 The melon should have apposite ritual, 
348 Performed in verd apparel, and the peach, 
349 When its black branches came to bud, belle day, 
350 Should have an incantation. And again, 
351 When piled on salvers its aroma steeped 
352 The summer, it should have a sacrament 
353 And celebrati...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...With bitter drops were running o'er.
     The death-pangs of long-cherished hope
     Scarce in that ample breast had scope
     But, struggling with his spirit proud,
     Convulsive heaved its checkered shroud,
     While every sob—so mute were all
     Was heard distinctly through the ball.
     The son's despair, the mother's look,
     III might the gentle Ellen brook;
     She rose, and to her side there came,
     To aid her parting steps, the Graeme.
     X...Read more of this...

by Stephens, James
...f Time: 
It is too much, the mind can never climb 
Up to its meaning, for, without an end, 
Without beginning, plan, or scope, or trend 
To point a path, there nothing is to hold 
And steady surmise: so the mind is rolled 
And swayed and drowned in dull Immensity. 
Eternity outfaces even Me 
With its indifference, and the fruitless year 
Would swing as fruitless were I never there. 

And so for ever, day and night the same, 
Years flying swiftly nowhere, like a game 
...Read more of this...

by Dryden, John
...plit the saint; for hypocritic zeal 
Allows no sins but those it can conceal. 
Whoring to scandal gives too large a scope; 
Saints must not trade, but they may interlope. 
The ungodly principle was all the same; 
But a gross cheat betrays his partners' game. 
Besides, their pace was formal, grave, and slack; 
His nimble wit outran the heavy pack. 
Yet still he found hs fortune at a stay, 
Whole droves of blockheads choking up his way; 
They took, but not rewar...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...bright 
 That gives my verse its purest light. 
 Children whose life is made of hope, 
 Whose joy, within its mystic scope, 
 Owes all to ignorance of ill, 
 You have not suffered, and you still 
 Know not what gloomy thoughts weigh down 
 The poet-writer weary grown. 
 What warmth is shed by your sweet smile! 
 How much he needs to gaze awhile 
 Upon your shining placid brow, 
 When his own brow its ache doth know; 
 With what delight he loves to hear 
 Your fro...Read more of this...

by Harrison, Tony
...ations
made in the name of love for peace's sake.

Aspirations, ****! Folk on t'fucking dole
'ave got about as much scope to aspire
above the **** they're dumped in, ****, as coal
aspires to be chucked on t'fucking fire. 

'OK, forget the aspirations. Look, I know
United's losing gets you fans incensed
and how far the HARP inside you makes you go
but all these Vs: against! against! against! 

Ah'll tell yer then what really riles a bloke.
It's reading on their...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...declining part;
Where folly, pride, and faction sway,
Remote from St John, Pope, and Gay.
Alas, poor Dean! his only scope
Was to be held a misanthrope.
This into gen'ral odium drew him,
Which, if he liked, much good may't do him.
His zeal was not to lash our crimes,
But discontent against the times;
For had we made him timely offers
To raise his post, or fill his coffers,
Perhaps he might have truckled down,
Like other brethren of his gown.
For party he would ...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things