Famous Sobered Poems by Famous Poets

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

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At Thirty-Five

...had my whack of feast and fun.
I've mocked at those who prate and preach;
I've laughed with any man alive;
But now with sobered heart I reach
The Great Divide of Thirty-five.

And looking back I must confess
I've little cause to feel elate.
I've played the mummer more or less;
I fumbled fortune, flouted fate.
I've vastly dreamed and little done;
I've idly watched my brothers strive:
Oh, I have loitered in the sun
By primrose paths to Thirty-five!

And those who matched me in ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William


Jack Dunn of Nevertire

..., 
They said I'd find him here, the cuss! -- Jack Dunn of Nevertire. 

`I'd know his walk,' the stranger cried, `though sobered, I'll allow.' 
`I doubt it much,' the boss replied, `he don't walk that way now.' 
`Perhaps he don't!' the stranger said, `for years were hard on Jack; 
But, if he were a mile away, I swear I'd know his back.' 
`I doubt it much,' the super said, and sadly puffed his briar, 
`I guess he wears a pair of wings -- Jack Dunn of Nevertire; 
Jack Dunn of Ne...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

Marshalls Mate

...It said: `I'm taken ***** -- 
I'm somewhere off of Deadman's Track, half-blind and nearly dead; 
Find Crowbar, get him sobered up, and follow back,' it said. 

`Let Mitchell go to Bandicoot. You'll find him there,' said Mack. 
`I'll start the chaps from Starving Steers, and take the dry-holes back.' 
We tramped till dark, and tried to track the pack-horse on the sands, 
And just at daylight Crowbar came with Milroy's station hands. 
His cheeks were drawn, his face was white,...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

The Great Adventure of Max Breuck

...ere they called for ale,
And forced a pipe upon him. With an oath
He shivered it to fragments on the earthen floor.

52
Sobered a little by his violence,
And by the host who begged them to be still,
Nor injure his good name, "Max, no offence,"
They blurted, "you may leave now if you will."
"One moment, Max," said Franz. "We've gone too far.
I ask your pardon for our foolish joke.
It started in a wager ere you came.
The talk somehow had fall'n on drugs, a jar
I brought from Ch...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Owl

...what I escaped 
And others could not, that night, as in I went.

And salted was my food, and my repose, 
Salted and sobered too, by the bird's voice 
Speaking for all who lay under the stars, 
Soldiers and poor, unable to rejoice....Read more of this...
by Thomas, Edward


The Whistle Of Sandy McGraw

...
 And my! I wis prood-like, and my! I wis glad.
And I thocht: if ma lassie could see me jist then. . . .
 When sudden I sobered at somethin' I saw,
And I stopped and I stared, and I halted ma men,
 For there on a stretcher wis Sandy McGraw.
Weel, he looks in ma face, jist as game as ye please:
 "Ye ken hoo I hate tae be workin'," says he;
"But noo I can play in the street for bawbees,
 Wi' baith o' ma legs taken aff at the knee."
And though I could see he wis rackit wi' pain,...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

To The Dead

...lease, frustrate,

disappoint you--; then, something triggered

a drunk lasting for days, and as you
slowly and shakily sobered up,

sick, throbbing with remorse and self-loathing,

insight like ashes: clung
to; useless; hated . . .

This was the viewing of the power of the waters

while the waters were asleep:--
secrets, histories of loves, betrayals, double-binds

not fit (you thought) for the light of day . . .

There is a NIGHT within the NIGHT,--

. . . for, there at tim...Read more of this...
by Bidart, Frank

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