Famous Win Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Snarleyow

by Rudyard Kipling
 This 'appened in a battle to a batt'ry of the corps
Which is first among the women an' amazin' first in war;
An' what the bloomin' battle was I don't remember now,
But Two's off-lead 'e answered to the name o' Snarleyow.
 Down in the Infantry, nobody cares;
 Down in the Cavalry, Colonel 'e swears;
 But down in the lead with the...Read more of this...

Christmas

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Step wid de banjo an' glide wid de fiddle,
Dis ain' no time fu' to pottah an' piddle:
Fu' Christmas is comin', it's right on de way,
An' dey's houahs to dance 'fo' de break o' de day.
What if de win' is taihin' an' whistlin'?
Look at dat' fiah how hit's spittin' an' bristlin'!
Heat in de ashes an' heat in de cindahs,
Ol' mistah Fros'...Read more of this...

Bacon

by Badger Clark
  You're salty and greasy and smoky as sin
    But of all grub we love you the best.
  You stuck to us closer than nighest of kin
    And helped us win out in the West,
  You froze with us up on the Laramie trail;
    You sweat with us...Read more of this...

We lose -- because we win

by Emily Dickinson
 We lose -- because we win --
Gamblers -- recollecting which
Toss their dice again!...Read more of this...

Stay

by Ingeborg Bachmann
 Now the journey is ending,
the wind is losing heart.
Into your hands it's falling,
a rickety house of cards.

The cards are backed with pictures
displaying all the world.
You've stacked up all the images
and shuffled them with words.

And how profound the playing
that once again begins!
Stay, the card you're drawing
is the only world you'll win....Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXX

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXXX. Lasso! ben so che dolorose prede. THOUGH FOR FOURTEEN YEARS HE HAS STRUGGLED UNSUCCESSFULLY, HE STILL HOPES TO CONQUER HIS PASSION.  Alas! well know I what sad havoc makesDeath of our kind, how Fate no mortal spares!How soon the world whom once it loved forsakes,How short the faith it to...Read more of this...

A Little Christmas Basket

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
De win' is hollahin' "Daih you" to de shuttahs an' de fiah,
De snow's a-sayin' "Got you" to de groun',
Fu' de wintah weathah 's come widout a-askin' ouah desiah,
An' he 's laughin' in his sleeve at whut he foun';
Fu' dey ain't nobody ready wid dey fuel er dey food,
An' de money bag look timid lak, fu' sho',
So we want ouah Chrismus...Read more of this...

Tick-Tock

by Robert William Service
 Tick-tocking in my ear
My dollar clock I hear.
'Arise,' it seems to say:
'Behold another day
To grasp the golden key
Of Opportunity;
To turn the magic lock--
 Tick-tock!

'Another day to gain
Some goal you sought in vain;
to sing a sweeter song,
Perchance to right a wrong;
To win a height unscaled
Where yesterday you failed;
To brave a battle shock--
 Tick-tock!'

You measure out my breath,
Each beat one nearer...Read more of this...

Certain Maxims Of Hafiz

by Rudyard Kipling
  I.
If It be pleasant to look on, stalled in the packed serai,
Does not the Young Man try Its temper and pace ere he buy?
If She be pleasant to look on, what does the Young Man say?
"Lo! She is pleasant to look on, give Her to me to-day!"

 II.
Yea, though a Kafir die, to him is remitted Jehannum
If he...Read more of this...

The Sea And the Hills

by Rudyard Kipling
 1902
Who hath desired the Sea? -- the sight of salt wind-hounded --
The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber win hounded?
The sleek-barrelled swell before storm, grey, foamless, enormous, and growing --
Stark calm on the lap of the Line or the crazy-eyed hurricane blowing --
His Sea in no showing the same his Sea and...Read more of this...

Daddy Warbucks

by Anne Sexton
 In Memoriam

What's missing is the eyeballs
in each of us, but it doesn't matter
because you've got the bucks, the bucks, the bucks.
You let me touch them, fondle the green faces
lick at their numbers and it lets you be
my "Daddy!" "Daddy!" and though I fought all alone
with molesters and crooks, I knew your money
would save me, your courage, your "I've had
considerable...Read more of this...

Tom Beatty

by Edgar Lee Masters
 I was a lawyer like Harmon Whitney
Or Kinsey Keene or Garrison Standard,
For I tried the rights of property,
Although by lamp-light, for thirty years,
In that poker room in the opera house.
And I say to you that Life's a gambler
Head and shoulders above us all.
No mayor alive can close the house.
And if you lose, you can squeal as you will;
You'll not...Read more of this...

40000

by Charles Bukowski
 at the track today,
Father's Day,
each paid admission was
entitled to a wallet
and each contained a
little surprise. 
most of the men seemed
between 30 and 55,
going to fat,
many of them in walking
shorts,
they had gone stale in
life,
flattened out.... 
in fact, damn it, they
aren't even worth writing
about!
why am I doing
this? 
these don't even
deserve a death bed,
these little walking
whales,
only there are so
many of
them,
in the urinals,
in...Read more of this...

Wadin' In De Crick

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Days git wa'm an' wa'mah,
School gits mighty dull,
Seems lak dese hyeah teachahs
Mus' feel mussiful.
Hookey's wrong, I know it
Ain't no gent'man's trick;
But de aih's a-callin',
"Come on to de crick."
Dah de watah's gu'glin'
Ovah shiny stones,
Des hit's ve'y singin'
Seems to soothe yo' bones.
Wat's de use o' waitin'
Go on good an' quick:
Dain't no fun lak dis hyeah
Wadin' in de crick.
W'at dat jay-b'ud sayin'?
Bettah shet...Read more of this...

Sonnet CCVI

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCVI. Il mal mi preme, e mi spaventa il peggio. TO A FRIEND, IN LOVE LIKE HIMSELF, HE CAN GIVE NO ADVICE BUT TO RAISE HIS SOUL TO GOD.  Evil oppresses me and worse dismay,To which a plain and ample way I find;Driven like thee by frantic passion, blind,Urged by harsh...Read more of this...

"Howdy, Honey, Howdy!"

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Do' a-stan'in' on a jar, fiah a-shinin' thoo,
Ol' folks drowsin' 'roun' de place, wide awake is Lou,
W'en I tap, she answeh, an' I see huh 'mence to grin,
"Howdy, honey, howdy, won't you step right in?"
Den I step erpon de log layin' at de do',
Bless de Lawd, huh mammy an' huh pap's done 'menced to sno',
Now's de time, ef evah, ef...Read more of this...

Love is more thicker than forget

by Edward Estlin (E E) Cummings
Love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail

It's most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

Love is more always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less litter than forgive

It's most sane and sunly
and more it cannot...Read more of this...

The Wargeilah Handicap

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Wargeilah town is very small, 
There's no cathedral nor a club, 
In fact the township, all in all, 
Is just one unpretentious pub; 
And there, from all the stations round, 
The local sportsmen can be found. 

The sportsmen of Wargeilah-side 
Are very few but very fit; 
There's scarcely any sport been tried 
But they can hold their own at...Read more of this...

The Dauntless Three

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Chris Watson, of the Parliament, 
By his Caucus Gods he swore 
That the great Labor Party 
Should suffer wrong no more. 
By his Caucus Gods he swore it, 
And named a trysting day, 
And bade his Socialists ride forth, 
East and west and south and north, 
To summon his array. 
East and west and south and north 
The Socialists...Read more of this...

Twelve Months After

by Siegfried Sassoon
 Hullo! here’s my platoon, the lot I had last year. 
‘The war’ll be over soon.’ 
‘What ’opes?’ 
‘No bloody fear!’ 
Then, ‘Number Seven, ’shun! All present and correct.’
They’re standing in the sun, impassive and erect. 
Young Gibson with his grin; and Morgan, tired and white; 
Jordan, who’s out to win a D.C.M. some night; 
And Hughes that’s keen on...Read more of this...

The Dead Robin

by Anonymous
All through the win-ter, long and cold,
  Dear Minnie ev-ery morn-ing fed
The little spar-rows, pert and bold,
  And ro-bins, with their breasts so red.

She lov-ed to see the lit-tle birds
  Come flut-ter-ing to the win-dow pane,
In answer to the gen-tle words
  With which she scat-ter-ed crumbs and grain.

One ro-bin, bol-der than the rest,
  Would perch...Read more of this...

T.y.s.o.n

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Across the Queensland border line
The mobs of cattle go;
They travel down in sun and shine
On dusty stage, and slow.
The drovers, riding slowly on
To let the cattle spread,
Will say: "Here's one old landmark gone,
For old man Tyson's dead."
What tales there'll be in every camp
By men that Tyson knew!
The swagmen, meeting on the tramp,
Will yarn the long day through,
And tell of...Read more of this...

Editor Whedon

by Edgar Lee Masters
 To be able to see every side of every question;
To be on every side, to be everything, to be nothing long;
To pervert truth, to ride it for a purpose,
To use great feelings and passions of the human family
For base designs, for cunning ends,
To wear a mask like the Greek actors --
Your eight-page paper -- behind which you huddle,
Bawling through...Read more of this...

Astrophel and Stella: I

by Sir Philip Sidney
 ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: I
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,--
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,--
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others' leaves,...Read more of this...

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 2

by Alexander Pope
 Not with more glories, in th' etherial plain, 
The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,
Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams
Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames.
Fair nymphs, and well-dress'd youths around her shone,
But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
Her lively...Read more of this...

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