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Famous Totters Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...And like a dying lady, lean and pale, 
Who totters forth, wrapp'd in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,
The moon arose up in the murky East,
A white and shapeless mass...Read more of this...



by Chatterton, Thomas
...than a grenadier, 
Dwindles into a stripling of eighteen; 
Or sabled in Othello breaks the ear, 
Exerts his voice, and totters to the scene. 

Now Foote, a looking-glass for all mankind, 
Applies his wax to personal defects; 
But leaves untouch'd the image of the mind, 
His art no mental quality reflects. 

Now Drury's potent kind extorts applause, 
And pit, box, gallery, echo, "how divine!" 
Whilst vers'd in all the drama's mystic laws, 
His graceful action saves th...Read more of this...

by Rossetti, Christina
...sister,
In calm or stormy weather,
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands."...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...a plot --
Her hand was whiter than the sperm
That feeds the sacred light.
Her tongue more tender than the tune
That totters in the leaves --
Who hears may be incredulous,
Who witnesses, believes....Read more of this...

by Meredith, George
...r the primrose;
Up lanes, woods through, they troop in joyful bands.
My sweet leads: she knows not why, but now she totters,
Eyes the bent anemones, and hangs her hands.
Such a look will tell that the violets are peeping,
Coming the rose: and unaware a cry
Springs in her bosom for odours and for colour,
Covert and the nightingale; she knows not why.

Kerchiefed head and chin she darts between her tulips,
Streaming like a willow grey in arrowy rain:
Some bend beate...Read more of this...



by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...and Faunus, rustic Gods? a tale
To laugh at -- more to laugh at in myself -- 
For look! what is it? there? yon arbutus
Totters; a noiseless riot underneath
Strikes through the wood, sets all the tops quivering -- ;
The mountain quickens into Nymph and Faun,
And here an Oread -- how the sun delights
To glance and shift about her slippery sides,
And rosy knees and supple roundedness,
And budded bosom-peaks -- who this way runs
Before the rest! -- a satyr, a satyr, see,
Follows...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...e tempest tossed— 
 O Heaven!—descends my lowly roof to seek: 
 
 Bends the strong wall beneath the furious host. 
 Totters the house as though, like dry leaf shorn 
 From autumn bough and on the mad blast borne, 
 Up from its deep foundations it were torn 
 To join the stormy whirl. Ah! all is lost! 
 
 O Prophet! if thy hand but now 
 Save from these hellish things, 
 A pilgrim at thy shrine I'll bow, 
 Laden with pious offerings. 
 Bid their hot breath its fie...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...het say
That form was nought but breathing clay,
By Allah! I would answer nay;
Though on Al-Sirat’s arch I stood,
Which totters o’er the fiery flood,
With Paradise within my view,
And all his Houris beckoning through.
Oh! Who young Leila’s glance could read
And keep that portion of his creed,
Which saith that woman is but dust,
A soulless toy for tyrant’s lust?
On her might Muftis might gaze, and own
That through her eye the Immortal shone;
On her fair cheek’s unfading hu...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...le o'er the snow,
Rheum'd, wind-gall'd, rag-fleec'd, burr'd and thorn'd.

"Time takes the third bar off for him,
He totters down the windy lane.
'Tis Winter, still: the Bend lies dim.
O Lamb, would thou wouldst leap again!"

Those seasons out, we talked of these:
And I (with inward purpose sly
To shield my purse from Christmas trees
And stockings and wild robbery

When Hal and Nimblewits invade
My cash in Santa Claus's name)
In full the hard, hard times surveyed;
...Read more of this...

by Holmes, Oliver Wendell
...I saw him once before, 
As he passed by the door,
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.

They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.

But now he walks the streets,
And looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,
And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone."

...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...I
AND, like a dying lady lean and pale,

Who totters forth, wrapp'd in a gauzy veil, 
Out of her chamber, led by the insane 
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain, 
The mood arose up in the murky east, 5 
A white and shapeless mass. 

II
Art thou pale for weariness

Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, 
Wandering companionless 
Among the stars that have a different birth, 10 
...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...
 And an eternal sunshine bathe my soul. 
 And think, too! Even the world admires, 
 When age, expiring, for a moment totters 
 Upon the marble margin of a tomb, 
 To see a wife—a pure and dove-like angel— 
 Watch over him, soothe him, and endure awhile 
 The useless old man, only fit to die; 
 A sacred task, and worthy of all honor, 
 This latest effort of a faithful heart; 
 Which, in his parting hour, consoles the dying, 
 And, without loving, wears the look of l...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...g. -- You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too....Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...And like a dying lady, lean and pale,
Who totters forth, wrapped in a gauzy veil,
Out of her chamber, led by the insane
And feeble wanderings of her fading brain,
The moon arose up in the murky east,
A white and shapeless mass....Read more of this...

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