Famous Unit Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Commonplace Day

...I wrought, pondered, planned; no one thing asking blame or 
praise, 
 Since the pale corpse-like birth 
Of this diurnal unit, bearing blanks in all its rays - 
 Dullest of dull-hued Days! 

 Wanly upon the panes 
The rain slides as have slid since morn my colourless thoughts; and 
yet 
 Here, while Day's presence wanes, 
And over him the sepulchre-lid is slowly lowered and set, 
 He wakens my regret. 

 Regret--though nothing dear 
That I wot of, was toward in the wide world ...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas


A Grammarians Funeral

...nows it.
That low man goes on adding nine to one,
His hundred's soon hit:
This high man, aiming at a million,
Misses an unit.
That, has the world here---should he need the next,
Let the world mind him!
This, throws himself on God, and unperplexed
Seeking shall find him.
So, with the throttling hands of death at strife,
Ground he at grammar;
Still, thro' the rattle, parts of speech were rife:
While he could stammer
He settled _Hoti's_ business---let it be!---
Properly based _O...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

A Little History

...s a visitor he felt he had to share that burden.
With his gift for codes and ciphers, he joined the counter-
 terrorism unit of army intelligence.
Contrary to what the spook novels say, he found it possible to
 avoid betraying either his country or his lover.
This was the life: strange bedrooms, the perfume of other men's
 wives.
As a spy he has a unique mission: to get his name on the front 
 page of the nation's newspaper of record. Only by doing that 
 would he get the mes...Read more of this...
by Lehman, David

An Evening Of Poetry

...sps in sight.

I parked my friend on a bench and wandered

Down Highgate Hill, realising where I was

From the Waterlow Unit and the Whittington’s A&E.

Some say they know their way by the pubs

But I find psychiatric units more useful.

At a reading like this you never know just who

Might have a do and need some Haldol fast.

(Especially if the poet hovering round sanity’s border

Should chance upon the critic who thinks his Word

Is law and order - the first’s a devotee of...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

Here Died

...They blaze the track for a forward run, where the scrub is everywhere, 
And they mark positions for every gun and every unit there. 

They trace the track for a quick retreat – and the track for the other way round, 
And they mark the spot in the summer heat where the water is always found. 
They note the chances of cliff and tide, and where they can move, and when, 
And every point where a man might hide in the days when they'll fight as men. 

When silent men with their rif...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


Its thoughts -- and just One Heart

...- Ones -- Content --
And two or three -- for Company --
Upon a Holiday --
Crowded -- as Sacrament --

Books -- when the Unit --
Spare the Tenant -- long eno' --
A Picture -- if it Care --
Itself -- a Gallery too rare --
For needing more --

Flowers -- to keep the Eyes -- from going awkward --
When it snows --
A Bird -- if they -- prefer --
Though Winter fire -- sing clear as Plover --
To our -- ear --

A Landscape -- not so great
To suffocate the Eye --
A Hill -- perhaps --
P...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Our Son

...ist on chores

Not medication", then the letters of terrible abuse, the finding of a flat,

‘The discharge into the community.’

His ‘keyworker’ was the keyworker from hell: the more

Isaiah’s care fell apart the more she encouraged 

Him to blame us and ‘Make his life his own’, vital signs

Of decline ignored or consigned to files, ‘confidentiality’ reigned supreme.

Insidiously the way back to the ward unveiled

Over painful months, the self-neglect, the inappropriate remar...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry

Part 6 of Trout Fishing in America

...cally. The camp had a beautiful

view of the mountains. We found a place that really looked

good, right on the lake.

 Unit 4 had a stove. It was a square metal box mounted on

a cement block. There was a stove pipe on top of the box,

but there were no bullet holes in the pipe. I was amazed. Al-

most all the camp stoves we had seen in Idaho had been full

of bullet holes. I guess it's only reasonable that people,

when they get the chance, would want to shoot some old stov...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard

Peter Anderson And Co

...y `character' he had -- 
He was fond of beer and leisure -- and the Co. was just as bad. 
It was limited in number to a unit, was the Co. -- 
'Twas a bosom chum of Peter and his Christian name was Joe. 

'Tis a class of men belonging to these soul-forsaken years: 
Third-rate canvassers, collectors, journalists and auctioneers. 
They are never very shabby, they are never very spruce -- 
Going cheerfully and carelessly and smoothly to the deuce. 
Some are wanderers by professio...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry

She To Him IV

...ng love of thee--
Feeding a heart that else mine own had fed!

How much I love I know not, life not known,
Save as some unit I would add love by;
But this I know, my being is but thine own--
Fused from its separateness by ecstasy.

And thus I grasp thy amplitudes, of her
Ungrasped, though helped by nigh-regarding eyes;
Canst thou then hate me as an envier
Who see unrecked what I so dearly prize?
Believe me, Lost One, Love is lovelier
The more it shapes its moans in selfish-wi...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

The Epic Of The Lion

.... 
 
 Which here was right or wrong? Who can decide? 
 Have beasts or men most claim to live? God wots! 
 He is the unit, we the cipher-dots. 
 Ranged in the order a great hunt should have, 
 They soon between the trunks espy the cave. 
 "Yes, that is it! the very mouth of the den!" 
 The trees all round it muttered, warning men; 
 Still they kept step and neared it. Look you now, 
 Company's pleasant, and there were a thou— 
 Good Lord! all in a moment, there's it...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

Unit like Death for Whom?

...Unit, like Death, for Whom?
True, like the Tomb,
Who tells no secret
Told to Him --
The Grave is strict --
Tickets admit
Just two -- the Bearer --
And the Borne --
And seat -- just One --
The Living -- tell --
The Dying -- but a Syllable --
The Coy Dead -- None --
No Chatter -- here -- no tea --
So Babbler, and Bohea -- stay there --
But Gravity -- and Expec...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Uriel

...the devils everywhere  
Gave his sentiment divine 
Against the being of a line. 20 
'Line in nature is not found; 
Unit and universe are round; 
In vain produced all rays return; 
Evil will bless and ice will burn.' 
As Uriel spoke with piercing eye 25 
A shudder ran around the sky; 
The stern old war-gods shook their heads; 
The seraphs frown'd from myrtle-beds; 
Seem'd to the holy festival 
The rash word boded ill to all; 30 
The balance-beam of Fate was bent;...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Yesterday and Today XII

...ness, hastening toward misery, preaching falsehood, and speaking with stupidity...until when shall you remain ignorant? Unit when shall you abide in the filth of life and continue to desert its gardens? Why wear you tattered robes of narrowness while the silk raiment of Nature's beauty is fashioned for you? The lamp of wisdom is dimming; it is time to furnish it with oil. The house of true fortune is being destroyed; it is time to rebuild it and guard it. The thieves of ignor...Read more of this...
by Gibran, Kahlil

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