Famous Set Off Poems by Famous Poets

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

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80. The Jolly Beggars: A Cantata

...ire.


Wi’ hand on hainch, and upward e’e,
He croon’d his gamut, one, two, three,
Then in an arioso key,
 The wee Apoll
Set off wi’ allegretto glee
 His giga solo.


AirTune—“Whistle owre the lave o’t.”Let me ryke up to dight that tear,
An’ go wi’ me an’ be my dear;
An’ then your every care an’ fear
 May whistle owre the lave o’t.


Chorus I am a fiddler to my trade,
 An’ a’ the tunes that e’er I played,
 The sweetest still to wife or maid,
 Was whistle owre the lave o’t.


A...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Bush Christening

...If the man in the frock made him one of the flock,
 It must mean something very like branding. 

So away with a rush he set off for the bush,
 While the tears in his eyelids they glistened—
"'Tis outrageous," says he, "to brand youngsters like me,
 I'll be dashed if I'll stop to be christened!" 

Like a young native dog he ran into a log,
 And his father with language uncivil,
Never heeding the "praste" cried aloud in his haste,
 "Come out and be christened, you divil!" 

But...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

An Evening With John Heath-stubbs

...s letter, “Once Harrison and I

Were best mates until fame went to his head.”

James, your ‘Love Leads Me into Danger’

Set off my own despair but restored me

Just as quickly with your sense of beauty’s muted dance.

“passing Dalway’s Bawn

where the chestnuts are, the first trees to go rusty,

old admirals drowned in their own gold braid.”



The scattered alliterations mimic so exquisitely

The random pattern of fallen conkers,

The sense of innocence not wholly clear

The...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

at the sixty-ninth station

...ts single demands

this christmas will say goodbye
to the last traces of middle age
the sere's banners will be ready
to set off on its late procession

i have not gathered myselves together
with anything like that composure
wisdom and age should concoct
i have lost control of my strivings

christmas a game of new birth
the light giving hope to the dark
i wish i had the will to recover
the young coals that kept me bright...Read more of this...
by Gregory, Rg

Billys Rain

...o do
and your mouth opens
and you look straight through me?
Do you think I mind
when the blank expression comes
and you set off alone
down the hall of collapsing columns?...Read more of this...
by Williams, Hugo


Bush Christening

...If the man in the frock made him one of the flock, 
It must mean something very like branding. 

So away with a rush he set off for the bush, 
While the tears in his eyelids they glistened -- 
`'Tis outrageous,' says he, `to brand youngsters like me, 
I'll be dashed if I'll stop to be christened!' 

Like a young native dog he ran into a log, 
And his father with language uncivil, 
Never heeding the `praste' cried aloud in his haste, 
`Come out and be christened, you divil!' 
...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Comus

...reared so high,
Were shattered into heaps o'er thy false head.
 COMUS. She fables not. I feel that I do fear
Her words set off by some superior power;
And, though not mortal, yet a cold shuddering dew
Dips me all o'er, as when the wrath of Jove
Speaks thunder and the chains of Erebus
To some of Saturn's crew. I must dissemble,
And try her yet more strongly.—Come, no more !
This is mere moral babble, and direct
Against the canon laws of our foundation.
I must not suffer this;...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Epistle to Mrs. Tyler

...tion greet her, 
For that rich banquet so refin'd 
Her conversation gave the mind; 
The solid meal of sense and worth, 
Set off by the desert of mirth; 
Wit's fruit and pleasure's genial bowl, 
And all the joyous flow of soul; 
For these, and every kind ingredient 
That form'd your love--your most obedient....Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher

From Arcades

...oebus repli'd, and touch'd my trembling ears; 
Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, 
Nor in the glistering foil 
Set off to th'world, nor in broad rumour lies, 
But lives and spreds aloft by those pure eyes, 
And perfet witnes of all judging Jove; 
As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 
Of so much fame in Heav'n expect thy meed. 
 O fountain Arethuse, and thou honour'd floud, 
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crown'd with vocall reeds, 
That strain I heard was of a higher mood:...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Hanchen the Maid of the Mill

...d, run! run! and tell father there's a robber taking his gold. 

Then the boy did as she bid him without any doubt,
And set off, running on the road she pointed out;
But at this moment, a shrill whistle made her stand aghast,
When she heard Heinrich, crying, catch that child that's running so fast. 

But still the boy ran on with might and main,
Until a ruffian sprang up from the bed of a natural drain;
And snatching the boy in his arms, and hastening towards the mill,
While ...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

I. The Witch of Coös

...coming up to you.- It had its choice
Of the door to the cellar or the hall.
It took the hall door for the novelty,
And set off briskly for so slow a thing,
Still going every which way in the joints, though,
So that it looked like lightning or a scribble,
From the slap I had just now given its hand.
I listened till it almost climbed the stairs
From the hall to the only finished bedroom,
Before I got up to do anything;
Then ran and shouted, -œShut the bedroom door,
Toffile, fo...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

If You Forget Me

...shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your ...Read more of this...
by Neruda, Pablo

Joe Ramsbottom

...land you were ploughing belongs to the Squire,
It were 'is rock as caused all this 'ere!"

This 'eartened Joe up, so he set off again,
But he very soon stopped as before, 
And he said 'Happen Squire'II have comp'ny to tea,
Nay I'd, better go round to t' back.

Then he answered himself in a manner quite stern
And said "Here's a nice how-de-do!
You can manage without him when all's said and done,
And where would he be without you?"

Joe knew this were right and he knew it were ...Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott

Lycidas

...ebus replied, and touched my trembling ears:
RFame is no plant that grows on mortal soil,
Nor in the glistering foil
Set off to the world, nor in broad rumour lies,
But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes
And perfect witness of all-judging Jove;
As he pronounces lastly on each deed,
Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed."
 O fountain Arethuse, and thou honoured flood,
Smooth-sliding Mincius, crowned with vocal reeds,
That strain I heard was of a higher mo...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Poem of Joys

...1
O TO make the most jubilant poem! 
Even to set off these, and merge with these, the carols of Death. 
O full of music! full of manhood, womanhood, infancy! 
Full of common employments! full of grain and trees. 

O for the voices of animals! O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
O for the dropping of rain-drops in a poem! 
O for the sunshine, and motion of waves in a poem. 

O the joy of my spiri...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Battle of Hastings

...ed some rude words in Saxon, 
To which William answered - 'And you.'

'Twere a beautiful day for a battle; 
The Normans set off with a will,
And when both sides was duly assembled, 
They tossed for the top of the hill.

King 'Arold he won the advantage, 
On the hill-top he took up his stand,
With his knaves and his cads all around him, 
On his 'orse with his 'awk in his 'and.

The Normans had nowt in their favour, 
Their chance of a victory seemed small,
For the slope of the ...Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott

The First Grenadier of France

...g on in hot haste and no delaying,
And only two hours distant from where the Grenadier was staying,
But when he knew he set off at once for the pass,
Determined if 'twere possible the enemy to harass. 

He knew that the pass was defended by a stout tower,
And to destroy the garrison the enemy would exert all their power;
But he hoped to be able to warn the French of their danger,
But to the thirty men garrisoned there he was quite a stranger. 

Still the brave hero hastened o...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Scapegoat

...d the deacons, strong runners and weak 'uns 
All reckoned ere long to come up with the brute, 
And so the whole boiling set off in pursuit. 
And then it came out, as the rabble and rout 
Streamed over the desert with many a shout -- 
The Rabbi so elderly, grave, and patrician, 
Had been in his youth a bold metallician, 
And offered, in gasps, as they merrily spieled, 
"Any price Abraham! Evens the field!" 
Alas! the whole clan, they raced and they ran, 
And Abraham proved him...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Tragic Death of the Rev. A.H. Mackonochie

...ed in each one's face,
Because of the Rev. Mr Mackonochie they could get no trace. 

But on Saturday morning the Bishop set off again,
Hoping that the last search wouldn't prove in vain;
Accompanied with a crowd of men and dogs,
All resolved to search the forest and the bogs. 

And the party searched with might and main,
Until they began to think their search would prove in vain;
When the Bishop's faithful dogs raised a pitiful cry,
Which was heard by the searchers near by. 
...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

When Winchester races

...easures
With which you're debasing a neighboring Plain
Let them stand--You shall meet with your curse in your pleasures
Set off for your course, I'll pursue with my rain. 

Ye cannot but know my command o'er July
Henceforward I'll triumph in shewing my powers
Shift your race as you will it shall never be dry
The curse upon Venta is July in showers--'....Read more of this...
by Austen, Jane

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