Famous Swags Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Great Grey Plain

by Henry Lawson
 Out West, where the stars are brightest, 
Where the scorching north wind blows, 
And the bones of the dead gleam whitest, 
And the sun on a desert glows -- 
Yet within the selfish kingdom 
Where man starves man for gain, 
Where white men tramp for existence -- 
Wide lies the Great Grey Plain. 

No break in its awful horizon,...Read more of this...

The Shearers

by Henry Lawson
 No church-bell rings them from the Track,
No pulpit lights theirblindness--
'Tis hardship, drought, and homelessness
That teach those Bushmen kindness:
The mateship born, in barren lands,
Of toil and thirst and danger,
The camp-fare for the wanderer set,
The first place to the stranger. 
They do the best they can to-day--
Take no thought of the morrow;
Their way is not the old-world way--
They live to lend...Read more of this...

The Billy-Goat Overland

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Come all ye lads of the droving days, ye gentlemen unafraid, 
I'll tell you all of the greatest trip that ever a drover made, 
For we rolled our swags, and we packed our bags, and taking our lives in hand, 
We started away with a thousand goats, on the billy-goat overland. 
There wasn't a fence that'd hold the mob,...Read more of this...

Santa Claus in the Bush

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 It chanced out back at the Christmas time, 
When the wheat was ripe and tall, 
A stranger rode to the farmer's gate -- 
A sturdy man and a small. 
"Rin doon, rin doon, my little son Jack, 
And bid the stranger stay; 
And we'll hae a crack for Auld Lang Syne, 
For the morn is Christmas Day." 

"Nay noo,...Read more of this...

The Roaring Days

by Henry Lawson
 The night too quickly passes 
And we are growing old, 
So let us fill our glasses 
And toast the Days of Gold; 
When finds of wondrous treasure 
Set all the South ablaze, 
And you and I were faithful mates 
All through the roaring days! 

Then stately ships came sailing 
From every harbour's mouth, 
And sought the land of promise...Read more of this...

Out Back

by Henry Lawson
 The old year went, and the new returned, in the withering weeks of drought, 
The cheque was spent that the shearer earned, 
and the sheds were all cut out; 
The publican's words were short and few, 
and the publican's looks were black -- 
And the time had come, as the shearer knew, to carry his swag Out Back. 

For...Read more of this...

Sweeney

by Henry Lawson
 It was somewhere in September, and the sun was going down, 
When I came, in search of `copy', to a Darling-River town; 
`Come-and-have-a-drink' we'll call it -- 'tis a fitting name, I think -- 
And 'twas raining, for a wonder, up at Come-and-have-a-drink. 

'Neath the public-house verandah I was resting on a bunk 
When a stranger rose before me,...Read more of this...

Verses Turned..

by John Betjeman
 Across the wet November night
The church is bright with candlelight
And waiting Evensong.
A single bell with plaintive strokes
Pleads louder than the stirring oaks
The leafless lanes along.

It calls the hoirboys from their tea
And villagers, the two or three,
Damp down the kitchen fire,
Let out the cat, and up the lane
Go paddling through the gentle rain
Of misty Oxfordshire.

How warm the many candles shine
Of...Read more of this...

Since Then

by Henry Lawson
 I met Jack Ellis in town to-day -- 
Jack Ellis -- my old mate, Jack -- 
Ten years ago, from the Castlereagh, 
We carried our swags together away 
To the Never-Again, Out Back. 

But times have altered since those old days, 
And the times have changed the men. 
Ah, well! there's little to blame or praise -- 
Jack Ellis...Read more of this...

The City Bushman

by Henry Lawson
 It was pleasant up the country, City Bushman, where you went, 
For you sought the greener patches and you travelled like a gent; 
And you curse the trams and buses and the turmoil and the push, 
Though you know the squalid city needn't keep you from the bush; 
But we lately heard you singing of the `plains where shade...Read more of this...

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