Famous Specific Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Modern Love XXVII: Distraction is the Panacea

by George Meredith
 Distraction is the panacea, Sir! 
I hear my oracle of Medicine say. 
Doctor! that same specific yesterday 
I tried, and the result will not deter 
A second trial. Is the devil's line 
Of golden hair, or raven black, composed? 
And does a cheek, like any sea-shell rosed, 
Or clear as widowed sky, seem most divine? 
No matter, so I...Read more of this...

Mannahatta

by Walt Whitman
 I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city, 
Whereupon, lo! upsprang the aboriginal name! 

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient;

I see that the word of my city is that word up there, 
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb, with tall and...Read more of this...

None who saw it ever told it

by Emily Dickinson
 None who saw it ever told it
'Tis as hid as Death
Had for that specific treasure
A departing breath --
Surfaces may be invested
Did the Diamond grow
General as the Dandelion
Would you serve it so?...Read more of this...

To make Routine a Stimulus

by Emily Dickinson
 To make Routine a Stimulus
Remember it can cease --
Capacity to Terminate
Is a Specific Grace --
Of Retrospect the Arrow
That power to repair
Departed with the Torment
Become, alas, more fair --...Read more of this...

Johnson's Antidote

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp, 
Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp; 
Where the station-cook in terror, nearly every time he bakes, 
Mixes up among the doughboys half-a-dozen poison-snakes: 
Where the wily free-selector walks in armour-plated pants, 
And defies the stings of scorpions, and the bites of bull-dog ants: 
Where...Read more of this...

1954

by Sharon Olds
 Then dirt scared me, because of the dirt
he had put on her face. And her training bra
scared me—the newspapers, morning and evening,
kept saying it, training bra,
as if the cups of it had been calling
the breasts up—he buried her in it,
perhaps he had never bothered to take it
off. They found her underpants
in a garbage can. And I feared the word
eczema,...Read more of this...

A Word made Flesh is seldom

by Emily Dickinson
 A Word made Flesh is seldom
And tremblingly partook
Nor then perhaps reported
But have I not mistook
Each one of us has tasted
With ecstasies of stealth
The very food debated
To our specific strength --

A Word that breathes distinctly
Has not the power to die
Cohesive as the Spirit
It may expire if He --
"Made Flesh and dwelt among us"
Could condescension be
Like this consent of Language
This loved...Read more of this...

Whole Gulfs -- of Red and Fleets -- of Red --

by Emily Dickinson
 Whole Gulfs -- of Red, and Fleets -- of Red --
And Crews -- of solid Blood --
Did place upon the West -- Tonight --
As 'twere specific Ground --

And They -- appointed Creatures --
In Authorized Arrays --
Due -- promptly -- as a Drama --
That bows -- and disappears --...Read more of this...

440. Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle

by Robert Burns
 STILL anxious to secure your partial favour,
And not less anxious, sure, this night, than ever,
A Prologue, Epilogue, or some such matter,
’Twould vamp my bill, said I, if nothing better;
So sought a poet, roosted near the skies,
Told him I came to feast my curious eyes;
Said, nothing like his works was ever printed;
And last, my prologue-business slily hinted.
“Ma’am, let me tell...Read more of this...

The Fact that Earth is Heaven --

by Emily Dickinson
 The Fact that Earth is Heaven --
Whether Heaven is Heaven or not
If not an Affidavit
Of that specific Spot
Not only must confirm us
That it is not for us
But that it would affront us
To dwell in such a place --...Read more of this...

On that specific Pillow

by Emily Dickinson
 On that specific Pillow
Our projects flit away --
The Night's tremendous Morrow
And whether sleep will stay
Or usher us -- a stranger --
To situations new
The effort to comprise it
Is all the soul can do....Read more of this...

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