Famous Smarts Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Mad Day In March

by Philip Levine
 Beaten like an old hound 
Whimpering by the stove, 
I complicate the pain 
That smarts with promised love. 
The oilstove falls, the rain, 
Forecast, licks at my wound; 
Ice forms, clips the green shoot, 
And strikes the wren house mute. 

May commoner and king, 
The barren bride and nun 
Begrudge the season's dues. 
May children curse the sun, 
Sweet...Read more of this...

Why Was Cupid a Boy

by William Blake
 Why was Cupid a boy,
And why a boy was he?
He should have been a girl,
For aught that I can see.

For he shoots with his bow,
And the girl shoots with her eye,
And they both are merry and glad,
And laugh when we do cry.

And to make Cupid a boy
Was the Cupid girl's mocking plan;
For a boy can't interpret the thing
Till he...Read more of this...

Ah Poverties Wincings and Sulky Retreats

by Walt Whitman
 AH poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats! 
Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me! 
(For what is my life, or any man’s life, but a conflict with foes—the old, the
 incessant
 war?) 
You degradations—you tussle with passions and appetites; 
You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds, the sharpest of all;)
You toil of painful and choked articulations—you meannesses; 
You...Read more of this...

Away Delights

by John Gould Fletcher
 AWAY, delights! go seek some other dwelling,
 For I must die.
Farewell, false love! thy tongue is ever telling
 Lie after lie.
For ever let me rest now from thy smarts;
 Alas, for pity go
 And fire their hearts
That have been hard to thee! Mine was not so.

Never again deluding love shall know me,
 For I will die;
And all those griefs...Read more of this...

The Red Lacquer Music-Stand

by Amy Lowell
 A music-stand of crimson lacquer, long since brought
In some fast clipper-ship from China, quaintly wrought
With bossed and carven flowers and fruits in blackening gold,
The slender shaft all twined about and thickly scrolled
With vine leaves and young twisted tendrils, whirling, curling,
Flinging their new shoots over the four wings, and swirling
Out on the three wide feet in golden lumps and streams;
Petals...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Smarts poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace