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Famous Unkindly Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...fautor.


Could I for shame, could I for shame,
 Could I for shame refus’d her;
And wadna manhood been to blame,
 Had I unkindly used her!
He claw’d her wi’ the ripplin-kame,
 And blae and bluidy bruis’d her;
When sic a husband was frae hame,
 What wife but wad excus’d her!


I dighted aye her e’en sae blue,
 An’ bann’d the cruel randy,
And weel I wat, her willin’ mou
 Was sweet as sugar-candie.
At gloamin-shot, it was I wot,
 I lighted on the Monday;
But I cam thro’ the Tyse...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert



...; some
Wiselier downwards sought, but falling short,
Curled back in rings, and seemed to turn again
To bite the part so unkindly held them in....Read more of this...
by Suckling, Sir John
...r busy teachers mingled with the Jews;
And rak'd, for converts, even the court and stews:
Which Hebrew priests the more unkindly took,
Because the fleece accompanies the flock.
Some thought they God's anointed meant to slay
By guns, invented since full many a day:
Our author swears it not; but who can know
How far the Devil and Jebusites may go?
This plot, which fail'd for want of common sense,
Had yet a deep and dangerous consequence:
For, as when raging fevers boil the bloo...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John
...r breed,
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with Pan or Sylvan, by blest song
Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog
To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.
 LADY. Nay, gentle shepherd, ill is lost that praise
That is addressed to unattending ears.
Not any boast of skill, but extreme shift
How to regain my severed company,
Compelled me to awake the courteous Echo
To give me answer from her mossy couch.
 COMUS: What chance, good lady, hath bereft you ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...re you always
paint your straw hat."
One was gold for a while,
but the gold wore off, like plate.
One was bright green. Unkindly,
I called you Klorophyll Kid.
My visitors thought it was funny.
I apologize here and now.
You helpless, foolish man,
I love you all I can,
I think. Or I do?
I take off my hat, unpainted
and figurative, to you.
Again I promise to try....Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth



...ing,
Caring for naught save the charm, elusive and swift, of the gloaming. 

Watchful and stirless the fields as if not unkindly holding
Harvested joys in their clasp, and to their broad bosoms folding
Baby hopes of a Spring, trusted to motherly keeping,
Thus to be cherished and happed through the long months of their sleeping. 

Silent the woods are and gray; but the firs than ever are greener,
Nipped by the frost till the tang of their loosened balsam is keener;
And one lit...Read more of this...
by Montgomery, Lucy Maud
...e find 
Fit retribution, empty as their deeds; 
All the unaccomplished works of Nature's hand, 
Abortive, monstrous, or unkindly mixed, 
Dissolved on earth, fleet hither, and in vain, 
Till final dissolution, wander here; 
Not in the neighbouring moon as some have dreamed; 
Those argent fields more likely habitants, 
Translated Saints, or middle Spirits hold 
Betwixt the angelical and human kind. 
Hither of ill-joined sons and daughters born 
First from the ancient world thos...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...vapour bland 
About their spirits had played, and inmost powers 
Made err, was now exhaled; and grosser sleep, 
Bred of unkindly fumes, with conscious dreams 
Incumbered, now had left them; up they rose 
As from unrest; and, each the other viewing, 
Soon found their eyes how opened, and their minds 
How darkened; innocence, that as a veil 
Had shadowed them from knowing ill, was gone; 
Just confidence, and native righteousness, 
And honour, from about them, naked left 
To gui...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...t, whatsoever he seek.

But me, who ride alone, some carle shall find
Dead in my arms in the half-melted snow,
When all unkindly with the shifting wind,
The thaw comes on at Candlemas: I know

Indeed that they will say: "This Galahad
If he had lived had been a right good knight;
Ah! poor chaste body!" but they will be glad,
Not most alone, but all, when in their sight

That very evening in their scarlet sleeves
The gay-dress'd minstrels sing; no maid will talk
Of sitting on m...Read more of this...
by Morris, William
...the dull hours no joy could bring,
No bliss my weary fancy prove;
I mark'd thy leaden, pond'rous wing,
With TARDY pace, unkindly move. 

IF SUCH THY GIFTS, O Time! for thee
My sated heart shall ne'er repine;
I bow content to FATE'S decree,
And with thy thorns thy roses twine;
Yet e'er thy fickle reign shall end,
The balmy sweets of FRIENDSHIP'S hour,
I'll with my cup of sorrow blend,
And smile, REGARDLESS OF THY POW'R....Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby
...f the summer rain,
And see the joyous folk beyond the seas.
Ah, me! to hold my child upon my knees
After the weeping of unkindly tears
And all the wrongs of these four hundred years.


"Go now, go quick! leave this grey heap of stone; 
And from thy glad heart think upon thy way,
How I shall love thee--yea, love thee alone,
That bringest me from dark death unto day;
For this shall be thy wages and thy pay;
Unheard-of wealth, unheard-of love is near,
If thou hast heart a little...Read more of this...
by Morris, William
...ile others dream within the dell;
But even while my brow is wet,
I sing my song, and all is well.
Sometimes the sun, unkindly hot,
My garden makes a desert spot;
Sometimes a blight upon the tree
Takes all my fruit away from me;
And then with throes of bitter pain
Rebellious passions rise and swell;
But—life is more than fruit or grain,
And so I sing, and all is well.
...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...--"Deeds of home; that live yet 
 Fresh as new--deeds of fondness or fret; 
Ancient words that were kindly expressed or unkindly, 
 These, these have their heeds." 

XII 

 --"Alas! then it seems that our glory 
 Weighs less in their thought 
 Than our old homely acts, 
 And the long-ago commonplace facts 
Of our lives--held by us as scarce part of our story, 
 And rated as nought!" 

XIII 

 Then bitterly some: "Was it wise now 
 To raise the tomb-door 
 For such knowledge? ...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry