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Famous Scotland Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...e, of Indian race,
 Led him a sair faux pas, man:
The Saxon lads, wi’ loud placads,
 On Chatham’s boy did ca’, man;
An’ Scotland drew her pipe an’ blew,
 “Up, Willie, waur them a’, man!”


Behind the throne then Granville’s gone,
 A secret word or twa, man;
While slee Dundas arous’d the class
 Be-north the Roman wa’, man:
An’ Chatham’s wraith, in heav’nly graith,
 (Inspired bardies saw, man),
Wi’ kindling eyes, cry’d, “Willie, rise!
 Would I hae fear’d them a’, man?”


But, w...Read more of this...



by Bradstreet, Anne
...y she hath drunk
75 By Edward third and Henry fifth of fame;
76 Her Lilies in my Arms avouch the same.
77 My Sister Scotland hurts me now no more,
78 Though she hath been injurious heretofore.
79 What Holland is, I am in some suspense,
80 But trust not much unto his Excellence.
81 For wants, sure some I feel, but more I fear;
82 And for the Pestilence, who knows how near?
83 Famine and Plague, two sisters of the Sword,
84 Destruction to a Land doth soon afford.Read more of this...

by Du Bois, W. E. B.
...oy, at home with strangers.   
I liked my playmates, and knew well,   
Whence all their parents came; 
From England, Scotland, royal France   
From Germany and oft by chance 
The humble Emerald Isle. 

But my brown skin and close-curled hair 
Was alien, and how it grew, none knew; 
Few tried to say, some dropped a wonderful word or stray; 
Some laughed and stared. 

And then it came: I dreamed.   
I placed together all I knew 
All hints and slurs together drew. ...Read more of this...

by Dryden, John
...the air 
To seat themselves more surely than before. 

17

Her safety rescu'd Ireland to him owes, 
And treacherous Scotland, to no int'rest true, 
Yet bless'd that fate which did his arms dispose 
Her land to civilize as to subdue. 

18

Nor was he like those stars which only shine 
When to pale mariners they storms portend; 
He had his calmer influence, and his mien 
Did love and majesty together blend. 

19

'Tis true, his count'nance did imprint an awe, 
And n...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...now am I come, with this lost love of mine,
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far,
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar.’ 

The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up,
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup,
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.
He took her soft hand ere her mother could bar,
‘Now tre...Read more of this...



by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the baseme...Read more of this...

by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...the patriots
In whom the stock of freedom roots.
To myself I oft recount
Tales of many a famous mount.—
Wales, Scotland, Uri, Hungary's dells,
Roys, and Scanderbegs, and Tells.
Here now shall nature crowd her powers,
Her music, and her meteors,
And, lifting man to the blue deep
Where stars their perfect courses keep,
Like wise preceptor lure his eye
To sound the science of the sky,
And carry learning to its height
Of untried power and sane delight;
The Indian che...Read more of this...

by Brautigan, Richard
...earance from the world while he performed his

deeds of murder in the night.

Who would have expected?

 Nobody !

 Scotland Yard?

 (Pouf !)

 They were always a hundred miles away, wearing halibut-

stalker hats, looking under the dust.

 Nobody ever found out.

 0, now he's the Mayor of the Twentieth Century ! A razor,

a knife and a ukelele are his favorite instruments.

 Of course, it would have to be a ukelele. Nobody else

would have thought of it, ...Read more of this...

by Milligan, Spike
...t it's good enough to eat,
It's good enough to stand!

On a plinth in London
A statue we should see
Of Porridge made in Scotland
Signed, "Oatmeal, O.B.E."
(By a young dog of three)...Read more of this...

by Wordsworth, William
...est-- 
Choice word and measured phrase, above the reach 
Of ordinary men; a stately speech; 
Such as grave Livers do in Scotland use, 
Religious men, who give to God and man their dues. 

XV 

He told, that to these waters he had come 
To gather leeches, being old and poor: 
Employment hazardous and wearisome! 
And he had many hardships to endure: 
From pond to pond he roamed, from moor to moor; 
Housing, with God's good help, by choice or chance, 
And in this way he gain...Read more of this...

by Wordsworth, William
...est-- 
Choice word and measured phrase, above the reach 
Of ordinary men; a stately speech; 
Such as grave Livers do in Scotland use, 
Religious men, who give to God and man their dues. 

XV 

He told, that to these waters he had come 
To gather leeches, being old and poor: 
Employment hazardous and wearisome! 
And he had many hardships to endure: 
From pond to pond he roamed, from moor to moor; 
Housing, with God's good help, by choice or chance, 
And in this way he gain...Read more of this...

by Muir, Edwin
...We were a tribe, a family, a people.
Wallace and Bruce guard now a painted field,
And all may read the folio of our fable,
Peruse the sword, the sceptre and the shield.
A simple sky roofed in that rustic day,
The busy corn-fields and the haunted holms,
The green road winding up the ferny brae.
But Knox and Melville clapped their preaching palms...Read more of this...

by Gray, Thomas
...ictorious bands
Triumph to the younger king. 

Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale,
Learn the tenor of our song.
Scotland, through each winding vale
Far and wide the notes prolong. 

Sisters, hence with spurs of speed;
Each her thundering falchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed.
Hurry, hurry to the field!...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...Virgil were both poets who had in fancy visited
Hell.

11. Tholed: suffered, endured; "thole" is still used in Scotland in
the same sense.

12. Capels: horses. See note 14 to the Reeve's Tale.

13. Liart: grey; elsewhere applied by Chaucer to the hairs of an
old man. So Burns, in the "Cotter's Saturday Night," speaks of
the gray temples of "the sire" -- "His lyart haffets wearing thin
and bare."

14. Rebeck: a kind of fiddle; used like...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...nd wise, I undertake:
With many a tempest had his beard been shake.
He knew well all the havens, as they were,
From Scotland to the Cape of Finisterre,
And every creek in Bretagne and in Spain:
His barge y-cleped was the Magdelain.

With us there was a DOCTOR OF PHYSIC;
In all this worlde was there none him like
To speak of physic, and of surgery:
For he was grounded in astronomy.
He kept his patient a full great deal
In houres by his magic natural.
Well could...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...best! thou little know'st
     The rank, the honors, thou hast lost!
     O. might I live to see thee grace,
     In Scotland's court, thy birthright place,
     To see my favorite's step advance
     The lightest in the courtly dance,
     The cause of every gallant's sigh,
     And leading star of every eye,
     And theme of every minstrel's art,
     The Lady of the Bleeding Heart!'
     XI.

     'Fair dreams are these,' the maiden cried,—
     Light was her...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...t a knave* child anon, *male 
And to a Bishop and to his Constable eke
He took his wife to keep, when he is gone
To Scotland-ward, his foemen for to seek.
Now fair Constance, that is so humble and meek,
So long is gone with childe till that still
She held her chamb'r, abiding Christe's will

The time is come, a knave child she bare;
Mauricius at the font-stone they him call.
This Constable *doth forth come* a messenger, *caused to come forth*
And wrote unto his ki...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...mystery-plays of the
middle ages, was probably represented as having a gruff, harsh
voice.

2. Wite: blame; in Scotland, "to bear the wyte," is to bear the
blame.


THE TALE.


Whilom there was dwelling in Oxenford
A riche gnof*, that *guestes held to board*, *miser *took in boarders*
And of his craft he was a carpenter.
With him there was dwelling a poor scholer,
Had learned art, but all his fantasy
Was turned for to learn astrology.
He coude* a cert...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...French, "bourdon."

21. Compline: even-song in the church service; chorus.

22. Ferly: strange. In Scotland, a "ferlie" is an unwonted or
remarkable sight.

23. A furlong way: As long as it might take to walk a furlong.

24. Cockenay: a term of contempt, probably borrowed from the
kitchen; a cook, in base Latin, being termed "coquinarius."
compare French "coquin," rascal.

25. Unhardy is unsely: the cowardly is unlucky; "nothin...Read more of this...

by McGonagall, William Topaz
...e parliamentary Franchise;
And rally together, and make a bold stand,
And demand the parliamentary Franchise throughout Scotland. 

And do not rest day nor night-
Because your demands are only right
In the eyes of reasonable men, and God's eyesight;
And Heaven, I'm sure, will defend the right. 

Therefore go on brave women! and never fear,
Although your case may seem dark and drear,
And put your trust in God, for He is strong;
And ye will gain the parliamentary Franch...Read more of this...

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