Famous Set Upon Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Set Upon 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 upon poems. These examples illustrate what a famous set upon poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Beowulf (Modern English)

...th the bitter blade, as it served them best.
They took no pleasure at all in their fullness,
those wicked things that set upon me,
sitting around the banquet-table near the sea floor—
but in the morning, wounded by the blade,
strewn up upon the sandy strand,
dreaming by the sword, so that never afterwards,
about the deep channel, would they hinder
the course of sea-farers. Light came from the east,
the bright beacon of God, and the ocean slackened
until I could see ...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Beowulf (Old English)

...liegemen of Finn, going back with him to Frisia. So matters rest a while. Hengest is now leader of the Danes; but he is set upon revenge for his former lord, Hnaef. Probably he is killed in feud; but his clansmen, Guthlaf and Oslaf, gather at their home a force of sturdy Danes, come back to Frisia, storm Finn’s stronghold, kill him, and carry back their kinswoman Hildeburh.

{16f} The “enemies” must be the Frisians.

{16g} Battlefield. -- Hengest is the “prince’s thane,” ...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

For A Picture Of St. Dorothea

...ts for bitter. 

Lilies I shew you, lilies none,
None in Caesar's gardens blow, -- 
And a quince in hand, -- not one
Is set upon your boughs below;
Not set, because their buds not spring;
Spring not, 'cause world is wintering. 

But these were found in the East and South
Where Winter is the clime forgot. -- 
The dewdrop on the larkspur's mouth
O should it then be quenchèd not?
In starry water-meads they drew
These drops: which be they? stars or dew? 

Had she a quince in hand...Read more of this...
by Hopkins, Gerard Manley

Hilaire Belloc - The South Country

...ys when I was a boy
 Walking along with me.

The men that live in North England
 I saw them for a day:
Their hearts are set upon the waste fells,
 Their skies are fast and grey;
From their castle-walls a man may see
 The mountains far away.

The men that live in West England
 They see the Severn strong,
A-rolling on rough water brown
 Light aspen leaves along.
They have the secret of the Rocks,
 And the oldest kind of song.

But the men that live in the South Country
 Are the...Read more of this...
by Belloc, Hilaire

Honey Harvest

...ot otherwise he sacks
Those many-chambered palaces of wax.

Then let a choice of every kind be made,
And, labelled, set upon your storehouse racks —
Of Hawthorn-honey that of almond smacks:
The luscious Lime-tree-honey, green as jade:
Pale Willow-honey, hived by the first rover:
That delicate honey culled
From Apple-blossom, that of sunlight tastes:
And sunlight-coloured honey of the Clover.
Then, when the late year wastes,
When night falls early and the noon is d...Read more of this...
by Armstrong, Martin


Hymn to Demeter by Homer

...es of kings that deal justice. Yet we mortals bear per-force what the gods send us, though we be grieved; for a yoke is set upon our necks. But now, since you are come here, you shall have what I can bestow: and nurse me this child whom the gods gave me in my old age and beyond my hope, a son much prayed for. If you should bring him up until he reach the full measure of youth, any one of woman-kind that sees you will straightway envy you, so great reward would I give for his ...Read more of this...
by Homer,

Loves Lantern

...(For Aline)

Because the road was steep and long
And through a dark and lonely land,
God set upon my lips a song
And put a lantern in my hand.
Through miles on weary miles of night
That stretch relentless in my way
My lantern burns serene and white,
An unexhausted cup of day.
O golden lights and lights like wine,
How dim your boasted splendors are.
Behold this little lamp of mine;
It is more starlike than a star!...Read more of this...
by Kilmer, Joyce

Mr. Dana of the New York Sun

...z so benevolent, his smile so sweet 'nd kind,
That they seemed to be the reflex uv an honest, healthy mind;
And God had set upon his head a crown uv silver hair
In promise uv the golden crown He meaneth him to wear.
So, uv us boys that met him out'n Denver, there wuz none
But fell in love with Dana uv the Noo York Sun.

But when he came to Denver in that fall uv '83,
His old friend Cantell Whoppers disappeared upon a spree;
The very thought uv seein' Dana worked upon him so
(...Read more of this...
by Field, Eugene

Official at Stone Moat Village

...g meal for you." Her voice then died away into the night, I seemed to hear her sob and whimper still. At dawn, before I set upon the road, It's only from the old man that I part....Read more of this...
by Fu, Du

Respondez!

...knower, lover! 
Let the infidels of These States laugh all faith away! 
If one man be found who has faith, let the rest set upon him! 
Let them affright faith! let them destroy the power of breeding faith!
Let the she-harlots and the he-harlots be prudent! let them dance on, while seeming lasts!
 (O
 seeming! seeming! seeming!) 
Let the preachers recite creeds! let them still teach only what they have been taught! 
Let insanity still have charge of sanity! 
Let books take the...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Sailing To Byzantium

...ing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
To keep a drowsy Emperor awake;
Or set upon a golden bough to sing
To lords and ladies of Byzantium
Of what is past, or passing, or to come....Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

Samson Agonistes

...Enterd Judea seeking mee, who then
Safe to the rock of Etham was retir'd,
Not flying, but fore-casting in what place
To set upon them, what advantag'd best;
Mean while the men of Judah to prevent
The harrass of thir Land, beset me round;
I willingly on some conditions came
Into thir hands, and they as gladly yield me
To the uncircumcis'd a welcom prey, 
Bound with two cords; but cords to me were threds
Toucht with the flame: on thir whole Host I flew
Unarm'd, and with a trivi...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Song of Solomon

...ryl: his belly is
           as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

22:005:015 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine
           gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

22:005:016 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is
           my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

22:006:001 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?
           whither is thy beloved turne...Read more of this...
by Bible, The

The Cathedral of Rheims

...ough the meadows of Champagne
At noon in Fall, when leaves like gold appear,
Sees it draw near
Like some great mountain set upon the plain,
From radiant dawn until the close of day,
Nearer it grows
To him who goes
Across the country. When tall towers lay
Their shadowy pall
Upon his way,
He enters, where
The solid stone is hollowed deep by all
Its centuries of beauty and of prayer.
Ancient French temple! thou whose hundred kings
Watch over thee, emblazoned on thy walls,
Tell m...Read more of this...
by Kilmer, Joyce

The Daguerreotype

...little things. -- 
Look, where the amphoras, 
The yield of many days, 
Trod by my hot soul from the pulp of self, 
And set upon the shelf 
In sullen pride 
The Vineyard-master's tasting to abide -- 
O mother mine! 
Are these the bringings-in, the doings fine, 
Of him you used to praise? 
Emptied and overthrown 
The jars lie strown. 
These, for their flavor duly nursed, 
Drip from the stopples vinegar accursed; 
These, I thought honied to the very seal, 
Dry, dry, -- a little...Read more of this...
by Moody, William Vaughn

The General Prologue

...guise
The younge girles of the diocese, 
And knew their counsel, and was of their rede*. *counsel
A garland had he set upon his head,
As great as it were for an alestake*: *The post of an alehouse sign
A buckler had he made him of a cake.

With him there rode a gentle PARDONERE 
Of Ronceval, his friend and his compere,
That straight was comen from the court of Rome.
Full loud he sang, "Come hither, love, to me"
This Sompnour *bare to him a stiff burdoun*, *sang the b...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Idiot Boy

...t,  Till she is tired, let Betty Foy  With girt and stirrup fiddle-faddle;  But wherefore set upon a saddle  Him whom she loves, her idiot boy?   There's scarce a soul that's out of bed;  Good Betty put him down again;  His lips with joy they burr at you,  But, Betty! what has he to do  With stirrup, saddle, or with rein?   The world will say 'tis very idle, ...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Jacquerie A Fragment

..., as if odors too had thorns,
Sharp rumors, how the three Estates of France,
Like old Three-headed Cerberus of Hell
Had set upon the Duke of Normandy,
Their rightful Regent, snarled in his great face,
Snapped jagged teeth in inch-breadth of his throat,
And blown such hot and savage breath upon him,
That he had tossed great sops of royalty
Unto the clamorous, three-mawed baying beast.
And was not further on his way withal,
And had but changed a snarl into a growl:
How Arnold d...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney

The People

...ll the dishonest crowd I had driven away,
When my luck changed and they dared meet my face,
Crawled from obscurity, and set upon me
Those I had served and some that I had fed;
Yet never have I, now nor any time,
Complained of the people.'

 All I could reply
Was: 'You, that have not lived in thought but deed,
Can have the purity of a natural force,
But I, whose virtues are the definitions
Of the analytic mind, can neither close
The eye of the mind nor keep my tongue from spee...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

The Twins Of Lucky Strike

.... ."
"Zen you will be ze Père Noël," said Montreal Maree.

The dance hall of the Nugget Bar erupted joy an' light,
An' set upon the stage them twins was elegant to see,
Like angel cherubs in their robes of pure baptismal white,
Abaskin' in the sunny smile o' Father tim McGee.
Then on the bar stood Santa Claus, says he: "We'll form a Trust;
So all you sourdoughs heft your pokes an' hang 'em on the Tree.
To give them kids a chance in life we'll raise enough or bust!"
"For zem ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

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