Famous Varnish Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A True Story

...very glad
To know what it is makes you cry. " 

"Mamma," said the child, "see that carriage so fair, 
All cover'd with varnish and gold, 
Those ladies are riding so charmingly there
While we have to walk in the cold. 

"You say GOD is kind to the folks that are good,
But surely it cannot be true; 
Or else I am certain, almost, that He would
Give such a fine carriage to you. " 

"Look there, little girl," said her mother, "and see
What stands at that very coach door;
A poor r...Read more of this...
by Taylor, Ann


An Allusion to Horace

...ne of Art. 
With just bold Stroakes, he dashes here and there, 
Shewing great Mastery with little care; 
And scornes to varnish his good touches o're, 
To make the Fooles, and Women, praise 'em more. 
But Witcherley, earnes hard, what e're he gaines, 
He wants noe Judgment, nor he spares noe paines; 
He frequently excells, and at the least, 
Makes fewer faults, than any of the best. 
Waller, by Nature for the Bayes design'd, 
With force, and fire, and fancy unconfin'd, 
In Pa...Read more of this...
by Wilmot, John

Jug

...r out of the shale mix.
Dipped in glaze more fire plays on it till a molasses lava runs in waves, rises and retreats, a varnish of volcanoes.
Take it now; out of mud now here is a mouth and handle; out of this now mothers will pour milk and maple syrup and cider, vinegar, apple juice, and sorghum.
There is nothing proud about this; only one out of many; the potter’s wheel slings them out and the fires harden them hours and hours thousands and thousands.
“Be good to me, put me...Read more of this...
by Sandburg, Carl

Paradise Regained: The Fourth Book

...r song, so personating
Their gods ridiculous, and themselves past shame.
Remove their swelling epithetes, thick-laid
As varnish on a harlot's cheek, the rest,
Thin-sown with aught of profit or delight,
Will far be found unworthy to compare
With Sion's songs, to all true tastes excelling,
Where God is praised aright and godlike men,
The Holiest of Holies and his Saints
(Such are from God inspired, not such from thee); 
Unless where moral virtue is expressed
By light of Nature,...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Peter Anderson And Co

...when your cash or credit fails, 
With a packing-case, a hammer, and a pound of two-inch nails -- 
And, maybe, a drop of varnish and sienna, too, for tints, 
And a scrap or two of oilcloth, and a yard or two of chintz). 
They would pull themselves together, pay a week's rent in advance, 
But it never lasted longer than a month by any chance. 

The office was their haven, for they lived there when hard-up -- 
A `daily' for a table cloth -- a jam tin for a cup; 
And if the landl...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry


The Cremona Violin

...and blew
It out again with a woody flavour
Tanged and fragrant as fir-trees are
When breezes in their needles jar.
The varnish was an orange-brown
Lustered like glass that's long laid down
Under a crumbling villa stone.
Purfled stoutly, with mitres which point
Straight up the corners. Each curve 
and joint
Clear, and bold, and thin.
Such was Herr Theodore's violin.
Seven o'clock, the Concert-Meister gone
With his best violin, the rain being stopped,
Frau Lotta in the kitchen...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Opening of the Piano

...at a group of cheeks in flame,
When the wondrous box was opened that had come from over seas, 
With its smell of mastic-varnish and its flash of ivory keys!

Then the children all grew fretful in the restlessness of joy,
For the boy would push his sister, and the sister crowd the boy,
Till the father asked for quiet in his grave paternal way,
But the mother hushed the tumult with the words, "Now, Mary, play."

For the dear soul knew that music was a very sovereign balm;
She h...Read more of this...
by Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Those Graves In Rome

...Naples, I noticed a child's smeared
Fingerprint on a bannister. It
Had been indifferently preserved beneath
A patina of varnish applied, I guessed, after
The last war. It seemed I could almost hear
His shout, years later, on that street. But this
Is speculation, & no doubt the simplest fact
Could shame me. Perhaps the child was from
Calabria, & went back to it with
A mother who failed to find work, & perhaps
The child died there, twenty years ago,
Of malaria. It was so common...Read more of this...
by Levis, Larry

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