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Famous Unwary Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...gue I heard,
 Nor wist while it enslav’d me;
I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d,
 Till fear no more had sav’d me:
The unwary sailor thus, aghast,
 The wheeling torrent viewing,
’Mid circling horrors yields at last
 To overwhelming ruin....Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...ce I heard,
 Nor wist while it enslav’d me;
I saw thine eyes, yet nothing fear’d,
 Till fears no more had sav’d me:
Th’ unwary sailor thus, aghast
 The wheeling torrent viewing,
’Mid circling horrors sinks at last,
 In overwhelming ruin....Read more of this...

by Killigrew, Anne
...Dart. 
Hapless Rodanthe, the Fond Rover, caught, 
To whom, for Love, with usual Arts he sought; 
Which she, ah too unwary, did bestow:
'Cause True her self, believ'd that he was so. 
But he, alas, more wav'ring than the Wind, 
Streight broke the Chain, she thought so fast did bind; 
For he no sooner saw her Heart was gain'd, 
But he as soon the Victory disdain'd; 
Mad Love else-where, as 'twere like Renown, 
Hearts to subdue, as to take in a Town:
But in the One as M...Read more of this...

by Cowper, William
....

Oh! hadst Thou left me unchastised,
Thy precepts I had still despised;
And still the snare in secret laid
Had my unwary feet betray'd.

I love Thee, therefore, O my God,
And breathe towards Thy dear abode;
Where, in Thy presence fully blest,
Thy chosen saints for ever rest....Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...
In their obscured haunts of inmost bowers.
Yet have they many baits and guileful spells
To inveigle and invite the unwary sense
Of them that pass unweeting by the way.
This evening late, by then the chewing flocks
Had ta'en their supper on the savoury herb
Of knot-grass dew-besprent, and were in fold,
I sat me down to watch upon a bank
With ivy canopied, and interwove
With flaunting honeysuckle, and began,
Wrapt in a pleasing fit of melancholy,
To meditate my rural m...Read more of this...



by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...falling Dew; 
Whose outward Form all friendly still appears, 
Tho' Fraud and Daggers in his Thoughts he wears, 
And the unwary Labours to surprize 
With Looks affected, and with riddling Lyes. 
If He it is, that bids thy Love despair, 
I hope the happier End of all thy Care. 
So far from Truth his vain Predictions fall. 
Amint. If ought thou know'st, that may my Hopes recall, 
Conceal it not; for great I've heard his Fame, 
And fear'd his Words–
Thir. –Whe...Read more of this...

by Marvell, Andrew
...'twixt the toes. 
But envious Fame, too soon, began to note 
More gold in's Fob, more lace upon his coat; 
And he, unwary, and of tongue too fleet, 
No longer could conceal his fortune sweet. 
Justly the rogue was shipped in porter's den, 
And Jermyn straight has leave to come again. 
Ah, Painter, now could Alexander live, 
And this Campaspe thee, Apelles, give! 

Draw next a pair of tables opening, then 
The House of Commons clattering like the men. 
Describ...Read more of this...

by Swinburne, Algernon Charles
...oth blossoms, half in vain?
Night outspeeding light hath overtaken
One of twain.


Night and light? O thou of heart unwary,
Love, what knowest thou here at all aright,
Lured, abused, misled as men by fairy
Night and light?

Haply, where thine eyes behold but night,
Soft as o'er her babe the smile of Mary
Light breaks flowerwise into new-born sight.

What though night of light to thee be chary?
What though stars of hope like flowers take flight?
Seest thou all things h...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ies 
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws. 
So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused 
Bad influence into the unwary breast 
Of his associate: He together calls, 
Or several one by one, the regent Powers, 
Under him Regent; tells, as he was taught, 
That the Most High commanding, now ere night, 
Now ere dim night had disincumbered Heaven, 
The great hierarchal standard was to move; 
Tells the suggested cause, and casts between 
Ambiguous words and jealousies, to sou...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...e of right declared 
Sovran of creatures, universal Dame! 
So talked the spirited sly Snake; and Eve, 
Yet more amazed, unwary thus replied. 
Serpent, thy overpraising leaves in doubt 
The virtue of that fruit, in thee first proved: 
But say, where grows the tree? from hence how far? 
For many are the trees of God that grow 
In Paradise, and various, yet unknown 
To us; in such abundance lies our choice, 
As leaves a greater store of fruit untouched, 
Still hanging incorr...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...had displeased, his aid: 
As one disarmed, his anger all he lost, 
And thus with peaceful words upraised her soon. 
Unwary, and too desirous, as before, 
So now of what thou knowest not, who desirest 
The punishment all on thyself; alas! 
Bear thine own first, ill able to sustain 
His full wrath, whose thou feelest as yet least part, 
And my displeasure bearest so ill. If prayers 
Could alter high decrees, I to that place 
Would speed before thee, and be louder heard,...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...alt miss.

Sam: No, no, of my condition take no care;
It fits not; thou and I long since are twain;
Nor think me so unwary or accurst 
To bring my feet again into the snare
Where once I have been caught; I know thy trains
Though dearly to my cost, thy ginns, and toyls;
Thy fair enchanted cup, and warbling charms
No more on me have power, their force is null'd,
So much of Adders wisdom I have learn't
To fence my ear against thy sorceries.
If in my flower of youth and s...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Mary Darby
...ut fairy things
Borne on capricious Fancy's wings;
And promises, the Phantom's Airy
Which falsehood form'd to cheat th' unwary;
For still deception was his trade,
And though his traffic well was known,
Still, every trophy was his own
Which the proud Victor, Love, display'd.
In short, this STEPHEN was the bane
Of ev'ry maid,--and ev'ry swain!

KATE had too often play'd the fool,
And now, at length, was caught;
For she, who had been pleas'd to rule,
Was now, poor Maiden, ta...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...ne, 
 Of the brave and noble-hearted? 
 
 Of the dragon who, crouching in forest green glen, 
 Lies in wait for the unwary— 
 Of the maid who was freed by her knight from the den 
 Of the ogre, whose club was uplifted, but then 
 Turned aside by the wand of a fairy? 
 Wilt thou teach us spell-words that protect from all harm, 
 And thoughts of evil banish? 
 What goblins the sign of the cross may disarm? 
 What saint it is good to invoke? and what charm 
 Can make...Read more of this...

by Warton, Thomas
...se:
Shapes, that with one broad glare the gazer strike,
Kings, bishops, nuns, apostles, all alike!
Ye colours, that th' unwary sight amaze,
And only dazzle in the noontide blaze!
No more the sacred window's round disgrace,
But yield to Grecian groups the shining space.
Lo, from the canvas Beauty shifts her throne,
Lo, Picture's powers a new formation own!
Behold, she prints upon the crystal plain,
With her own energy, th' expressive stain!
The mighty master spreads his mi...Read more of this...

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