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Famous Unpleasant Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Thomas, Dylan
...ne in his hand
in case, and all of us too brave to say a word. The wind through the trees made noises as of old and unpleasant
and maybe webfooted men wheezing in caves. We reached the black bulk of the house. "What shall we give them?
Hark the Herald?"
"No," Jack said, "Good King Wencelas. I'll count three." One, two three, and we began to sing, our voices high
and seemingly distant in the snow-felted darkness round the house that was occupied by nobody w...Read more of this...



by Burgess, Gelett
...; but he had Horrid Sulky Fits!

64 To See young VIVIUS at his Work, you Knew he 'd Never Try to Shirk.
65 The Most Unpleasant Things he 'd Do, if but his Mother Asked him To.
66 But when young Vivius Grew Big, it Seems he was a Norful Prig!

67 Why WABAN always Seemed so Sweet, was that he Kept so Clean and Neat.
68 He never Smooched his Face with Coal, his Picture Books were Fresh and Whole.
69 He washed His Hands Ten Times a Day; but, Oh, what Horrid Words ...Read more of this...

by Spenser, Edmund
...eadly yels; 
Nor damn¨¨d ghosts, cald up with mighty spels, 
Nor griesly vultures, make us once affeard: 
Ne let th' unpleasant Quyre of Frogs still croking 
Make us to wish theyr choking. 350 
Let none of these theyr drery accents sing; 
Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring. 

But let stil Silence trew night-watches keepe, 
That sacred Peace may in assurance rayne, 
And tymely Sleep, when it is tyme to sleepe, 355 
May poure his limbs forth o...Read more of this...

by Cavafy, Constantine P
...hat diction and harmony!
All enthusiasm, how we admired the Panopolitan.
So the days go by, and our stay here
isn't unpleasant because, naturally,
it's not going to last forever.
We've had good news: if something doesn't come
of what's now afoot in Smyrna,
then in April our friends are sure to move from Epiros,
so one way or another, our plans are definitely working out,
and we'll easily overthrow Basil.
And when we do, at last our turn will come....Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...kindness address'd ye may be,
Whether father, or master, or alderman he,

Obey him, and follow his bidding!
And if 'tis unpleasant to bridle the tongue,
Yet talking is bad, silence good for the young--

And then will the beer fill your pitchers!

1813....Read more of this...



by Parker, Dorothy
...r wailing this;
Myself, I much prefer the business type.

That thing he wrote, the time the sparrow died-
(Oh, most unpleasant- gloomy, tedious words!)
I called it sweet, and made believe I cried;
The stupid fool! I've always hated birds......Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...ssions -
Sullen, stupid, pert expressions.
Really any one would take us
(Any one that did not know us)
For the most unpleasant people!'
(Hiawatha seemed to think so,
Seemed to think it not unlikely).
All together rang their voices,
Angry, loud, discordant voices,
As of dogs that howl in concert,
As of cats that wail in chorus. 

But my Hiawatha's patience,
His politeness and his patience,
Unaccountably had vanished,
And he left that happy party.
Neither did he...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...ssions--
Sullen, stupid, pert expressions.
Really any one would take us
(Any one that did not know us)
For the most unpleasant people!'
(Hiawatha seemed to think so,
Seemed to think it not unlikely).
All together rang their voices,
Angry, loud, discordant voices,
As of dogs that howl in concert,
As of cats that wail in chorus....Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...ssions -
Sullen, stupid, pert expressions.
Really any one would take us
(Any one that did not know us)
For the most unpleasant people!'
(Hiawatha seemed to think so,
Seemed to think it not unlikely).
All together rang their voices,
Angry, loud, discordant voices,
As of dogs that howl in concert,
As of cats that wail in chorus. 

But my Hiawatha's patience,
His politeness and his patience,
Unaccountably had vanished,
And he left that happy party.
Neither did he...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Charlotte
...of fresh figs and apricot,
to cradle my one letter. Up in the air
it will leave behind some of its ugly nuance,
its unpleasant habit of humanity
which wants to smear itself over others:
the spot in which it wasn't clear, perhaps,
how to take my words, which were suggestive,
the paragraph in which the names of flowers,
ostensibly to indicate travel,
make a bed for lovers,
the parts that contain spit and phlegm,
the words only a wet tongue can manage,
hissing sounds and let...Read more of this...

by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...love and love's delight. 
Love is enough.

Love is enough. Why should we care for fame? 
Ambition is a most unpleasant guest: 
It lures us with the glory of a name 
Far from the happy haunts of peace and rest. 
Let us stay here in this secluded place 
Made beautiful by love's endearing grace! 
Love is enough.

Love is enough. Why should we strive for power? 
It brings men only envy and distrust. 
The poor world's homage pleases but an hour, 
And ea...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...riumph over three grey flagstones and a quarter.
The moon dodged in and out of clouds, winking.
It was all very unpleasant for Mr. Spruggins,
And when the wind flung him hard against his own front door
It was a relief,
Although the breath was quite knocked out of him.
The gas-lamp in front of the house flared up,
And the keyhole was as big as a barn door;
The gas-lamp flickered away to a sputtering blue star,
And the keyhole went out with it.
Such a stabbi...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...wiser One than you, my friend, 
Would wait and hear me to the end; 
And for his eyes a light would shine 
Through this unpleasant shell of mine
That in your fancy makes of me 
A Christmas curiosity. 
All right, I might be worse than that; 
And you might now be lying flat; 
I might have done it from behind,
And taken what there was to find. 
Don’t worry, for I’m not that kind. 
‘Do I believe in God?’ Is that 
The price tonight of a new hat? 
Has he commanded that ...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...make you tell me lies
To know the letters you have not been reading 
I see now that I may have had for nothing 
A most unpleasant shivering in my conscience 
When I laid open for your contemplation 
The wealth of my worn casket. If I did,
The fault was not yours wholly. Search again 
This wreckage we may call for sport a face, 
And you may chance upon the price of havoc 
That I have paid for a few sorry stones 
That shine and have no light—yet once were stars,
And sp...Read more of this...

by Belloc, Hilaire
...I

And here we have the Alpine Race:
Oh! What a broad and foolish face!
His skin is of a dirty yellow.
He is a most unpleasant fellow.


III

The most degraded of them all
Mediterranean we call.
His hair is crisp, and even curls,
And he is saucy with the girls....Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...irmen; thrown
Rudely aside by linkboys; boldly shown
The ogling rapture in two bleary eyes
Thrust close to hers in most unpleasant wise.
Escaping these, she hit a liveried arm,
Was sworn at by this glittering gentleman
And ordered off. However, no great harm
Came to her. But she looked a trifle wan
When Theodore, her belated guardian,
Emerged. She snuggled up against him, trembling,
Half out of fear, half out of the assembling
Of all the thoughts and needs his...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...st around
     His eyes, then fixed them on the ground,
     As studying phrase that might avail
     Best to convey unpleasant tale.
     Long with his dagger's hilt he played,
     Then raised his haughty brow, and said:—
     XXVIII.

     'Short be my speech;—nor time affords,
     Nor my plain temper, glozing words.
     Kinsman and father,—if such name
     Douglas vouchsafe to Roderick's claim;
     Mine honored mother;—Ellen,—why,
     My cousin, turn awa...Read more of this...

by St Vincent Millay, Edna
...y, calling my name
Insistently, until I rose and came.
I saw the sun no more.—It were not well
So long on these unpleasant thoughts to dwell,
Need I arise to-morrow and renew
Again my hated tasks, but I am through
With all things save my thoughts and this one night,
So that in truth I seem already quite
Free,and remote from thee,—I feel no haste
And no reluctance to depart; I taste
Merely, with thoughtful mien, an unknown draught,
That in a little while I shall have q...Read more of this...

by Nesbitt, Kenn
...n, repulsive and vile,
or cadaverous, gruesome and gross.
Maybe hideous, grisly, repellent and shocking,
disgusting, unpleasant, morose.
You can call them unsightly, or horrid or scary,
or monstrous or frightful or bad.
You can call them whatever you like, but to me
they will always be called “Mom and Dad.”

 --Kenn Nesbitt

Copyright © Kenn Nesbitt 1999. All Rights Reserved....Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...around you,
Let me feel the same dear joy
As when first I found you.
Let me once retrace my steps,
From these roads unpleasant,
Let my heart and mind and soul
All ignore the present.
Yesterday the iron seared
And to-day means sorrow.
Pause, my soul, arise, arise,
Look where gleams the morrow.[Pg 258]
...Read more of this...

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