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Famous Successor Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...ck]
Note 10. Dr. Peter Wodrow of Tarbolton. [back]
Note 11. Rev. John M’Math, a young assistant and successor to Wodrow. [back]
Note 12. Rev. George Smith of Galston. [back]...Read more of this...



by Dryden, John
...d Pharaoh's pensioners:
Whom, when our fury from his aid has torn,
He shall be naked left to public scorn.
The next successor, whom I fear and hate,
My arts have made obnoxious to the state;
Turn'd all his virtues to his overthrow,
And gain'd our elders to pronounce a foe.
His right, for sums of necessary gold,
Shall first be pawn'd, and afterwards be sold:
Till time shall ever-wanting David draw,
To pass your doubtful title into law:
If not; the people have a right s...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...We too from our dwellings ere long must be torn,
And he that is left our departure to mourn,

To our riches will be the successor,

For some one must be their possessor.

 1827.*...Read more of this...

by Milosz, Czeslaw
...Inheritor of Gothic cathedrals, of baroque churches.
Of synagogues filled with the wailing of a wronged people.
Successor of Descartes, Spinoza, inheritor of the word 'honor',
Posthumous child of Leonidas
Treasure the skills acquired in the hour of terror.

You have a clever mind which sees instantly
The good and bad of any situation.
You have an elegant, skeptical mind which enjoys pleasures
Quite unknown to primitive races.

Guided by this mind you canno...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...empireo ciel per padre eletto:

 la quale e 'l quale, a voler dir lo vero,

fu stabilita per lo loco santo

u' siede il successor del maggior Piero.

 Per quest'andata onde li dai tu vanto,

intese cose che furon cagione

di sua vittoria e del papale ammanto.

 Andovvi poi lo Vas d'elezione,

per recarne conforto a quella fede

ch'? principio a la via di salvazione.

 Ma io perch? venirvi? o chi 'l concede?

Io non Enea, io non Paulo sono:

me degno a ci? n? io n?...Read more of this...



by Alighieri, Dante
...honored Rome and her empire; 


la quale e 'l quale, a voler dir lo vero, 
fu stabilita per lo loco santo 
u' siede il successor del maggior Piero . 

and if the truth be told, Rome and her realm 
were destined to become the sacred place, 
the seat of the successor of great Peter. 


Per quest'andata onde li dai tu vanto, 
intese cose che furon cagione 
di sua vittoria e del papale ammanto . 

And through the journey you ascribe to him, 
he came to learn of thing...Read more of this...

by Trumbull, John
...orth,
To join Burgoyne and rail at North.


"Now raise thine eyes and view with pleasure,
The triumphs of his famed successor."


"I look'd, and now by magic lore
Faint rose to view the Jersey shore:
But dimly seen in gloom array'd,
For night had pour'd her sable shade,
And every star, with glimm'rings pale,
Was muffled deep in ev'ning veil.
Scarce visible, in dusky night
Advancing red-coats rose in sight;
The length'ning train in gleaming rows
Stole silent from t...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...> 
By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly reinstall thee
In David's royal seat, his true successor—
Deliverance of thy brethren, those Ten Tribes
Whose offspring in his territory yet serve
In Habor, and among the Medes dispersed:
The sons of Jacob, two of Joseph, lost
Thus long from Israel, serving, as of old
Their fathers in the land of Egypt served,
This offer sets before thee to deliver. 
These if from servitude thou shalt restore
To thei...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...f stone; 
 Wave chasing wave in endless ebb and flow; 
 War, darker still and deeper in its woe; 
 One party fall'n, successor scarce preludes, 
 Than, straight, new views their furious feuds; 
 The great man's pressure on the poor for gold, 
 Rumors uncertain, conflicts, crimes untold; 
 Dark systems hatched in secret and in fear, 
 Telling of hate and strife to every ear, 
 That even to midnight sleep no peace is given, 
 For murd'rous cannon through our streets a...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...inforcar li suoi arcioni,
 giusto giudicio da le stelle caggia
sovra 'l tuo sangue, e sia novo e aperto,
tal che 'l tuo successor temenza n'aggia!
 Ch'avete tu e 'l tuo padre sofferto,
per cupidigia di costà distretti,
che 'l giardin de lo 'mperio sia diserto.
 Vieni a veder Montecchi e Cappelletti,
Monaldi e Filippeschi, uom sanza cura:
color già tristi, e questi con sospetti!
 Vien, crudel, vieni, e vedi la pressura
d'i tuoi gentili, e cura lor magagne;
e vedrai Santafi...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
..., surnamed " Beauclare," 
Lost his only son William at sea,
So when Henry died it were hard to decide 
Who his heir and successor should be.

There were two runners-up for the title- 
His daughter Matilda was one,
And the other, a boy, known as Stephen of Blois, 
His young sister Adela's son.

Matilda by right should have had it,
Being daughter of him as were dead,
But the folks wasn't keen upon having a queen, 
So they went and crowned Stephen instead.

This 'ere...Read more of this...

by Spenser, Edmund
...
That thence th' imperial Eagle rooting took, 
Till th' heaven itself opposing 'gainst her might, 
Her power to Peter's successor betook; 
Who shepherdlike, (as fates the same forseeing) 
Doth show, that all things turn to their first being. 


19 

All that is perfect, which th' heaven beautifies; 
All that's imperfect, born below the moon; 
All that doth feed our spriits and our eyes; 
And all that doth consume our pleasures soon; 
All the mishap, the which our days out...Read more of this...

by Petrarch, Francesco
...[Pg 26] SONNET XXIII. Il successor di Carlo, che la chioma. ON THE MOVEMENT OF THE EMPEROR AGAINST THE INFIDELS, AND THE RETURN OF THE POPE TO ROME.  The high successor of our Charles,[P] whose hair...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...There is a Languor of the Life
More imminent than Pain --
'Tis Pain's Successor -- When the Soul
Has suffered all it can --

A Drowsiness -- diffuses --
A Dimness like a Fog
Envelops Consciousness --
As Mists -- obliterate a Crag.

The Surgeon -- does not blanch -- at pain
His Habit -- is severe --
But tell him that it ceased to feel --
The Creature lying there --

And he will tell you -- skill is late --
A Mightier than H...Read more of this...

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