Famous Selection Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Andys Gone With Cattle

...le now
Across the Queensland border. 

He's left us in dejection now;
Our hearts with him are roving.
It's dull on this selection now,
Since Andy went a-droving. 

Who now shall wear the cheerful face
In times when things are slackest?
And who shall whistle round the place
When Fortune frowns her blackest? 

Oh, who shall cheek the squatter now
When he comes round us snarling?
His tongue is growing hotter now
Since Andy cross'd the Darling. 

The gates are out of order now,
I...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


Boots

...car, 
But when we went to Germany we hadn't any choice, 
No matter what our training or pursuits, 
For they gave us no selection 'twixt a Ford or Rolls de Royce 
So we did it in our good Australian boots. 
They called us "mad Australians"; they couldn't understand 
How officers and men could fraternise, 
Thay said that we were "reckless", we were "wild, and out of hand", 
With nothing great or sacred to our eyes. 
But on one thing you could gamble, in the thickest of the fra...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Goalkeeper Joe

...ach week his job seemed to be 
No but minding the clothes for the others 
And chucking clods at referee! 

So next time selection committee 
Came round to ask him for his sub 
He told them if they didn’t play him, 
He’d transfer to some other club. 

Committee they coaxed and cudgelled him 
But found he’d have none of their shifts 
So they promised to play him next weekend 
In match against Todmorden Swifts. 

This match were the plum of the season 
An annual fixture it stood...Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott

Johnson's Antidote

...his brain went rather *****, 
For the constant sight of serpents filled him with a deadly fear; 
So he tramped his free-selection, morning, afternoon, and night, 
Seeking for some great specific that would cure the serpent’s bite. 
Till King Billy, of the Mooki, chieftain of the flour-bag head, 
Told him, “Spos’n snake bite pfeller, pfeller mostly drop down dead; 
Spos’n snake bite old goanna, then you watch a while you see, 
Old goanna cure himself with eating little pfeller...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Mount Bukaroo

...And the slaughtering were done. 
Later years have brought dejection, 
Care, and sorrow; but we knew 
Happy days on that selection 
Underneath old Bukaroo. 

Then the light of day commencing 
Found us at the gully's head, 
Splitting timber for the fencing, 
Stripping bark to roof the shed. 
Hands and hearts the labour strengthened; 
Weariness we never knew, 
Even when the shadows lengthened 
Round the base of Bukaroo. 

There for days below the paddock 
How the wilderness woul...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


The City Limits

...When you consider the radiance, that it does not withhold
itself but pours its abundance without selection into every
nook and cranny not overhung or hidden; when you consider

that birds' bones make no awful noise against the light but
lie low in the light as in a high testimony; when you consider
the radiance, that it will look into the guiltiest

swervings of the weaving heart and bear itself upon them,
not flinching into disguise or darkening; when ...Read more of this...
by Ammons, A R

The Flour Bin

...ar Mudgee, 
On old Eurunderee – 
The place they called "New Pipeclay", 
Where the diggers used to be – 
On a dreary old selection, 
Where times were dry and thin, 
In a slab and shingle kitchen 
There stood a flour bin. 

'Twas "ploorer" with the cattle, 
'Twas rust and smut in wheat, 
'Twas blight in eyes and orchards, 
And coarse salt-beef to eat. 
Oh, how our mothers struggled 
Till eyes and brain were dull – 
Oh, how our fathers slaved and toiled 
To keep those flour bins...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

The Mylora Elopement

...y, as I think it ought to do. 

Pondering o'er his predilection, Jimmy watched McGrath, the boss, 
Riding past his lone selection, looking for a station 'oss 
That was running in the ranges with a mob of outlaws wild. 
Mac the time of day exchanges -- off goes Jim to see his child; 

Says, "The old man's after Stager, which he'll find is no light job, 
And tomorrow I will wager he will try and yard the mob. 
Will you come with me tomorrow? I will let the parson know, 
And for...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Sun Underfoot Among The Sundews

...made their way here unaided
other than by that backhand, round-
about refusal to assume responsibility
known as Natural Selection.
 But the sun
underfoot is so dazzling
down there among the sundews,
there is so much light
in that cup that, looking,
you start to fall upward....Read more of this...
by Clampitt, Amy

When the Children Come Home

...On a lonely selection far out in the West 
An old woman works all the day without rest, 
And she croons, as she toils 'neath the sky's glassy dome, 
`Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come home.' 

She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs, 
She drives the old horse and she milks all the cows, 
And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack, ...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

When the Children Come Home

...On a lonely selection far out in the West 
An old woman works all the day without rest, 
And she croons, as she toils 'neath the sky's glassy dome, 
`Sure I'll keep the ould place till the childer come home.' 

She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs, 
She drives the old horse and she milks all the cows, 
And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack, ...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

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