Famous Up And Down Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Lying Down

by Robert Desnos
 To the right, the sky, to the left, the sea.
And before your eyes, the grass and its flowers.
A cloud, the road, follows its vertical way
Parallel to the plumb line of the horizon,
Parallel to the rider.
The horse races towards its imminent fall
And the other climbs interminably.
How simple and strange everything is.
Lying on my left side
I take no interest in the...Read more of this...

Down Times quaint stream

by Emily Dickinson
 Down Time's quaint stream
Without an oar
We are enforced to sail
Our Port a secret
Our Perchance a Gale
What Skipper would
Incur the Risk
What Buccaneer would ride
Without a surety from the Wind
Or schedule of the Tide --...Read more of this...

The House Of Dust: Part 01: 01: The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light

by Conrad Aiken
 The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light.
The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:
And lights wink out through the windows, one by one.
A clamor of frosty sirens mourns at the night.
Pale slate-grey clouds whirl up from the sunken sun.

And the wandering one, the inquisitive dreamer of dreams,
The eternal asker of answers, stands in...Read more of this...

Theres Another Blessed Horse Fell Down

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 When you're lying in your hammock, sleeping soft and sleeping sound, 
Without a care or trouble on your mind, 
And there's nothing to disturb you but the engines going round, 
And you're dreaming of the girl you left behind; 
In the middle of your joys you'll be wakened by a noise 
And a clatter on the deck above your...Read more of this...

Be not cast down by the troubles which we call vicissitudes

by Omar Khayyam
Be not cast down by the troubles which we call vicissitudes
here below. Let us occupy ourselves only in
drinking pure wine, limpid wine, the color of a rose.
Wine, friend, is the blood of the world. The world is
our murderer; how shall we resist drinking the blood of
the heart of him who spills ours?...Read more of this...

Tear It Down

by Jack Gilbert
 We find out the heart only by dismantling what 
the heart knows. By redefining the morning, 
we find a morning that comes just after darkness. 
We can break through marriage into marriage. 
By insisting on love we spoil it, get beyond 
affection and wade mouth-deep into love. 
We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars. 
But going back...Read more of this...

433. Song—Down the Burn Davie love

by Robert Burns
 AS down the burn they took their way,
 And thro’ the flowery dale;
His cheek to hers he aft did lay,
 And love was aye the tale:


With “Mary, when shall we return,
 Sic pleasure to renew?”
Quoth Mary—“Love, I like the burn,
 And aye shall follow you.”...Read more of this...

I Went Down into the Desert

by Vachel Lindsay
 I went down into the desert
To meet Elijah—
Arisen from the dead.
I thought to. find him in an echoing cave;
For so my dream had said.

I went down into the desert
To meet John the Baptist.
I walked with feet that bled,
Seeking that prophet lean and brown and bold.
I spied foul fiends instead.

I went down into the desert
To meet my God.
By him be...Read more of this...

Looking Down in a Spring-rain

by Wang Wei
 Round a turn of the Qin Fortress winds the Wei River, 
And Yellow Mountain foot-hills enclose the Court of China; 
Past the South Gate willows comes the Car of Many Bells 
On the upper Palace-Garden Road-a solid length of blossom; 
A Forbidden City roof holds two phoenixes in cloud; 
The foliage of spring shelters multitudes from rain; 
And now,...Read more of this...

When the Dark Comes Down

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 When the dark comes down, oh, the wind is on the sea
With lisping laugh and whimper to the red reef's threnody,
The boats are sailing homeward now across the harbor bar
With many a jest and many a shout from fishing grounds afar.
So furl your sails and take your rest, ye fisher folk so brown,
For task and quest are ended when...Read more of this...

Let down the Bars Oh Death --

by Emily Dickinson
 Let down the Bars, Oh Death --
The tired Flocks come in
Whose bleating ceases to repeat
Whose wandering is done --

Thine is the stillest night
Thine the securest Fold
Too near Thou art for seeking Thee
Too tender, to be told....Read more of this...

Come down O Maid

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 COME down, O maid, from yonder mountain height: 
What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang), 
In height and cold, the splendour of the hills? 
But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease 
To glide a sunbeam by the blasted Pine, 
To sit a star upon the sparkling spire; 
And come, for Love is of the valley,...Read more of this...

In Memoriam A. H. H.: 83. Dip down upon the northern shore

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Dip down upon the northern shore 
O sweet new-year delaying long;
Thou doest expectant nature wrong;
Delaying long, delay no more.
What stays thee from the clouded noons,
Thy sweetness from its proper place?
Can trouble live with April days,
Or sadness in the summer moons?
Bring orchis, bring the foxglove spire,
The little speed well's darling blue,
Deep tulips dash'd with fiery dew,
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire.

O thou...Read more of this...

The Ships that Wont Go Down

by Henry Lawson
 We hear a great commotion 
'Bout the ship that comes to grief, 
That founders in mid-ocean, 
Or is driven on a reef; 
Because it's cheap and brittle 
A score of sinners drown. 
But we hear but mighty little 
Of the ships that won't go down. 

Here's honour to the builders – 
The builders of the past; 
Here's honour to...Read more of this...

Down fall the tears from skies enwrapt in gloom,

by Omar Khayyam
Down fall the tears from skies enwrapt in gloom,
Without this drink, the flowers could never bloom!
As now these flowerets yield delight to me,
So shall my dust yield flowers,—God knows for whom....Read more of this...

Come down O Maid

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
COME down, O maid, from yonder mountain height: 
What pleasure lives in height (the shepherd sang), 
In height and cold, the splendour of the hills? 
But cease to move so near the Heavens, and cease 
To glide a sunbeam by the blasted Pine, 5 
To sit a star upon the sparkling spire; 
And come, for Love is of the valley,...Read more of this...

Let us both sit down on the old worm-eaten bench

by Emile Verhaeren
Let us both sit down on the old worm-eaten bench near the path; and let my hand remain a long while within your two steadfast hands.
With my hand that remains a long while given up to the sweet consciousness of being on your knees, my heart also, my earnest, gentle heart, seems to rest between your two kind hands.
And we...Read more of this...

She laid her docile Crescent down

by Emily Dickinson
 She laid her docile Crescent down
And this confiding Stone
Still states to Dates that have forgot
The News that she is gone --

So constant to its stolid trust,
The Shaft that never knew --
It shames the Constancy that fled
Before its emblem flew --...Read more of this...

The Town Down by the River

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 I

Said the Watcher by the Way 
To the young and the unladen, 
To the boy and to the maiden, 
"God be with you both to-day. 
First your song came ringing, 
Now you come, you two-- 
Knowing naught of what you do, 
Or of what your dreams are bringing.

"O you children who go singing 
To the Town down the River,...Read more of this...

Merrow Down

by Rudyard Kipling
 There runs a road by Merrow Down--
 A grassy track to-day it is--
An hour out Guildford town,
 Above the river Wey it is.

Here, when they heard the hors-bells ring,
 The ancient Britons dressed and rode
To which the dark Phoenicians bring
 Their goods along the Western Road.

Yes, here, or hereabouts, they met
 To hold their racial talks and such--
To barter...Read more of this...

When Death shall tread me down upon the plain,

by Omar Khayyam
When Death shall tread me down upon the plain,
And pluck my feathers, and my life-blood drain,
Then mould me to a cup, and fill with wine,
Haply its scent will make me breathe again....Read more of this...

The Earth Falls Down

by Anne Sexton
 If I could blame it all on the weather,
the snow like the cadaver's table,
the trees turned into knitting needles,
the ground as hard as a frozen haddock,
the pond wearing its mustache of frost.
If I could blame conditions on that,
if I could blame the hearts of strangers
striding muffled down the street,
or blame the dogs, every color,
sniffing each other
and pissing on the...Read more of this...

Bow down, heaven's tyranny to undergo,

by Omar Khayyam
Bow down, heaven's tyranny to undergo,
Quaff wine to face the world, and all its woe;
Your origin and end are both in earth,
But now you are above earth, not below!...Read more of this...

The Sun went down -- no Man looked on --

by Emily Dickinson
 The Sun went down -- no Man looked on --
The Earth and I, alone,
Were present at the Majesty --
He triumphed, and went on --

The Sun went up -- no Man looked on --
The Earth and I and One
A nameless Bird -- a Stranger
Were Witness for the Crown --...Read more of this...

Taking Down a Trellis

by Du Fu
 Tie stick already wither and fall Pumpkin leaf become sparse Lucky bear fruit white flower finish Better take leave green vine eliminate Autumn insect sound not go Dusk sparrow think what Cold thing now lie waste Human life also have beginning  The sticks I tied already wither and fall, The pumpkin leaves are getting sparse...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Up And Down poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace