# Your Favorite Passage of Poetry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116 "2016-12-07T16:10:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/41 "2016-12-08T00:45:23Z")
- People mention murder, the moment you arrive. I’d consider killing you if I thought you were alive. You’ve got this slippery quality, it makes me think of phlegm, and a dual personality I hate both of them\* John Cooper Clarke, Twat. - To convey one’s mood in seventeen syllables is very diffic\* John Cooper Clarke, Haiku ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/42 "2016-12-08T00:54:38Z")
From _Kubla Khan_, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora. Could I revive within me Her symphony and song, To such a deep delight ’twould win me, That with music loud and long, I would build that dome in air, That sunny dome! those caves of ice! And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/43 "2016-12-08T01:05:01Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > That’s a pretty good description of 2016, actually. :eek: Yes, I thought about including a comment to that effect, but wanted to leave out the politics. Besides, I love those lines because they can be applied so many ways. They were originally written about World War I, but they became my touchstone after 9/11, when they perfectly described my feelings. And now they’ve come around again… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/44 "2016-12-08T01:20:47Z")
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? And Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d go away ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/45 "2016-12-08T02:03:52Z")
Sea Fever (1st stanza) By John Masefield I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking. Brian ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/46 "2016-12-08T02:10:18Z")
Only those elements which time cannot wear were created before me and beyond eternity I stand Abandon hope, all ye who enter here Dante’s Inferno ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/47 "2016-12-08T02:39:38Z")
On the shores of Lake Michigan I bit into a Whitefishigan. – _Ogden Nash, on a postcard_ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/48 "2016-12-08T02:57:04Z")
From Binyon’s _For the Fallen_ They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/49 "2016-12-08T03:20:26Z")
The second verse: _In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?_ ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/50 "2016-12-08T03:36:12Z")
William Blake: _To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour._ T. S. Eliot: \*We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. \* ---
**Author:** ![GinoC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@GinoC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GinoC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/51 "2016-12-08T03:45:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > It’s a huge cliche, especially in geek circles, but it still imight be my favorite: > > _The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep > Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, > ‘T is not too late to seek a newer world. > Push off, and sitting well in order smite > The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds > To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths > Of all the western stars, until I die. > It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: > It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, > And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. > Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’ > We are not now that strength which in old days > Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; > One equal temper of heroic hearts, > Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will > To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield._ > > Alfred, Lord Tennyson I love it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GinoC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@GinoC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GinoC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/52 "2016-12-08T03:50:05Z")
From _Horatius_ by Thomas Babington Macaulay: _Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: “To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods?”_ ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/53 "2016-12-08T04:54:18Z")
Another quote from Bobby Frost. “We keep the wall between us as we go.” That line infers so much! ---
**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/54 "2016-12-08T05:36:48Z")
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Thomas Gray ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/55 "2016-12-08T06:14:47Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Lord Byron: > > So, we’ll go no more a roving > So late into the night, > Though the heart be still as loving, > And the moon be still as bright. > > For the sword outwears its sheath, > And the soul wears out the breast, > And the heart must pause to breathe, > And love itself have rest. > > Though the night was made for loving, > And the day returns too soon, > Yet we’ll go no more a roving > By the light of the moon. This is quietly sad, and very true. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/56 "2016-12-08T07:27:51Z")
Like one who on a lonesome road doth walk in fear and dread, and having looked back once no more will turn his head, for close behind he knows a fearful fiend doth tread. Samuel Coleridge; Rime of the Ancient Mariner A good poem for halloween, no? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/57 "2016-12-08T07:52:27Z")
James Dickey [Cherrylog Road](http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/cherrylog-road/). Best poem ever written about a junkyard. And sex. \*And I to my motorcycle Parked like the soul of the junkyard Restored, a bicycle fleshed With power, and tore off Up Highway 106, continually Drunk on the wind in my mouth, Wringing the handlebar for speed, Wild to be wreckage forever. \* ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/58 "2016-12-08T08:47:05Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > The entirety of Wallace Stevens’ _Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird_, but especially: Great choice, I love that poem, V being my favourite stanza: V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after. The conclusion of Eliot’s _Prufrock_: I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown. and from Bashō: The old pond A frog jumps in The sound of water. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/59 "2016-12-08T09:57:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The conclusion of Eliot’s Prufrock: > > We have lingered in the chambers of the sea > By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown > Till human voices wake us, and we drown. That’s what I came here to mention, especially the last stanza. In French, I’d pick: **Verlaine** ’s _Chanson d’Automne_ Les sanglots longs Des violons De l’automne Blessent mon coeur D’une langueur Monotone. **Baudelaire** ’s _A une Passante_ Ailleurs, bien loin d’ici! trop tard! jamais peut-être! Car j’ignore où tu fuis, tu ne sais où je vais, O toi que j’eusse aimée, ô toi qui le savais! And _La Cloche Fêlée_ Moi, mon âme est fêlée, et lorsqu’en ses ennuis Elle veut de ses chants peupler l’air froid des nuits, Il arrive souvent que sa voix affaiblie Semble le râle épais d’un blessé qu’on oublie Au bord d’un lac de sang, sous un grand tas de morts, Et qui meurt, sans bouger, dans d’immenses efforts. **Reverdy** ’s _Sable Mouvant_ Alors Je prie le ciel Que nul ne me regarde Si ce n’est au travers d’un verre d’illusion Retenant seulement sur l’écran glacé d’un horizon qui boude ce fin profil de fil de fer amer si délicatement délavé par l’eau qui coule les larmes de rosée les gouttes de soleil les embruns de la mer ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116/60 "2016-12-08T10:34:58Z")
Very difficult to choose, there are so many, but I’ll choose two. The first is from the great John Dryden’s translation of Horace, Odes, I, ix. I get shivers down my spine whenever I read these lines. > [@](#): > > Happy the man and happy he alone, > He who can call today his own. > He who, secure within, can say > Tomorrow do thy worst for I have lived today. > Come fair or foul or rain or shine > The joys I have possessed in spite of Fate are mine. > Not Heaven itself upon the past has power > But what has been has been and I have had my hour. Secondly I’d choose Sonnet 23 of John Milton which speaks of a dream he had of his dead wife. Milton had been blind for years when he wrote the poem and the last line is heartbreaking. > [@](#): > > Methought I saw my late espousèd Saint > Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, > Whom Jove’s great son to her glad Husband gave, > Rescu’d from death by force though pale and faint. > > Mine as whom washt from spot of child-bed taint, > Purification in the old Law did save, > And such, as yet once more I trust to have > Full sight of her in Heaven without restraint, > > Came vested all in white, pure as her mind: > Her face was vail’d, yet to my fancied sight, > Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shin’d > > So clear, as in no face with more delight. > But O as to embrace me she enclin’d, > I wak’d, she fled, and day brought back my night. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-passage-of-poetry/774116.md?page=4)