Famous Unbent Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Adonis

...1. 

Each of us like you 
has died once, 
has passed through drift of wood-leaves, 
cracked and bent 
and tortured and unbent 
in the winter-frost, 
the burnt into gold points, 
lighted afresh, 
crisp amber, scales of gold-leaf, 
gold turned and re-welded 
in the sun; 

each of us like you 
has died once, 
each of us has crossed an old wood-path 
and found the winter-leaves 
so golden in the sun-fire 
that even the live wood-flowers 
were dark. 

2. 

Not the gold on the tem...Read more of this...
by Doolittle, Hilda


Camp Follower's Song, Gomal River

...es,
   The prisoner bore his fetters' load
     Beneath the scorching, azure skies.

   Serene and tall, with brows unbent,
     Without a hope, without a friend,
   He, under escort, onward went,
     With death to meet him at the end.

   The Poppy fields were pink and gay
     On either side, and in the heat
   Their drowsy scent exhaled all day
     A dream-like fragrance almost sweet.

   And when the cool of evening fell
     And tender colours touched th...Read more of this...
by Nicolson, Adela Florence Cory

If it should ever happen that

...we became a pain or torment or despair one to the other;
If it should come about that weariness or hackneyed pleasure unbent in us the golden bow of lofty desire;
If the crystal of pure thought must fall in our hearts and break;
If, in spite of all, I should feel myself vanquished because I had not bowed my will sufficiently to the divine immensity of goodness;
Then, oh! then let us embrace like two sublime madmen who beneath the broken skies cling to the summits even so...Read more of this...
by Verhaeren, Emile

Lara

...His numbers melting fast from their array; 
Intemperate triumph fades to discontent, 
And Lara's soul alone seems still unbent: 
But few remain to aid his voice and hand, 
And thousands dwindled to a scanty band: 
Desperate, though few, the last and best remain'd 
To mourn the discipline they late disdain'd. 
One hope survives, the frontier is not far, 
And thence they may escape from native war; 
And bear within them to the neighbouring state 
An exile's sorrows, or an outla...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Nero's Incendiary Song

...n! 
 
 When I was young, the Sybils pledged eternal rule to thee; 
 That Time himself would lay his bones before thy unbent knee. 
 Ha! ha! how brief indeed the space ere this "immortal star" 
 Shall be consumed in its own glow, and vanished—oh, how far! 
 
 How lovely conflagrations look when night is utter dark! 
 The youth who fired Ephesus' fane falls low beneath my mark. 
 The pangs of people—when I sport, what matters?—See them whirl 
 About, as salamanders fr...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor


Snowbound a Winter Idyl

...told 
A nature passionate and bold, 
Strong, self-concentred, spurning guide, 
Its milder features dwarded beside 
Her unbent will's majestic pride. 
She sat among us, at the test, 
A not unfeared, half-welcome guest, 
Rebuking with her cultured phrase 
Our homeliness of words and ways. 
A certain pard-like, treacherous grace 
Swayed the lithe limbs and dropped the lash, 
Lent the white teeth their dazzling flash; 
And under low brows, black with night, 
Rayed out at times a...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf

Spring in Town

...pace.

No swimming Juno gait, of languor born,
Is theirs, but a light step of freest grace,
Light as Camilla's o'er the unbent corn,
A step that speaks the spirit of the place,
Since Quiet, meek old dame, was driven away
To Sing Sing and the shores of Tappan bay.

Ye that dash by in chariots! who will care
For steeds or footmen now? ye cannot show
Fair face, and dazzling dress, and graceful air,
And last edition of the shape! Ah no,
These sights are for the earth and open sky...Read more of this...
by Bryant, William Cullen

The Double Vision Of Michael Robartes

...r is pounded till it is man.
When had I my own will?
O not since life began.

Constrained, arraigned, baffled, bent and unbent
By these wire-jointed jaws and limbs of wood,
Themselves obedient,
Knowing not evil and good;

Obedient to some hidden magical breath.
They do not even feel, so abstract are they.
So dead beyond our death,
Triumph that we obey.

 II

On the grey rock of Cashel I suddenly saw
A Sphinx with woman breast and lion paw.
A Buddha, hand at rest,
Hand lifted ...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

The Giaour

...lody,
His thousand songs are heard on high,
Blooms blushing to her lover's tale:
His queen, the garden queen, his Rose,
Unbent by winds, unchilled by snows,
Far from winters of the west,
By every breeze and season blest,
Returns the sweets by Nature given
In soft incense back to Heaven;
And gratefu yields that smiling sky
Her fairest hue and fragrant sigh.
And many a summer flower is there,
And many a shade that Love might share,
And many a grotto, meant by rest,
That holds t...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Lady of the Lake

...d or fell,
     Has never harp of minstrel told
     Of combat fought so true and bold.
     Thy stately Pine is yet unbent,
     Though many a goodly bough is rent.'
     XIV.

     The Chieftain reared his form on high,
     And fever's fire was in his eye;
     But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks
     Checkered his swarthy brow and cheeks.
     'Hark, Minstrel! I have heard thee play,
     With measure bold on festal day,
     In yon lone isle,—again where ne...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Scholar Gypsy

...waters with the gale,
Betwixt the Syrtes and soft Sicily,
To where the Atlantic raves
Outside the western straits; and unbent sails
There, where down cloudy cliffs, through sheets of foam,
Shy traffickers, the dark Iberians come;
And on the beach undid his corded bales....Read more of this...
by Arnold, Matthew

The Silence

...ht;
Huge, pensive junipers
Affright from far the passing travellers;
Long, narrow paths stretch their straight lines unbent.
Till they fork off in curves malevolent;
And the sun, ever shifting, ceaseless lends
Fresh aspects to the mirage whither tends
Bewilderment


Since the last bolt was forged amid the storm,
The polar Silence at the corners four
Of the wide heather-land has stirred no more.


Old shepherds, whom their hundred years have worn
To things all ...Read more of this...
by Verhaeren, Emile

The White House

...ned face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
But I possess the courage and the grace
To bear my anger proudly and unbent.
The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
A chafing savage, down the decent street;
And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law!
Oh, I must keep my ...Read more of this...
by McKay, Claude

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