Famous Unwieldy Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Custer

...ter's instinct in each heart is stirred, 
Beholding there in one stupendous herd
A hundred thousand buffaloes. Oh great
Unwieldy proof of Nature's cruder state, 
Rough remnant of a prehistoric day, 
Thou, with the red man, too, must shortly pass away.



LII.
Upon those spreading plains is there not room
For man and bison, that he seals its doom? 
What pleasure lies and what seductive charm
In slaying with no purpose but to harm? 
Alas, that man, unable to create, 
Should thi...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler


Man Listening To Disc

...s surpassed only by my gratitude

to Tommy Potter for taking the time
to join us on this breezy afternoon
with his most unwieldy bass
and to the esteemed Arthur Taylor
who is somehow managing to navigate

this crowd with his cumbersome drums.
And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monk
for figuring out a way
to motorize -- or whatever -- his huge piano
so he could be with us today.

This music is loud yet so confidential.
I cannot help feeling even more
like the center of the univers...Read more of this...
by Collins, Billy

MFingal - Canto III

...as'd
Far in th' horizon tow'rd the west.
Amazed he view'd the shameful sight,
And saw no refuge, but in flight:
But age unwieldy check'd his pace,
Though fear had wing'd his flying race;
For not a trifling prize at stake;
No less than great M'Fingal's back.
With legs and arms he work'd his course,
Like rider that outgoes his horse,
And labor'd hard to get away, as
Old Satan struggling on through chaos;
Till looking back, he spied in rear
The spade-arm'd chief advanced too nea...Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

Paradise Lost: Book 04

...; 
Sporting the lion ramped, and in his paw 
Dandled the kid; bears, tigers, ounces, pards, 
Gambolled before them; the unwieldy elephant, 
To make them mirth, used all his might, and wreathed 
His?kithetmroboscis; close the serpent sly, 
Insinuating, wove with Gordian twine 
His braided train, and of his fatal guile 
Gave proof unheeded; others on the grass 
Couched, and now filled with pasture gazing sat, 
Or bedward ruminating; for the sun, 
Declined, was hasting now with ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 07

...r rocks their food 
In jointed armour watch: on smooth the seal 
And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk 
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, 
Tempest the ocean: there leviathan, 
Hugest of living creatures, on the deep 
Stretched like a promontory sleeps or swims, 
And seems a moving land; and at his gills 
Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out, a sea. 
Mean while the tepid caves, and fens, and shores, 
Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon 
Burst...Read more of this...
by Milton, John


Samson Agonistes

...mportunity and tears.
O impotence of mind, in body strong!
But what is strength without a double share
Of wisdom, vast, unwieldy, burdensom,
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall
By weakest suttleties, not made to rule,
But to subserve where wisdom bears command.
God, when he gave me strength, to shew withal
How slight the gift was, hung it in my Hair.
But peace, I must not quarrel with the will 
Of highest dispensation, which herein
Happ'ly had ends above my reach to know:
Suff...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Deserted Village

...ltered; trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land and dispossess the swain;
Along the lawn, where scattered hamlet's rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose,
And every want to opulence allied,
And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Those calm desires that asked but little room,
Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene,
Lived in each look, and brightened all the green;
These, far departing, seek a kinder shore,
A...Read more of this...
by Goldsmith, Oliver

The Lost Battle

...l on mine eye, 
 And trembled with contracted brows within their hall of state. 
 Instead of heavy catapults, of slow unwieldy weight, 
 I had bright cannons rolling on oak wheels in threatening tiers, 
 And calm and steady by their sides marched English cannoniers. 
 But yesterday, and I had towns, and castles strong and high, 
 And Greeks in thousands, for the base and merciless to buy. 
 But yesterday, and arsenals and harems were my own; 
 While now, defeated and ...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

The Rape of the Lock

...y'd,
Spite of his haughty Mien, and barb'rous Pride: 
What boots the Regal Circle on his Head,
His Giant Limbs in State unwieldy spread?
That long behind he trails his pompous Robe,
And of all Monarchs only grasps the Globe?

The Baron now his Diamonds pours apace;
Th' embroider'd King who shows but half his Face,
And his refulgent Queen, with Pow'rs combin'd,
Of broken Troops an easie Conquest find.
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild Disorder seen,
With Throngs promiscuous str...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 3

...,
Spite of his haughty mien, and barb'rous pride:
What boots the regal circle on his head,
His giant limbs, in state unwieldy spread;
That long behind he trails his pompous robe,
And of all monarchs, only grasps the globe?

The baron now his diamonds pours apace;
Th' embroider'd King who shows but half his face,
And his refulgent Queen, with pow'rs combin'd
Of broken troops an easy conquest find.
Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, in wild disorder seen,
With throngs promisc...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Reeves Tale

...and lying, anger, covetise*. *covetousness
These foure sparks belongen unto eld.
Our olde limbes well may be unweld*, *unwieldy
But will shall never fail us, that is sooth.
And yet have I alway a coltes tooth,
As many a year as it is passed and gone
Since that my tap of life began to run;
For sickerly*, when I was born, anon *certainly
Death drew the tap of life, and let it gon:
And ever since hath so the tap y-run,
Till that almost all empty is the tun.
The stream of lif...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Seeing Eye

...The small dogs look at the big dogs;
They observe unwieldy dimensions
And curious imperfections of odor.
Here is the formal male group:
The young men look upon their seniors,
They consider the elderly mind
And observe its inexplicable correlations.

Said Tsin-Tsu:
It is only in small dogs and the young
That we find minute observation...Read more of this...
by Pound, Ezra

The Vanity of Human Wishes (excerpts)

...nd scarce a sycophant was fed by pride;
57 Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
58 Or seen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state;
59 Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
60 And senates heard before they judg'd a cause;
61 How wouldst thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,
62 Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
63 Attentive truth and nature to decry,
64 And pierce each scene with philosophic eye.
65 To thee were solemn toys or empty show,
66 The...Read more of this...
by Johnson, Samuel

The Wanderings of Oisin: Book I

...the young kid's budding horn,
And makes the infant ferns unwrap,
And for the peewit paints his cap,
And rolls along the unwieldy sun,
And makes the little planets run:
And if joy were not on the earth,
There were an end of change and birth,
And Earth and Heaven and Hell would die,
And in some gloomy barrow lie
Folded like a frozen fly;
Then mock at Death and Time with glances
And wavering arms and wandering dances.

'Men's hearts of old were drops of flame
That from the saffr...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

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