Famous Wrest Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Sonnet CLXXXII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CLXXXII. Tra quantunque leggiadre donne e belle. ALL NATURE WOULD BE IN DARKNESS WERE SHE, ITS SUN, TO PERISH.  Where'er she moves, whatever dames among,Beauteous or graceful, matchless she below.With her fair face she makes all others showDim, as the day's bright orb night's starry throng.And Love still whispers, with...Read more of this...

Psalm 56

by Isaac Watts
 Deliverance from oppression and falsehood.

O Thou whose justice reigns on high,
And makes th' oppressor cease,
Behold how envious sinners try
To vex and break my peace.

The sons of violence and lies
Join to devour me, Lord;
But as my hourly dangers rise,
My refuge is thy word.

In God most holy, just, and true,
I have reposed my trust;
Nor will I fear what flesh can do,
The...Read more of this...

Sonnet IX: As Other Men

by Michael Drayton
 As other men, so I myself do muse 
Why in this sort I wrest invention so, 
And why these giddy metaphors I use, 
Leaving the path the greater part do go. 
I will resolve you: I am lunatic, 
And ever this in madmen you shall find, 
What they last thought of when the brain grew sick 
In most distraction...Read more of this...

Sonnet CCXVIII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCXVIII. Far potess' io vendetta di colei. HIS SOUL VISITS HER IN SLEEP.  Oh! that from her some vengeance I could wrestWith words and glances who my peace destroys,And then abash'd, for my worse sorrow, flies,Veiling her eyes so cruel, yet so blest;Thus mine afflicted spirits and oppress'dBy sure...Read more of this...

The Laws of God The Laws of Man

by A E Housman
 The laws of God, the laws of man,
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and much condemn,
Yet when did I make laws for them?
Please yourselves, say I, and they
Need only look the...Read more of this...

The Bait

by John Donne
 Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove,
Of golden sand, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river whispering run,
Warmed by thy eyes more than the sun.
And there the enamoured fish will stay.
Begging themselves they may betray.

When wilt thou swim in that live bath,
Each fish, which every channel hath,
Will amorously...Read more of this...

To Rinaldo

by Mary Darby Robinson
 SOFT is the balmy breath of May, 
When from the op'ning lids of day 
Meek twilight steals; and from its wings 
Translucent pearls of ether flings. 
MILD is the chaste Moon's languid eye, 
When gliding down the dappled sky 
She feebly lifts her spangled bow, 
Around her glitt'ring darts to throw.­ 
SWEET are the aromatic bowers, 
When Night sends...Read more of this...

Honors - Part I

by Jean Ingelow
A Scholar is musing on his want of success.)

To strive—and fail. Yes, I did strive and fail;
  I set mine eyes upon a certain night
To find a certain star—and could not hail
      With them its deep-set light.
Fool that I was! I will rehearse my fault:
  I, wingless, thought myself on high to lift
Among...Read more of this...

Damayante To Nala In The Hour Of Exile

by Sarojini Naidu
 SHALT thou be conquered of a human fate 
My liege, my lover, whose imperial head 
Hath never bent in sorrow of defeat? 
Shalt thou be vanquished, whose imperial feet 
Have shattered armies and stamped empires dead? 
Who shall unking thee, husband of a queen? 
Wear thou thy majesty inviolate. 
Earth's glories flee of human eyes unseen, 
Earth's kingdoms fade...Read more of this...

Holy-Cross Day

by Robert Browning
 ON WHICH THE JEWS WERE FORCED TO
ATTEND AN ANNUAL CHRISTIAN SERMON
IN ROME.

[``Now was come about Holy-Cross Day,
and now must my lord preach his first sermon
to the Jews: as it was of old cared for in tine
merciful bowels of the Church, that, so to
speak, a crumb at least from her conspicuous
table here in Rome should be, though but
once yearly, cast...Read more of this...

Still own thee -- still thou art

by Emily Dickinson
 Still own thee -- still thou art
What surgeons call alive --
Though slipping -- slipping I perceive
To thy reportless Grave --

Which question shall I clutch --
What answer wrest from thee
Before thou dost exude away
In the recallless sea?...Read more of this...

Mine Own John Poynz

by Sir Thomas Wyatt
 Mine own John Poynz, since ye delight to know
The cause why that homeward I me draw,
And flee the press of courts, whereso they go,
Rather than to live thrall under the awe
Of lordly looks, wrappèd within my cloak,
To will and lust learning to set a law:
It is not for because I scorn or mock
The power of them, to whom fortune...Read more of this...

Canzone XVI

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 124] CANZONE XVI. Italia mia, benchè 'l parlar sia indarno. TO THE PRINCES OF ITALY, EXHORTING THEM TO SET HER FREE.  O my own Italy! though words are vainThe mortal wounds to close,Unnumber'd, that thy beauteous bosom stain,Yet may it soothe my painTo sigh forth Tyber's woes,Read more of this...

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