Famous Sore Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Wood

by Charlotte Bronte
 BUT two miles more, and then we rest ! 
Well, there is still an hour of day, 
And long the brightness of the West 
Will light us on our devious way; 
Sit then, awhile, here in this wood­ 
So total is the solitude, 
We safely may delay. 

These massive roots afford a seat, 
Which seems for weary travellers made....Read more of this...

The Ballad of Persse OReilly

by James Joyce
 Have you heard of one Humpty Dumpty
How he fell with a roll and a rumble
And curled up like Lord Olofa Crumple
By the butt of the Magazine Wall,
 (Chorus) Of the Magazine Wall,
 Hump, helmet and all?

He was one time our King of the Castle
Now he's kicked about like a rotten old parsnip.
And from Green street he'll be sent by...Read more of this...

The Immortal Part

by A E Housman
 When I meet the morning beam, 
Or lay me down at night to dream, 
I hear my bones within me say, 
"Another night, another day. 

"When shall this slough of sense be cast, 
This dust of thoughts be laid at last, 
The man of flesh and soul be slain 
And the man of bone remain? 

"This tongue that talks,...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXVIII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXVIII. Fuggendo la prigione ov' Amor m' ebbe. HE LONGS TO RETURN TO THE CAPTIVITY OF LOVE.  Fleeing the prison which had long detain'd,Where Love dealt with me as to him seem'd well,Ladies, the time were long indeed to tell,How much my heart its new-found freedom pain'd.I felt within I...Read more of this...

Psalm 81

by John Milton
 To God our strength sing loud, and clear,
Sing loud to God our King,
To Jacobs God, that all may hear
Loud acclamations ring.
Prepare a Hymn, prepare a Song
The Timbrel hither bring
The cheerfull Psaltry bring along
And Harp with pleasant string.
Blow, as is wont, in the new Moon
With Trumpets lofty sound, 
Th'appointed time, the day wheron
Our solemn Feast comes round.
This was a Statute...Read more of this...

Dream Song 70: Disengaged bloody Henry rose from the shell

by John Berryman
 Disengaged, bloody, Henry rose from the shell
where in theior racing start his seat got wedged
under his knifing knees,
he did it on the runners, feathering,
being bow, catching no crab. The ridges were sore
& tore chamois. It was not done with ease.

So Henry was a hero, malgré lui,
that day, for blundering; until & after the coach
said this & which to him.
That...Read more of this...

Cleared

by Rudyard Kipling
 Help for a patriot distressed, a spotless spirit hurt,
Help for an honourable clan sore trampled in the dirt!
From Queenstown Bay to Donegal, O listen to my song,
The honourable gentlemen have suffered grievous wrong.

Their noble names were mentioned -- O the burning black disgrace! --
By a brutal Saxon paper in an Irish shooting-case;
They sat upon it for a year, then...Read more of this...

To Some Birds Flown Away

by Victor Hugo
 ("Enfants! Oh! revenez!") 
 
 {XXII, April, 1837} 


 Children, come back—come back, I say— 
 You whom my folly chased away 
 A moment since, from this my room, 
 With bristling wrath and words of doom! 
 What had you done, you bandits small, 
 With lips as red as roses all? 
 What crime?—what wild and...Read more of this...

4. Song—In the Character of a Ruined Farmer

by Robert Burns
 THE SUN he is sunk in the west,
All creatures retir?d to rest,
While here I sit, all sore beset,
 With sorrow, grief, and woe:
And it’s O, fickle Fortune, O!


The prosperous man is asleep,
Nor hears how the whirlwinds sweep;
But Misery and I must watch
 The surly tempest blow:
And it’s O, fickle Fortune, O!


There lies the dear partner of my breast;
Her cares...Read more of this...

The Liner Shes a Lady

by Rudyard Kipling
 The Liner she's a lady, an' she never looks nor 'eeds --
The Man-o'-War's 'er 'usband, an' 'e gives 'er all she needs;
But, oh, the little cargo-boats, that sail the wet seas roun',
They're just the same as you an' me a-plyin' up an' down!

 Plyin' up an' down, Jenny, 'angin' round the Yard,
 All the way by Fratton tram down...Read more of this...

The Quality of Courage

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 Black trees against an orange sky, 
Trees that the wind shook terribly, 
Like a harsh spume along the road, 
Quavering up like withered arms, 
Writhing like streams, like twisted charms 
Of hot lead flung in snow. Below 
The iron ice stung like a goad, 
Slashing the torn shoes from my feet, 
And all the air was bitter sleet. 

And...Read more of this...

Thanks

by Henrik Ibsen
 HER griefs were the hours 
When my struggle was sore,-- 
Her joys were the powers 
That the climber upbore. 

Her home is the boundless 
Free ocean that seems 
To rock, calm and soundless, 
My galleon of dreams. 

Half hers are the glancing 
Creations that throng 
With pageant and dancing 
The ways of my song. 

My fires when they dwindle...Read more of this...

Sonnet CLXXIV

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 190] SONNET CLXXIV. I' dolci colli ov' io lasciai me stesso. HE LEAVES VAUCLUSE, BUT HIS SPIRIT REMAINS THERE WITH LAURA.  The loved hills where I left myself behind,Whence ever 'twas so hard my steps to tear,Before me rise; at each remove I bearThe dear load to my...Read more of this...

Prayer

by Adela Florence Cory Nicolson
   You are all that is lovely and light,
     Aziza whom I adore,
   And, waking, after the night,
     I am weary with dreams of you.
   Every nerve in my heart is tense and sore
     As I rise to another morning apart from...Read more of this...

Deliverance from Another Sore Fit

by Anne Bradstreet
 In my distress I sought the Lord 
When naught on earth could comfort give, 
And when my soul these things abhorred, 
Then, Lord, Thou said'st unto me, "Live."

Thou knowest the sorrows that I felt; 
My plaints and groans were heard of Thee, 
And how in sweat I seemed to melt 
Thou help'st and Thou regardest me.

My wasted flesh Thou...Read more of this...

The Widow

by Walter de la Mare
 Cold was the night wind, drifting fast the snows fell,
Wide were the downs and shelterless and naked,
When a poor Wanderer struggled on her journey
Weary and way-sore.

Drear were the downs, more dreary her reflexions;
Cold was the night wind, colder was her bosom!
She had no home, the world was all before her,
She had no shelter.

Fast o'er the bleak heath rattling drove...Read more of this...

144. A Winter Night

by Robert Burns
 WHEN biting Boreas, fell and dour,
Sharp shivers thro’ the leafless bow’r;
When Phoebus gies a short-liv’d glow’r,
 Far south the lift,
Dim-dark’ning thro’ the flaky show’r,
 Or whirling drift:


Ae night the storm the steeples rocked,
Poor Labour sweet in sleep was locked,
While burns, wi’ snawy wreaths up-choked,
 Wild-eddying swirl;
Or, thro’ the mining outlet bocked,
 Down headlong hurl:


List’ning the doors an’ winnocks rattle,
I...Read more of this...

A Leave-Taking

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Let us go hence, my songs; she will not hear. 
Let us go hence together without fear; 
Keep silence now, for singing-time is over, 
And over all old things and all things dear. 
She loves not you nor me as all we love her. 
Yea, though we sang as angels in her ear, 
 She would not hear. 

Let...Read more of this...

The Gramaphone At Fond-Du-Lac

by Robert William Service
 Now Eddie Malone got a swell grammyfone to draw all the trade to his store;
An' sez he: "Come along for a season of song, which the like ye had niver before."
Then Dogrib, an' Slave, an' Yellow-knife brave, an' Cree in his dinky canoe,
Confluated near, to see an' to hear Ed's grammyfone make its dayboo.

Then Ed turned the crank, an'...Read more of this...

The Bear

by Galway Kinnell
1
In late winter 
I sometimes glimpse bits of steam
coming up from
some fault in the old snow 
and bend close and see it is lung-colored 
and put down my nose
and know
the chilly, enduring odor of bear. 

2
I take a wolf's rib and whittle
it sharp at both ends
and coil it up
and freeze it in blubber and place it out
on the fairway of...Read more of this...

Tempest Tossed And Sore Afflicted

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 TEMPEST tossed and sore afflicted, sin defiled and care oppressed,
Come to me, all ye that labour; come, and I will give ye rest.
Fear no more, O doubting hearted; weep no more, O weeping eye!
Lo, the voice of your redeemer; lo, the songful morning near.

Here one hour you toil and combat, sin and suffer, bleed and die;
In my father's quiet...Read more of this...

from Venus and Adonis

by William Shakespeare
 But, lo! from forth a copse that neighbours by,
A breeding jennet, lusty, young, and proud,
Adonis' trampling courser doth espy,
And forth she rushes, snorts and neighs aloud;
The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree,
Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he.

Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds,
And now his woven girths he breaks asunder;
The bearing earth with his hard...Read more of this...

Spring Comes To Murray Hill

by Ogden Nash
 I sit in an office at 244 Madison Avenue
And say to myself You have a responsible job havenue?
Why then do you fritter away your time on this doggerel?
If you have a sore throat you can cure it by using a good goggeral,
If you have a sore foot you can get it fixed by a chiropodist,
And you can get your...Read more of this...

Sea Change

by Robert William Service
 I saw a Priest in beetle black
Come to our golden beach,
And I was taken sore aback
Lest he should choose to preach
And chide me for my only wear,
A "Gee" string and a brassière.

And then I saw him shyly doff
And fold his grim soutane,
And one by one his clothes take off,
Until like any man
He stood in bathing trunks, a sight
To thrill...Read more of this...

The Flesh and the Spirit

by Anne Bradstreet
 In secret place where once I stood
Close by the Banks of Lacrim flood,
I heard two sisters reason on
Things that are past and things to come.
One Flesh was call'd, who had her eye
On worldly wealth and vanity;
The other Spirit, who did rear
Her thoughts unto a higher sphere.
'Sister,' quoth Flesh, 'what liv'st thou on
Nothing but Meditation?
Doth Contemplation feed thee so
Regardlessly to...Read more of this...

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