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Famous Sensible Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...back one thing I lack –
The love-light in your eye.

The Husband
Of course I love you, and the children too.
Be sensible, my dear, it is for you
I work so hard to make my business pay.
There, now, run home, enjoy your holiday.

The Wife (turning)
He does not mean to wound me,
I know his heart is kind.
Alas! that man can love us
And be so blind, so blind.
A little time for pleasure,
A little time for play;
A word to prove the life of love
And frighten c...Read more of this...



by Killigrew, Anne
...uling Weight of Steel; 
Rather to bloody Wounds oppose your Breast
No Ill, by which the Body can be prest; 
You will so sensible a Torment find, 
As Shackles on your captivated Mind. 

The Mind from Heaven its high Descent did draw, 
And brooks uneasily any other Law, 
Than what from Reason dictated shall be, 
Reason, a kind of In-mate Deity. 
Which only can adapt to ev'ry Soul
A Yoke so fit and light, that the Controle
All Liberty excels; so sweet a Sway, 
The same '...Read more of this...

by Bukowski, Charles
...lled with sand and
broken glass.

you begin eating the sandwhich.

it's something.
it's a minor, difficult,
sensible action
like composing a popular song
to make a 14-year old
weep.
you order another beer.
jesus,look at that guy
his hands hang down almost to his knees and he's
whistling.
well, time to get out.
pivk up the bill.
tip.
go to the register.
pay.
pick up a toothpick.
go out the door.
your car is still there.
a...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...ou know that I have driven the wheels too fast 
Of late, and all for gold I do not need. 
When are we mortals to be sensible,
Paying no more for life than life is worth? 
Better for us, no doubt, we do not know 
How much we pay or what it is we buy.” 
He waited, gazing at me as if asking 
The worth of what the universe had for sale
For one confessed remorse. Avon, I knew, 
Had driven the wheels too fast, and not for gold. 

“If you had given him then your hand...Read more of this...

by Milosz, Czeslaw
...h
Is now the laughter of the enemies of the people.

Gone is the age of satire. We no longer need mock.
The sensible monarch with false courtly phrases.

Stern as befits the servants of a cause,
We will permit ourselves sycophantic humor.

Tight-lipped, guided by reasons only
Cautiously let us step into the era of the unchained fire....Read more of this...



by Pushkin, Alexander
...shameless, hapless folly
I'll be confessing at your feet.
It ill becomes me: that I'm older,
Time I should be more sensible...
And yet the frivolous disorder
Fills every jitter of my soul.
Say you'll be gone - I'm jaded, yawning;
You're back - I'm sad, I suffer through -
Yet how can I be clear, from owning,
My angel, all my care for you!
When off the stairs your weightless footfall,
Your dress's rustle, reaches me,
Your voice, as maidenly, as youthful -
I...Read more of this...

by Kunitz, Stanley
...obscure roots; 
Gold bees of clinging light 
Swarmed in her brow. 

Her throat is full of songs, 
She hums, she is sensible of wings 
Growing on her heart. 

She is a tree in spring 
Trembling with the hope of leaves, 
Of which the leaves are tongues....Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...d by the assimilation of thatt immortal food
may build immortal life; but ever with the growth
of understanding, as the sensible images
are more and more corrupt, troubled by questioning thought,
or with vainglory alloy'd, 'tis like enought the boy
in prospect of his manhood wil hav cast to th' winds
his Baptism with his Babyhood; nor might he escape
the fall of Ev'ryman, did not a second call
of nature's Love await him to confirm his Faith
or to revoke him if he is whollylap...Read more of this...

by Philips, Katherine
...t better none. 
Such a submissive Greatness who can find? 
A tender Heart with so resolv'd a Mind? 
But she, though sensible, was still the same, 
Of a resigned Soul, untainted Fame, 
Nor were her Vertues coarsly set, for she 
Out-did Example in Civility. 
To bestow blessings, to oblige, relieve, 
Was all for which she could endure to live. 
She had a joy higher in doing good, 
Than they to whom the benefit accru'd. 
Though none of Honour had a quicker sense, ...Read more of this...

by Thoreau, Henry David
...lind. 

But now there comes unsought, unseen, 
Some clear divine electuary, 
And I, who had but sensual been, 
Grow sensible, and as God is, am wary. 

I hearing get, who had but ears, 
And sight, who had but eyes before, 
I moments live, who lived but years, 
And truth discern, who knew but learning's lore. 

I hear beyond the range of sound, 
I see beyond the range of sight, 
New earths and skies and seas around, 
And in my day the sun doth pale his light. 
...Read more of this...

by Seeger, Alan
...sweet impulses, 
Flung like the rose of dawn across the sea, 
Alone can flush the exalted consciousness 
With shafts of sensible divinity -- 
Light of the World, essential loveliness: 
Him whom the Muse hath made thy votary 
Not from her paths and gentle precepture 
Shall vulgar ends engage, nor break the spell 
That taught him first to feel thy secret charms 
And o'er the earth, obedient to their lure, 
Their sweet surprise and endless miracle, 
To follow ever with insatiate...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...gainst the wall
And shot. It's Pollyanna now or death.
This, then, is the new freedom we hear tell of;
And very sensible. No state can build
A literature that shall at once be sound
And sad on a foundation of well-being.

To show the level of intelligence
Among us: it was just a Warren farmer
Whose horse had pulled him short up in the road
By me, a stranger. This is what he said,
From nothing but embarrassment and want
Of anything more sociable to say:
"Yo...Read more of this...

by Austen, Jane
...nd of her
Who is the friend of all.-- 

Take her, and wonder at your luck,
In having such a Trust.
Her converse sensible and sweet
Will banish heat and dust.-- 

So short she'll make the journey seem
You'll bid the Chaise stand still.
T'will be like driving at full speed
From Newb'ry to Speen hill.-- 

Convey her safe to Morton's wife
And I'll forget the past,
And write some verses in your praise
As finely and as fast. 

But if you still refuse to go
I...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...
Not warp'd by Passion, aw'd by Rumour,
Not grave thro' Pride, or gay thro' Folly,
An equal Mixture of good Humour,
And sensible soft Melancholy.

`Has she no Faults then (Envy says) Sir?'
Yes she has one, I must aver:
When all the World comspires to praise her,
The Woman's deaf, and does not hear....Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ments, these piercing fires 
As soft as now severe, our temper changed 
Into their temper; which must needs remove 
The sensible of pain. All things invite 
To peaceful counsels, and the settled state 
Of order, how in safety best we may 
Compose our present evils, with regard 
Of what we are and where, dismissing quite 
All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise." 
 He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled 
Th' assembly as when hollow rocks retain 
The sou...Read more of this...

by Roethke, Theodore
...ster in late September,
I brought her back in again
For a new routine--
Vitamins, water, and whatever
Sustenance seemed sensible
At the time: she'd lived
So long on gin, bobbie pins, half-smoked cigars, dead beer,
Her shriveled petals falling
On the faded carpet, the stale
Steak grease stuck to her fuzzy leaves.
(Dried-out, she creaked like a tulip.)
The things she endured!--
The dumb dames shrieking half the night
Or the two of us, alone, both seedy,
Me breathing boo...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...told so as to be understood, and not be
believ'd.

Enough! or Too much



PLATE 11 

The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or
Geniuses calling them by the names and adorning them with the
properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations,
and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could percieve.
And particularly they studied the genius of each city &
country. placing it under its mental deity.
Till a system was formed, whic...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...ly use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicul...Read more of this...

by Auden, Wystan Hugh (W H)
...ows he was once in hospital but left it cured.Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declareHe was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment PlanAnd had everything necessary to the Modern Man,A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.Our researchers into Public Opinion are contentThat he held the proper opinions for the time of year;When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.He was married and added ...Read more of this...

by McHugh, Heather
...rting evening then
our host chose something in a family restaurant,
and there we sat and chatted, sat and chewed, till,
sensible it was our last big chance to be Poetic, make
our mark, one of us asked

"What's poetry?
Is it the fruits and vegetables
and marketplace at Campo dei Fiori

or the statue there?" Because I was
the glib one, I identified the answer
instantly, I didn't have to think-- "The truth
is both, it's both!" I blurted out. But that
was easy. That was e...Read more of this...

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