Famous Vincent Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Eel-Grass

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 No matter what I say,
All that I really love
Is the rain that flattens on the bay,
And the eel-grass in the cove;
The jingle-shells that lie and bleach
At the tide-line, and the trace
Of higher tides along the beach:
Nothing in this place....Read more of this...

Sweet Love Sweet Thorn When Lightly To My Heart

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Sweet love, sweet thorn, when lightly to my heart
I took your thrust, whereby I since am slain,
And lie disheveled in the grass apart,
A sodden thing bedrenched by tears and rain,
While rainy evening drips to misty night,
And misty night to cloudy morning clears,
And clouds disperse across the gathering light,
And birds grow noisy, and the sun appears
Had I bethought me then,...Read more of this...

Modern Declaration

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I, having loved ever since I was a child a few things, never having 
wavered
In these affections; never through shyness in the houses of the
rich or in the presence of clergymen having denied these
loves;
Never when worked upon by cynics like chiropractors having
grunted or clicked a vertebra to the discredit of those loves;
Never when anxious to land a job having...Read more of this...

A Visit To The Asylum

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Once from a big, big building,
When I was small, small,
The ***** folk in the windows
Would smile at me and call.

And in the hard wee gardens
Such pleasant men would hoe:
"Sir, may we touch the little girl's hair!"—
It was so red, you know.

They cut me coloured asters
With shears so sharp and neat,
They brought me grapes and plums and pears
And pretty cakes...Read more of this...

Think Not Not For A Moment Let Your Mind

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Think not, not for a moment let your mind,
Wearied with thinking, doze upon the thought
That the work's done and the long day behind,
And beauty, since 'tis paid for, can be bought.
If in the moonlight from the silent bough
Suddenly with precision speak your name
The nightingale, be not assured that now
His wing is limed and his wild virtue tame.
Beauty beyond all...Read more of this...

First Fig

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends ­
It gives a lovely light!...Read more of this...

Indifference

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I said,—for Love was laggard, O, Love was slow to come,—
 "I'll hear his step and know his step when I am warm in
 bed;
But I'll never leave my pillow, though there be some
 As would let him in—and take him in with tears!" I said.
I lay,—for Love was laggard, O, he came not until dawn,—
 I lay and...Read more of this...

The Wood Road

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 If I were to walk this way
Hand in hand with Grief,
I should mark that maple-spray
Coming into leaf.
I should note how the old burrs
Rot upon the ground.
Yes, though Grief should know me hers
While the world goes round,
It could not if truth be said
This was lost on me:
A rock-maple showing red,
Burrs beneath a tree....Read more of this...

I Know The Face Of Falsehood And Her Tongue

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I know the face of Falsehood and her Tongue
Honeyed with unction, Plausible with guile,
Are dear to men, whom count me not among,
That owe their daily credit to her smile;
Such have been succoured out of great distress
By her contriving, if accounts be true:
Their deference now above the board, I guess,
Dishcharges what beneath the board is due.
As for myself, I'd liefer...Read more of this...

Talk

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 Tobacco smoke drifts up to the dim ceiling 
From half a dozen pipes and cigarettes, 
Curling in endless shapes, in blue rings wheeling, 
As formless as our talk. Phil, drawling, bets 
Cornell will win the relay in a walk, 
While Bob and Mac discuss the Giants' chances; 
Deep in a morris-chair, Bill scowls at "Falk", 
John gives large views...Read more of this...

Pastoral

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 The little sparrows 
hop ingenuously 
about the pavement 
quarreling 
with sharp voices 
over those things 
that interest them. 
But we who are wiser 
shut ourselves in 
on either hand 
and no one knows 
whether we think good 
or evil. 

    Meanwhile, 
the old man who goes about 
gathering dog-lime 
walks in the gutter 
without looking up...Read more of this...

Portrait By A Neighbour

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Before she has her floor swept
Or her dishes done,
Any day you'll find her
A-sunning in the sun!

It's long after midnight
Her key's in the lock,
And you never see her chimney smoke
Til past ten o'clock!

She digs in her garden
With a shovel and a spoon,
She weeds her lazy lettuce
By the light of the moon,

She walks up the walk
Like a woman in a dream,
She...Read more of this...

The Little Ghost

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I knew her for a little ghost
 That in my garden walked;
The wall is high—higher than most—
 And the green gate was locked.

And yet I did not think of that
 Till after she was gone—
I knew her by the broad white hat,
 All ruffled, she had on.

By the dear ruffles round her feet,
 By her small hands that hung
In...Read more of this...

Portrait of a Boy

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 After the whipping he crawled into bed, 
Accepting the harsh fact with no great weeping. 
How funny uncle's hat had looked striped red! 
He chuckled silently. The moon came, sweeping 
A black, frayed rag of tattered cloud before 
In scorning; very pure and pale she seemed, 
Flooding his bed with radiance. On the floor 
Fat motes danced. He sobbed,...Read more of this...

Sonnets From An Ungrafted Tree

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 XLI

I, being born a woman and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear you body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clairfy the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.
Think not for this, however,...Read more of this...

Sonnets 11: As To Some Lovely Temple Tenantless

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 As to some lovely temple, tenantless
Long since, that once was sweet with shivering brass,
Knowing well its altars ruined and the grass
Grown up between the stones, yet from excess
Of grief hard driven, or great loneliness,
The worshiper returns, and those who pass
Marvel him crying on a name that was,—
So is it now with me in my distress.
Your body was a temple...Read more of this...

Before an Examination

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 The little letters dance across the page, 
Flaunt and retire, and trick the tired eyes; 
Sick of the strain, the glaring light, I rise 
Yawning and stretching, full of empty rage 
At the dull maunderings of a long dead sage, 
Fling up the windows, fling aside his lies; 
Choosing to breathe, not stifle and be wise, 
And let the...Read more of this...

The Lover in Hell

by Stephen Vincent Benet
 Eternally the choking steam goes up 
From the black pools of seething oil. . . . 
How merry 
Those little devils are! They've stolen the pitchfork 
From Bel, there, as he slept . . . Look! -- oh look, look! 
They've got at Nero! Oh it isn't fair! 
Lord, how he squeals! Stop it . . . it's, well...Read more of this...

The Blue-Flag In The Bog

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 God had called us, and we came;
Our loved Earth to ashes left;
Heaven was a neighbor's house,
Open to us, bereft.

Gay the lights of Heaven showed,
And 'twas God who walked ahead;
Yet I wept along the road,
Wanting my own house instead.

Wept unseen, unheeded cried,
"All you things my eyes have kissed,
Fare you well! We meet no more,
Lovely, lovely tattered mist!

Weary wings that rise...Read more of this...

Sonnets 05: Once More Into My Arid Days Like Dew

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Once more into my arid days like dew,
Like wind from an oasis, or the sound
Of cold sweet water bubbling underground,
A treacherous messenger, the thought of you
Comes to destroy me; once more I renew
Firm faith in your abundance, whom I found
Long since to be but just one other mound
Of sand, whereon no green thing ever grew.
And once again, and wiser...Read more of this...

Being Young And Green

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 Being Young and Green, I said in love's despite:
Never in the world will I to living wight
Give over, air my mind
To anyone,
Hang out its ancient secrets in the strong wind
To be shredded and faded—

Oh, me, invaded
And sacked by the wind and the sun!...Read more of this...

To S. M

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 If he should lie a-dying

I AM not willing you should go 
Into the earth, where Helen went; 
She is awake by now, I know. 
Where Cleopatra's anklets rust 
You will not lie with my consent; 
And Sappho is a roving dust; 
Cressid could love again; Dido, 
Rotted in state, is restless still; 
You leave me much against my will....Read more of this...

When The Year Grows Old

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I cannot but remember
 When the year grows old—
October—November—
 How she disliked the cold!

She used to watch the swallows
 Go down across the sky,
And turn from the window
 With a little sharp sigh.

And often when the brown leaves
 Were brittle on the ground,
And the wind in the chimney
 Made a melancholy sound,

She had a look about her
 That I...Read more of this...

The Prisoner

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 I lash and writhe against my prison bars,
And watch with sullen eyes the gaping crowd . . 
Give me my freedom and the burning stars,
The hollow sky, and crags of moonlit cloud! 

Once I might range across the trackless plain,
And roar with joy, until the desert air 
And wide horizons echoed it amain:
I feared no foe, for I was...Read more of this...

Recuerdo

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 WE were very tired, we were very merry­
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable­
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,
We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon. 

We were very tired, we were...Read more of this...

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