# Books whose titles are taken from poetry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845 "2009-05-27T21:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/21 "2009-05-28T12:50:24Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Another MacBeth reference: Alistair Maclean’s _The Way to Dusty Death_ _Macbeth_, however, is not a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/22 "2009-05-28T13:01:04Z")
Robert Fisk’s _Pity the Nation_, about the Lebanese civil war, is from “The Garden of the Prophet” by the Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran: Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion. Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press. Pity the nation that acclaims the bull as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful. Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking. Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle. Pity the nation divided into into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/23 "2009-05-28T13:22:24Z")
Perhaps not, though I would argue that the soliloquy is poetic enough: > [@](#): > > Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle. Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Instead, I’ll give you _The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side_ by Agatha Christie. The title is directly related to the key reference of the poem (_The Lady of Shalott_ by Tennyson) in the story. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/24 "2009-05-28T13:25:17Z")
Two of Ed McBain’s last books were entitled “Money Money Mone.” and "The Fumious Bandersnatch ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/25 "2009-05-28T14:54:36Z")
One O. Henry story collection was titled “Of Cabbages and Kings” from “The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Don Westlake wrote a book **What I Tell You Three Times is False** , a reference to “The Hunting of the Snark’s” “What I tell you three times is true.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/26 "2009-05-28T16:01:21Z")
Steinbeck Of Mice and Men, from Robert Burns’ “To a Mouse” Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath, from Julia Ward Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/27 "2009-05-28T17:13:46Z")
Solzhenitsyn’s [The First Circle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Circle) from Dante’s _The Divine Comedy_. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845/28 "2009-05-28T17:14:19Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I’d be curious to hear what titles you’re thinking of. Here are just a few examples, ones I’ve run into while trying to find one each of the titles listed. [The Pearl](http://www.amazon.com/Pearl-Centennial-John-Steinbeck/dp/0142000698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243529374&sr=1-1) [The Pearl](http://www.amazon.com/Pearl/dp/1596540087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243529450&sr=1-1) [Book of the Dead](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dead-Scarpetta-Patricia-Cornwell/dp/042521625X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530431&sr=1-2) [Book of the Dead](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dead-E-Wallis-Budge/dp/1605974897/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530431&sr=1-6) [Book of the Dead](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dead-Pendergast/dp/0446618500/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530431&sr=1-3) [When Darkness Falls](http://www.amazon.com/When-Darkness-Falls-Obsidian-Trilogy/dp/0765341433/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530653&sr=1-3) [When Darkness Falls](http://www.amazon.com/When-Darkness-Falls-Shannon-Drake/dp/0821766929/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530653&sr=1-5) [When Darkness Falls](http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Falls-Swyteck-James-Grippando/dp/0060831146/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243530653&sr=1-6) [Crash](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115964/) [Crash](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/) [Fear](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099557/) [Fear](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116287/) [Darkness](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106669/) [Darkness](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273517/) [The Dark](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109551/) [The Dark](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411267/) [The Dark](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1279077/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-whose-titles-are-taken-from-poetry/497845.md?page=1)