Famous Unleashed Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Colored Soldiers

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
If the muse were mine to tempt it
And my feeble voice were strong,
If my tongue were trained to measures,
I would sing a stirring song.
I would sing a song heroic
Of those noble sons of Ham,
Of the gallant colored soldiers
Who fought for Uncle Sam!
In the early days you scorned them,
And with many a flip and flout
Said "These battles are the white man's,
And...Read more of this...

he and the hilltown

by Rg Gregory
 when they look into his mind they find a hill town
somewhat surprised they go off to their learned books
outside (architecturally) he’d seems a little wind-blown
not special – a common sort of shackman by his looks
not the sure kind to want the sun to get its hooks
into his self-containment (his bunched-up notions)
thoughts crammed like the heads of ripened corn in...Read more of this...

The Prisoner

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I lash and writhe against my prison bars,
And watch with sullen eyes the gaping crowd . . 
Give me my freedom and the burning stars,
The hollow sky, and crags of moonlit cloud! 

Once I might range across the trackless plain,
And roar with joy, until the desert air 
And wide horizons echoed it amain:
I feared no foe, for I was...Read more of this...

Gwalior

by Amitabh Mitra
1
today
the evening has come back
in its finery
streets coil back in languor
i smell an aroma
like distant footsteps
lying on a divan
behind curtains
hiding shadows of
once
small talk
once
tiny kisses
i wait
i wait.

2
my nose had
touched you
as i uttered
i love you
lips that would never leave the crypt
of a season
strangely looking
for another reason
i let the kites wall the sky
threads slackened
pulling the sun far away
mosque windows
left a resolute
eyes closed down...Read more of this...

Ballad of the Goodly Fere

by Ezra Pound
 Simon Zelotes speaking after the Crucifixion.
Fere=Mate, Companion.

Ha' we lost the goodliest fere o' all
For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men,
O' ships and the open sea.

When they came wi' a host to take Our Man
His smile was good to see,
"First let these go!" quo' our Goodly Fere,
"Or I'll see ye damned," says he.

Aye he...Read more of this...

The Last Quarter of the Moon

by Amy Lowell
 How long shall I tarnish the mirror of life,
A spatter of rust on its polished steel!
The seasons reel
Like a goaded wheel.
Half-numb, half-maddened, my days are strife.
The night is sliding towards the dawn,
And upturned hills crouch at autumn's knees.
A torn moon flees
Through the hemlock trees,
The hours have gnawed it to feed their spawn.
Pursuing and jeering the misshapen thing
A rabble of...Read more of this...

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