Famous Singly Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Fairy Tale

...come to view
The Christening.
A sudden blare of trumpets, and the throng
About the entrance parted as the guests
Filed singly in with rare and precious gifts.
Our eager fancies noted all they brought,
The glorious, unattainable delights!
But always there was one unbidden guest
Who cursed the child and left it bitterness.
The fire falls asunder, all is changed,
I am no more a child, and what I see
Is not a fairy tale, but life, my life.
The gifts are there, the many pleasant ...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy


A Message to America

...our honor ends with your own back-yard; 
Each man intent on his private goal, 
You have no feeling for the whole; 
What singly none would tolerate 
You let unpunished hit the state, 
Unmindful that each man must share 
The stain he lets his country wear, 
And (what no traveller ignores) 
That her good name is often yours. 


You are proud in the pride that feels its might; 
From your imaginary height 
Men of another race or hue 
Are men of a lesser breed to you: 
The neighbor...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan

An Essay On Criticism

...uous Thoughts
Those Freer Beauties, ev'n in Them, seem Faults:
Some Figures monstrous and mis-shap'd appear,
Consider'd singly, or beheld too near,
Which, but proportion'd to their Light, or Place,
Due Distance reconciles to Form and Grace.
A prudent Chief not always must display
His Pow'rs in equal Ranks, and fair Array,
But with th' Occasion and the Place comply,
Conceal his Force, nay seem sometimes to Fly.
Those oft are Stratagems which Errors seem,
Nor is it Homer Nods, ...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Blessing The Cornfields

...r,
Crept and limped about the cornfields,
Mimicked in their gait and gestures
Some old man, bent almost double,
Singing singly or together:
"Wagemin, the thief of cornfields!
Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear!"
Till the cornfields rang with laughter,
Till from Hiawatha's wigwam
Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens,
Screamed and quivered in his anger,
And from all the neighboring tree-tops
Cawed and croaked the black marauders.
"Ugh!" the old men all responded,
From their seats ben...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Dream Song 84: Op. posth. no. 7

...dislike man, his destiny,
glowing fire-red,
succulent, and on the whole becoming what
man wants. I crack my final claw singly,
wind up the grave, & to bed.

-”Sound good, Mr Bones. I wish I had me some.
(I spose you got a lessen up your slave.)
-”O no no no.
Sole I remember; where no lobster swine,-”
pots hot or cold is none. With you I grieve
lightly, and I have no lesson.

Bodies are relishy, they say. Here's mine,
was. What ever happened to Political Economy,
leaving me h...Read more of this...
by Berryman, John


Eviradnus

..., pray come here; 
 Look now—how dreadful! can I help but fear!" 
 Madame Mahaud was speaker. Moonlight there 
 Caressingly enhanced her beauty rare, 
 Making it shine and tremble, as if she 
 So soft and gentle were of things that be 
 Of air created, and are brought and ta'en 
 By heavenly flashes. Now, she spoke again 
 "Certes, 'tis heavy purchase of a throne, 
 To pass the night here utterly alone. 
 Had you not slyly come to guard me now, 
 I should have died...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

Grotty And The Quarryman

...bastard!" she’d scream

As all Wakefield watched, "It’s Grotty,

Grotty’s at it again!" as pubs and clubs

Banned them, singly or together and they

Moved lodgings yet again, landlords and

Landladies left reeling behind broken doors.

Blood-smeared walls covered with a shiny

Patina of carefully applied deceits! "It was

The cat, the kids, them druggies, lads from

Football", anyone, anywhere but him and her.

Once I heard them fight, "Barry, Barry, get

The police," she thu...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

Hiawathas Lamentation

...,
And Wabeno-wusk, the yarrow,
Roots of power, and herbs of healing;
Beat their drums, and shook their rattles;
Chanted singly and in chorus,
Mystic songs like these, they chanted.
"I myself, myself! behold me!
`T Is the great Gray Eagle talking;
Come, ye white crows, come and hear him!
The loud-speaking thunder helps me;
All the unseen spirits help me;
I can hear their voices calling,
All around the sky I hear them!
I can blow you strong, my brother,
I can heal you, Hiawatha...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Jubilate Agno: Fragment B Part 3

...a sense quick and penetrating. 

For D is depth. 

For E is eternity -- such is the power of the English letters taken singly. 

For F is faith. 

For G is God -- whom I pray to be gracious to Liveware my fellow prisoner. 

For H is not a letter, but a spirit -- Benedicatur Jesus Christus, sic spirem! 

For I is identity. God be gracious to Henry Hatsell. 

For K is king. 

For L is love. God in every language. 

For M is musick and Hebrew ? [Hebrew character mem] is the dir...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher

Manhattan Streets I Saunter'd Pondering

...ge, farmer, sailor, mechanic, literat, young, old, it is the
 same,
The interest will come round—all will come round. 

Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time, will forever affect all of the past,
 and
 all of
 the present, and all of the future, 
All the brave actions of war and peace, 
All help given to relatives, strangers, the poor, old, sorrowful, young children, widows,
 the
 sick,
 and to shunn’d persons, 
All furtherance of fugitives, and of the escape of ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Paradise Lost: Book 01

...o first, who last, 
Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch, 
At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth 
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, 
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof? 
 The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell 
Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix 
Their seats, long after, next the seat of God, 
Their altars by his altar, gods adored 
Among the nations round, and durst abide 
Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned 
Bet...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Samson Agonistes

...ake not on me, but transfer
On Israel's Governours, and Heads of Tribes,
Who seeing those great acts which God had done
Singly by me against their Conquerours
Acknowledg'd not, or not at all consider'd
Deliverance offerd : I on th' other side
Us'd no ambition to commend my deeds,
The deeds themselves, though mute, spoke loud the dooer;
But they persisted deaf, and would not seem
To count them things worth notice, till at length 
Thir Lords the Philistines with gather'd powers...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Saul

...the eye's scope,---
``Till lo, thou art grown to a monarch; a people is thine;
``And all gifts, which the world offers singly, on one head combine!
``On one head, all the beauty and strength, love and rage (like the throe
``That, a-work in the rock, helps its labour and lets the gold go)
``High ambition and deeds which surpass it, fame crowning them,---all
``Brought to blaze on the head of one creature---King Saul!''

X.

And lo, with that leap of my spirit,---heart, hand, h...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo

...gly!
'Sitting where the pumpkins blow,
'Will you come and be my wife?'
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-B?.
'I am tired of living singly,--
'On this coast so wild and shingly,--
'I'm a-weary of my life:
'If you'll come and be my wife,
'Quite serene would be my life!'--
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-B?,
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-B?.

IV 

'On this Coast of Coromandel,
'Shrimps and watercresses grow,
'Prawns are plentiful and cheap,'
Said the Yonghy-Bonghy-B?.
'You shall have my chairs and candle,...Read more of this...
by Lear, Edward

The Ghosts

...g from the invisible ether,
First a speck, and then a vulture,
Till the air is dark with pinions.
So disasters come not singly;
But as if they watched and waited,
Scanning one another's motions,
When the first descends, the others
Follow, follow, gathering flock-wise
Round their victim, sick and wounded,
First a shadow, then a sorrow,
Till the air is dark with anguish.
Now, o'er all the dreary North-land,
Mighty Peboan, the Winter,
Breathing on the lakes and rivers,
Into ston...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

The Rape of the Lock

...f the Toilette cease ----
Belinda now, whom Thirst of Fame invites,
Burns to encounter two adventrous Knights,
At Ombre singly to decide their Doom;
And swells her Breast with Conquests yet to come.
Strait the three Bands prepare in Arms to join,
Each Band the number of the Sacred Nine. 
Soon as she spreads her Hand, th' Aerial Guard
Descend, and sit on each important Card,
First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore,
Then each, according to the Rank they bore;
For Sylphs, yet mindfu...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 3

...s of the toilet cease.
Belinda now, whom thirst of fame invites,
Burns to encounter two adventrous knights,
At ombre singly to decide their doom;
And swells her breast with conquests yet to come.
Straight the three bands prepare in arms to join,
Each band the number of the sacred nine.
Soon as she spreads her hand, th' aerial guard
Descend, and sit on each important card:
First Ariel perch'd upon a Matadore,
Then each, according to the rank they bore;
For Sylphs, y...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Siege of Corinth

...been ta'en before: 
Though aged, he was so iron of limb, 
Few of our youth could cope with him; 
And the foes, whom he singly kept at bay, 
Outnumber'd his thin hairs of silver gray. 
From right to left his sabre swept: 
Many an Othman mother wept 
Sons that were unborn, when dipp'd 
His weapon first in Moslem gore, 
Ere his years could count a score. 
Of all he might have been the sire 
Who fell that day beneath his ire: 
For, sonless left long years ago, 
His wrath made ma...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Triumph Of Death

...ing cloud; no adversaire'Durst once appear, or her calm mind affright;Death singly did herself conclude the fight;[Pg 375]After, when fear, and the extremest plaintWere ceased, th' attentive eyes of all were bentOn that fair face, and by despair becameSecure; she who was spent, not like ...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Triumph Of Fame

...great Cornelian name,With their three noble sons who shared their fame,One singly march'd before, and, hand in hand,His two heroic partners trod the strand.The last was first in fame; but brighter beamsHis follower flung around in solar streams.Metaurus' champion, whom the moon beheld,When his resistless spears the current ...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

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