Famous Vindictive Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Bat

by D. H. Lawrence
 At evening, sitting on this terrace, 
When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara 
Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ... 

When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing 
Brown hills surrounding ... 

When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio 
A green light enters against stream, flush...Read more of this...

Lorraine

by Charles Kingsley
 “ARE you ready for your steeplechase, Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorree? 
Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Baree. 
You’re booked to ride your capping race to-day at Coulterlee, 
You’re booked to ride Vindictive, for all the world to see, 
To keep him straight, and keep him first, and win the run for me.” 
Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Barum, Baree. 

She...Read more of this...

This Life

by Grace Paley
 My friend tells me
a man in my house jumped off the roof
the roof is the eighth floor of this building
the roof door was locked how did he manage?
his girlfriend had said goodbye I'm leaving
he was 22
his mother and father were hurrying
at that very moment
from upstate to help him move out of Brooklyn
they had heard about the girl

the people who...Read more of this...

Hatred and vengeance my eternal portion

by William Cowper
 Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion,
Scarce can endure delay of execution,
Wait, with impatient readiness, to seize my
Soul in a moment.

Damned below Judas:more abhorred than he was,
Who for a few pence sold his holy Master.
Twice betrayed Jesus me, this last delinquent,
Deems the profanest.

Man disavows, and Deity disowns me:
Hell might afford my miseries a shelter;
Therefore hell keeps her ever hungry mouths...Read more of this...

Time Of Disturbance

by Robinson Jeffers
 The best is, in war or faction or ordinary vindictive
 life, not to take sides.
Leave it for children, and the emotional rabble of the
 streets, to back their horse or support a brawler.

But if you are forced into it: remember that good and
 evil are as common as air, and like air shared
By the panting belligerents; the moral indignation...Read more of this...

Hymn 155

by Isaac Watts
 Christ our passover.

Lo, the destroying angel flies
To Pharaoh's stubborn land;
The pride and flower of Egypt dies
By his vindictive hand.

He passed the tents of Jacob o'er,
Nor poured the wrath divine;
He saw the blood on every door,
And blessed the peaceful sign.

Thus the appointed Lamb must bleed,
To break the Egyptian yoke;
Thus Isr'el is from bondage freed,
And 'scapes the angel's stroke.

Lord, if my...Read more of this...

Alive Together

by Lisel Mueller
 Speaking of marvels, I am alive
together with you, when I might have been
alive with anyone under the sun,
when I might have been Abelard's woman
or the whore of a Renaissance pop
or a peasant wife with not enough food
and not enough love, with my children
dead of the plague. I might have slept
in an alcove next to the man
with the golden nose,...Read more of this...

Lines Written During A Period Of Insanity

by William Cowper
 Hatred and vengence—my eternal portion
Scarce can endure delay of execution— 
Wait with impatient readiness to seize my
Soul in a moment.

Damned below Judas; more abhorred than he was,
Who for a few pence sold his holy Master!
Twice betrayed, Jesus me, the last delinquent,
Deems the profanest.

Man disavows, and Deity disowns me:
Hell might afford my miseries a shelter;
Therefore Hell keeps her ever-hungry mouths...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Vindictive 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