Famous Well Educated Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Forard

by Henry Lawson
 It is stuffy in the steerage where the second-classers sleep, 
For there's near a hundred for'ard, and they're stowed away like sheep, -- 
They are trav'lers for the most part in a straight 'n' honest path; 
But their linen's rather scanty, an' there isn't any bath -- 
Stowed away like ewes and wethers that is shore 'n' marked 'n'...Read more of this...

The Headliner And The Breadliner

by Robert William Service
 Moko, the Educated Ape is here,
The pet of vaudeville, so the posters say,
 And every night the gaping people pay
To see him in his panoply appear;
To see him pad his paunch with dainty cheer,
 Puff his perfecto, swill champagne, and sway
 Just like a gentleman, yet all in play,
Then bow himself off stage with brutish leer.

And as to-night, with...Read more of this...

Peace on Earth

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 He took a frayed hat from his head, 
And “Peace on Earth” was what he said. 
“A morsel out of what you’re worth, 
And there we have it: Peace on Earth. 
Not much, although a little more
Than what there was on earth before 
I’m as you see, I’m Ichabod,— 
But never mind the ways I’ve trod; 
I’m sober now,...Read more of this...

starling

by Rg Gregory
 a starling sat on the roof 
(i don't know how young)
croaking in an old man's voice
cross with the dapper world

after five minutes or so
it flew away - its grouse over
it was like its feathers
rough and unperturbed

i don't suppose it was educated
the other birds ignored it
it was being raucous - yes
and probably obscene

it touched me to the heart
straight out of...Read more of this...

Fearful Women

by Carolyn Kizer
 Arms and the girl I sing - O rare
arms that are braceleted and white and bare

arms that were lovely Helen's, in whose name
Greek slaughtered Trojan. Helen was to blame.

Scape-nanny call her; wars for turf
and profit don't sound glamorous enough.

Mythologize your women! None escape.
Europe was named from an act of bestial rape:

Eponymous girl on bull-back, he intent
on scattering sperm across...Read more of this...

On the Way

by Carl Sandburg
 LITTLE one, you have been buzzing in the books,
Flittering in the newspapers and drinking beer with
lawyers
And amid the educated men of the clubs you have been
getting an earful of speech from trained tongues.
Take an earful from me once, go with me on a hike
Along sand stretches on the great inland sea here
And while the eastern breeze blows on us...Read more of this...

Casualty

by Seamus Heaney
 I

He would drink by himself
And raise a weathered thumb
Towards the high shelf,
Calling another rum
And blackcurrant, without
Having to raise his voice,
Or order a quick stout
By a lifting of the eyes
And a discreet dumb-show
Of pulling off the top;
At closing time would go
In waders and peaked cap
Into the showery dark,
A dole-kept breadwinner
But a natural for work.
I loved his whole manner,
Sure-footed but too...Read more of this...

Soliloquy in Circles

by Ogden Nash
 Being a father
Is quite a bother.

You are as free as air
With time to spare,

You're a fiscal rocket
With change in your pocket,

And then one morn
A child is born.

Your life has been runcible,
Irresponsible,

Like an arrow or javelin
You've been constantly travelin'.

But mostly, I daresay,
Without a chaise percée,

To which by comparison
Nothing's embarison.

But all children matures,
Maybe even yours.

You improve them mentally
And straighten them dentally,

They...Read more of this...

The Cambaroora Star

by Henry Lawson
 So you're writing for a paper? Well, it's nothing very new 
To be writing yards of drivel for a tidy little screw; 
You are young and educated, and a clever chap you are, 
But you'll never run a paper like the CAMBAROORA STAR. 
Though in point of education I am nothing but a dunce, 
I myself -- you mayn't...Read more of this...

Balloon Faces

by Carl Sandburg
 THE BALLOONS hang on wires in the Marigold Gardens.
They spot their yellow and gold, they juggle their blue and red, they float their faces on the face of the sky.
Balloon face eaters sit by hundreds reading the eat cards, asking, “What shall we eat?”—and the waiters, “Have you ordered?” they are sixty ballon faces sifting white over the tuxedoes.
Poets,...Read more of this...

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