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Famous Smack Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...aye he gies the tozie drab
 The tither skelpin’ kiss,
While she held up her greedy gab,
 Just like an aumous dish;
 Ilk smack still, did crack still,
 Just like a cadger’s whip;
 Then staggering an’ swaggering
 He roar’d this ditty up—


AirTune—“Soldier’s Joy.”I am a son of Mars who have been in many wars,
 And show my cuts and scars wherever I come;
This here was for a wench, and that other in a trench,
 When welcoming the French at the sound of the drum.
 Lal de da...Read more of this...



by Plath, Sylvia
...frame of fables,
Saint and king unfisted obstruction's knuckles
By no miracle or majestic means,

But by such abuses
As smack of spite and the overscrupulous
Twisting of thumbscrews: one soul tied in sinews,
One white horse drowned, and all the unconquered pinnacles
Of God's city and Babylon's

Must wait, while here Suso's
Hand hones his tack and needles,
Scouraging to sores his own red sluices
For the relish of heaven, relentless, dousing with prickles
Of horsehair and lice ...Read more of this...

by Donne, John
...heart seemed wax, and steel thy constancy:
So, careless flowers strowed on the waters face
The curled whirlpools suck, smack, and embrace,
Yet drown them; so, the taper's beamy eye
Amorously twinkling beckons the giddy fly,
Yet burns his wings; and such the devil is,
Scarce visiting them who are entirely his.
When I behold a stream which, from the spring,
Doth with doubtful melodious murmuring,
Or in a speechless slumber, calmly ride
Her wedded channels' bosom, and then ...Read more of this...

by Knight, Etheridge
...ators and all the animals that roam the earth
**** marx and mao **** fidel and nkrumah and
democracy and communism **** smack and pot
and red ripe tomatoes **** joseph **** mary ****
god jesus and all the disciples **** fanon nixon
and malcom **** the revolution **** freedom ****
the whole muthafucking thing
all i want now is my woman back
so my soul can sing...Read more of this...

by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...n my hill! 
I fancy these pure waters and the flags 
Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize; 
And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.'

Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: 
And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. 
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys 
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; 
Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet 
Clear of the grave. 
They added ridge to valley, brook to pond, 
An...Read more of this...



by Markham, Edwin
...nst the world, 
A man to match the mountains and the sea. 

The color of the ground was in him, the red earth; 
The smack and tang of elemental things: 
The rectitude and patience of the cliff; 
The good-will of the rain that loves all leaves; 
The friendly welcome of the wayside well; 
The courage of the bird that dares the sea; 
The gladness of the wind that shakes the corn; 
The pity of the snow that hides all scars; 
The secrecy of streams that make their way 
Beneath...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...he story,
Said he saw you in your glory,
Underneath a new old sign
Sipping beverage divine,
And pledging with contented smack
The Mermaid in the Zodiac.

 Souls of Poets dead and gone,
What Elysium have ye known,
Happy field or mossy cavern,
Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?...Read more of this...

by Reese, Lizette Woodworth
...iness so plain
As a tall poplar in the rain.

But oh, the hundred things and more,
That come in at the door! --
The smack of mint, old joy, old pain,
Caught in the gray and tender rain....Read more of this...

by Thomas, Dylan
...is the world. Have faith.

For we shall be a shouter like the cock,
Blowing the old dead back; our shots shall smack
The image from the plates;
And we shall be fit fellows for a life,
And who remains shall flower as they love,
Praise to our faring hearts....Read more of this...

by Lawson, Henry
...Queen! 
And as she passed, he gazed as one 
An angel might regard. 
(Old Withen looked as if he'd like 
To take and smack her hard.) 

We only smiled at anything 
That good old Withen said, 
For he, half blind, through smoke and flame 
Had borne her grandsire dead; 
And he, in Virland's danger time, 
Where both her brothers died, 
Had ridden to red victory 
By her brave father's side. 

Queen Hilda rode along the lines 
'Mid thundering cheers the while, 
And each ...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...e Great
 Secretaries; 
On the piazza walk three matrons stately and friendly with twined arms; 
The crew of the fish-smack pack repeated layers of halibut in the hold; 
The Missourian crosses the plains, toting his wares and his cattle; 
As the fare-collector goes through the train, he gives notice by the jingling of
 loose change;
The floor-men are laying the floor—the tinners are tinning the
 roof—the masons are calling for mortar; 
In single file, each shouldering...Read more of this...

by Graves, Robert
...food.” 

Oh, never choose as Gideon chose 
By the cold well, but rather those 
Who look on beer when it is brown, 
Smack their lips and gulp it down.
Leave the lads who tamely drink 
With Gideon by the water brink, 
But search the benches of the Plough, 
The Tun, the Sun, the Spotted Cow, 
For jolly rascal lads who pray,
Pewter in hand, at close of day, 
“Teach me to live that I may fear 
The grave as little as my beer.”...Read more of this...

by Gregory, Rg
...cept you’re there
and won’t go away
i can’t win – and it’s not fair

best turn my back on you – get on
with what i meet
smack in the eyes
(that’s experience for you)
if i could trust my eyes
i can’t – it’s too neat
there are more things (horatio set on)
live life whole – mere string
devout adore you
most not back anything

beginning and end – invention
fills in the gaps
at best rank guesses
random peeing in the ocean
(this one’s guesses
another’s mishaps)
eureka quick becomes...Read more of this...

by Housman, A E
...s not so brisk a brew as ale: 
Out of a stem that scored the hand 
I wrung it in a weary land. 
But take it: if the smack is sour, 
The better for the embittered hour; 
It should do good to heart and head 
When your soul is in my soul's stead; 
And I will friend you, if I may, 
In the dark and cloudy day. 

There was a king reigned in the East: 
There, when kings will sit to feast, 
They get their fill before they think 
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink. 
He ...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...at you'd swear he rejoic'd in a load,
One day had to jog under panniers so pond'rous,
That -- down the poor Donkey fell smack on the road!

His owners and drivers stood round in amaze --
What! Neddy, the patient, the prosperous Neddy,
So easy to drive, through the dirtiest ways,
For every description of job-work so ready!

One driver (whom Ned might have "hail'd" as a "brother")
Had just been proclaiming his Donkey's renown
For vigour, for spirit, for one thing or another --
...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...nd sings:
"The second in command was blear-eyed Ned:
While the surgeon his limb 
was a-lopping,
A nine-pounder came and smack went his head,
Pull away, pull away, pull 
away! I say;
Rare news for my Meg of Wapping!"
Every Sunday
People come in crowds
(After church-time, of course)
In curricles, and gigs, and wagons,
And some have brought cold chicken and flagons
Of wine,
And beer in stoppered jugs.
"Dear! Dear! But I tell 'ee 'twill be a fine 
ship.
There's none finer...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...ces,
They rave, they laugh, they thirst, they lap the stream
That trickles from the regal vestments down,
And, lapping, smack their heated chaps for more,
And ply their daggers for it, till the kings
All die and lie in a crooked sprawl of death,
Ungainly, foul, and stiff as any heap
Of villeins rotting on a battle-field.
'Tis true, that when these things have come to pass
Then never a king shall rule again in France,
For every villein shall be king in France:
And who hath...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...ht to be
Drappin' on de flo'.
She go w'en huh time git slack,
Kissin' han's an' smilin' back,
Lawsy, how my lips go smack,
[Pg 207]Watchin' at de do'.
Wisht I was huh lookin'-glass,
Wen she kissed huh han';
Does you t'ink I 'd let it pass,
Settin' on de stan'?
No; I'd des' fall down an' break,
Kin' o' glad 't uz fu' huh sake;
But de diffunce, dat whut make
Lookin'-glass an' man.
...Read more of this...

by Wilbur, Richard
...nd an ear to mine,
I toast you both, good son and dear new daughter.
May you not lack for water,
And may that water smack of Cana's wine....Read more of this...

by Nash, Ogden
...hey hand you so many chairs
and ashtrays and sandwiches and butter you with such bowings and
scrapings that you want to smack them.
Husbands are indeed an irritating form of life,
And yet through some quirk of Providence most of them are really very
deeply ensconced in the affection of their wife....Read more of this...

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