Famous Stephens Poems by Famous Poets

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

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In The Poppy Field

by James Stephens
 Mad Patsy said, he said to me,
That every morning he could see
An angel walking on the sky;
Across the sunny skies of morn
He threw great handfuls far and nigh
Of poppy seed among the corn;
And then, he said, the angels run
To see the poppies in the sun.

A poppy is a devil weed,
I said to him - he disagreed;
He said the devil...Read more of this...

39. Ballad on the American War

by Robert Burns
 WHEN Guilford good our pilot stood
 An’ did our hellim thraw, man,
Ae night, at tea, began a plea,
 Within America, man:
Then up they gat the maskin-pat,
 And in the sea did jaw, man;
An’ did nae less, in full congress,
 Than quite refuse our law, man.


Then thro’ the lakes Montgomery takes,
 I wat he was na slaw, man;
Down Lowrie’s Burn...Read more of this...

519. Ballad on Mr. Heron's Election—No. 2

by Robert Burns
 FY, let us a’ to Kirkcudbright,
 For there will be bickerin’ there;
For Murray’s light horse are to muster,
 And O how the heroes will swear!
And there will be Murray, Commander,
 And Gordon, the battle to win;
Like brothers they’ll stand by each other,
 Sae knit in alliance and kin.


And there will be black-nebbit Johnie,
 The tongue o’ the trump to...Read more of this...

Hate

by James Stephens
 My enemy came nigh, 
And I 
Stared fiercely in his face. 
My lips went writhing back in a grimace, 
And stern I watched him with a narrow eye. 
Then, as I turned away, my enemy, 
That bitter heart and savage, said to me: 
"Some day, when this is past, 
When all the arrows that we have are cast, 
We...Read more of this...

In The Cool Of The Evening

by James Stephens
 I thought I heard Him calling. Did you hear 
A sound, a little sound? My curious ear 
Is dinned with flying noises, and the tree 
Goes -- whisper, whisper, whisper silently 
Till all its whispers spread into the sound 
Of a dull roar. Lie closer to the ground, 
The shade is deep and He may pass us by. 
We...Read more of this...

88. The Author's Earnest Cry and Prayer

by Robert Burns
 YE Irish lords, ye knights an’ squires,
Wha represent our brughs an’ shires,
An’ doucely manage our affairs
 In parliament,
To you a simple poet’s pray’rs
 Are humbly sent.


Alas! my roupit Muse is hearse!
Your Honours’ hearts wi’ grief ’twad pierce,
To see her sittin on her ****
 Low i’ the dust,
And scriechinh out prosaic verse,
 An like to brust!


Tell them wha hae the...Read more of this...

I heard a bird at dawn

by James Stephens
 I heard a bird at dawn 
Singing sweetly on a tree, 
That the dew was on the lawn, 
And the wind was on the lea; 
But I didn't listen to him, 
For he didn't sing to me. 

I didn't listen to him, 
For he didn't sing to me 
That the dew was on the lawn 
And the wind was...Read more of this...

The Ancient Elf

by James Stephens
 I am the maker,
The builder, the breaker,
The eagle-winged helper,
The speedy forsaker!

The lance and the lyre,
The water, the fire,
The tooth of oppression,
The lip of desire!

The snare and the wing,
They honey, the sting!
When you seek for me--look
For a different thing!

I, careless and gay,
Never mean what I say,
For my thoughts and my eyes
Look the opposite way!...Read more of this...

Colloquy in Black Rock

by Robert Lowell
Here the jack-hammer jabs into the ocean;
My heart, you race and stagger and demand
More blood-gangs for your ******-brass percussions,
Till I, the stunned machine of your devotion,
Clanging upon this cymbal of a hand,
Am rattled screw and footloose. All discussions

End in the mud-flat detritus of death.
My heart, beat faster, faster. In Black Mud
Hungarian workmen give their blood
For the martyrs Stephen who was...Read more of this...

301. Lines to a Gentleman who sent a Newspaper

by Robert Burns
 KIND Sir, I’ve read your paper through,
And faith, to me, ’twas really new!
How guessed ye, Sir, what maist I wanted?
This mony a day I’ve grain’d and gaunted,
To ken what French mischief was brewin;
Or what the drumlie Dutch were doin;
That vile doup-skelper, Emperor Joseph,
If Venus yet had got his nose off;
Or how the collieshangie works
Atween the Russians and the Turks,
Or...Read more of this...

230. The Fête Champêtre

by Robert Burns
 O WHA will to Saint Stephen’s House,
 To do our errands there, man?
O wha will to Saint Stephen’s House
 O’ th’ merry lads of Ayr, man?
Or will we send a man o’ law?
 Or will we send a sodger?
Or him wha led o’er Scotland a’
 The meikle Ursa-Major? 1


Come, will ye court a noble lord,
 Or buy a score...Read more of this...

The Identification

by Roger McGough
 So you think its Stephen?
Then I'd best make sure
Be on the safe side as it were.
Ah, theres been a mistake. The hair
you see, its black, now Stephens fair ...
Whats that? The explosion?
Of course, burnt black. Silly of me.
I should have known. Then lets get on.

The face, is that the face mask?
that mask of charred wood
blistered scarred could
that have been...Read more of this...

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