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Famous Simplicity Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Wilbur, Richard
...br>

As you howl beyond hearing I carry you
 into my mind,
Ladders and brass and all, there to
 admire
Your phoenix-red simplicity, enshrined
 In that not extinguished fire....Read more of this...



by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry
...the harmless oxen draw 
Th' industrious plough. The Roman heroes too 
Fabricius and Camillus lov'd a life 
Of sweet simplicity and rustic joy; 
And from the busy Forum hast'ning far, 
'Midst woods and fields spent the remains of age. 
How grateful to behold the harvests rise 
And mighty crops adorn the golden plains? 
Fair plenty smiles throughout, while lowing herds 
Stalk o'er the grassy hill or level mead, 
Or at some winding river slake their thirst. 
Thus far...Read more of this...

by Shakur, Tupac
...two inside of me?
This duo in me causes the perfect opportunity
To learn and live twice as fast
As those who accept simplicity... ...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...hills
Mingling their flames with twilight, on the verge
Of the remote horizon. The near scene,
In naked and severe simplicity, 
Made contrast with the universe. A pine,
Rock-rooted, stretched athwart the vacancy
Its swinging boughs, to each inconstant blast
Yielding one only response at each pause
In most familiar cadence, with the howl,
The thunder and the hiss of homeless streams
Mingling its solemn song, whilst the broad river
Foaming and hurrying o'er its rugged ...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...d, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one....Read more of this...



by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...ild,
ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.'
So thru'out all his young mental apprenticehood
the child of very simplicity, and in the grace
and beauteous attitude of infantine wonder,
is apt to absorb Ideas in primal purity,
and 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...Read more of this...

by Shakur, Tupac
...2 inside of me
this duo within me causes
the perfect oppurtunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity...Read more of this...

by Tagore, Rabindranath
...he most distant course that comes nearest to thyself, 
and that training is the most intricate which leads to the utter simplicity of a tune. 

The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, 
and one has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end. 

My eyes strayed far and wide before I shut them and said `Here art thou!' 

The question and the cry `Oh, where?' melt into tears of a thousand 
streams and deluge th...Read more of this...

by Smart, Christopher
...h the Mole -- before honour is humility, and he that looketh low shall learn. 

Let Gad with the Adder bless in the simplicity of the preacher and the wisdom of the creature. 

Let Tobias bless Charity with his Dog, who is faithful, vigilant, and a friend in poverty. 

Let Anna bless God with the Cat, who is worthy to be presented before the throne of grace, when he has trampled upon the idol in his prank. 

Let Benaiah praise with the Asp -- to conquer malice...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...heard, in the stillness
Between the two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always--
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of things shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

		        Little Gidding V,
		        Four Quartets.
		        -- T.S. Eliot (1943)...Read more of this...

by Moore, Marianne
...er, not to unity,
which in cycloid inclusiveness
has dwarfed the demonstration
of Columbus with the egg --
a triumph of simplicity --
that charitive Euroclydon
of frightening disinterestedness
which the world hates,
admitting:

"I am such a cow,
if I had a sorrow,
I should feel it a long time;
I am not one of those
who have a great sorrow
in the morning
and a great joy at noon;"
which says: "I have encountered it
among those unpretentious
proteg?s of wisdom,
where seeming to ...Read more of this...

by Collins, Billy
...ox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...his permissive will, through Heaven and Earth: 
And oft, though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps 
At wisdom's gate, and to simplicity 
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill 
Where no ill seems: Which now for once beguiled 
Uriel, though regent of the sun, and held 
The sharpest-sighted Spirit of all in Heaven; 
Who to the fraudulent impostor foul, 
In his uprightness, answer thus returned. 
Fair Angel, thy desire, which tends to know 
The works of God, thereby to ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...troubled all mankind 
With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure, 
And banished from man's life his happiest life, 
Simplicity and spotless innocence! 
So passed they naked on, nor shunned the sight 
Of God or Angel; for they thought no ill: 
So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair, 
That ever since in love's embraces met; 
Adam the goodliest man of men since born 
His sons, the fairest of her daughters Eve. 
Under a tuft of shade that on a green 
Stood whispe...Read more of this...

by Stojanovic, Dejan
...The most complicated skill 
Is to be simple. 

To say more while saying less 
Is the secret of being simple. 

To not say all that can be said 
Is the secret of discipline and economy. 

To leave out beautiful sunsets 
Is the secret of good taste. 

To hide feelings when you are near crying 
Is the secret of dignity. 

To ...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...The same as those that lived
Is such a Feat of Irony
As never was -- achieved --

Not satisfied to ape the Great
In his simplicity
The small must die, as well as He --
Oh the Audacity --...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...lant or tree 
Or fish, the legless elfins of the sea, 
Yet rare as this shine image in ebony 
Being most strange in its simplicity. 

Rare as the rushing of the wild black swans
The Romans saw; or rocks remote and grim
Where through black clouds the black sheep runs accursed 
And through black clouds the Shepherd follows him. 
By the black oak of the aeon-buried grove 
By the black gems of the miner's treasure-trove 
Monsters and freaks and fallen stars and sunken- 
M...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...reme and stars of love;
As chorus to their tragic scene.

THRENOS.

Beauty, truth, and rarity.
Grace in all simplicity,
Here enclos'd in cinders lie.

Death is now the phoenix' nest;
And the turtle's loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,

Leaving no posterity:--
'Twas not their infirmity,
It was married chastity.

Truth may seem, but cannot be:
Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;
Truth and beauty buried be.

To this urn let those repair
That are either true o...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...t
For, John, in faith I may be of your sort;
I is as ill a miller as is ye."

This miller smiled at their nicety*, *simplicity
And thought, "All this is done but for a wile.
They weenen* that no man may them beguile, *think
But by my thrift yet shall I blear their eye,
For all the sleight in their philosophy.
The more *quainte knackes* that they make, *odd little tricks*
The more will I steal when that I take.
Instead of flour yet will I give them bren*.Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...singer born and lack a theme?
The Soul. Isaiah's coal, what more can man desire?
The Heart. Struck dumb in the simplicity of fire!
The Soul. Look on that fire, salvation walks within.
The Heart. What theme had Homer but original sin?

 VIII

Must we part, Von Hugel, though much alike, for we
Accept the miracles of the saints and honour sanctity?
The body of Saint Teresa lies undecayed in tomb,
Bathed in miraculous oil, sweet odours from it come,
Healing f...Read more of this...

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