# Your favorite poetry image(s) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314 "2005-07-20T16:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/21 "2005-07-20T22:17:57Z")
Hey! My post got split in the middle and **lizardling** snuck in there! What happened? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/22 "2005-07-20T22:49:49Z")
More Prufrock: > [@](#): > > I should have been a pair of ragged claws, Scuttling across the floors of silent seas More Coleridge: > [@](#): > > And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, > As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, > A mighty fountain momently was forced: > Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst > Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, > Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail Stevens: > [@](#): > > Take from the dresser of deal, > Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet > On which she embroidered fantails once > And spread it so as to cover her face. Shelley: > [@](#): > > –Two vast and trunkless legs of stone > Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, > Half sunk, a shattered visage lies– Robert Browning: > [@](#): > > –All the day > Had been a dreary one at best, and dim > Was settling to its close, yet shot one grim > Red leer to see the plain catch its estray. and > [@](#): > > As for the grass, it grew as scant as hair > In leprosy; thin dry blades pricked the mud > Which underneath looked kneaded up with blood. and much of the rest of “Childe Roland,” actually. Atwood: > [@](#): > > You fit into me > like a hook into an eye > A fish hook > An open eye Wordsworth: > [@](#): > > The river glideth at his own sweet will: > Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; > And all that mighty heart is lying still! ---
**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:** [July 21, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/23 "2005-07-21T00:06:23Z")
The poem is so short that the “image” is more than half of it: > [@William Blake](#): > > The invisible worm > That flies in the night > In the howling storm > > Has found out thy bed > Of crimson joy ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/24 "2005-07-21T00:42:52Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > _When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose_ > > 😃 > > from _The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner_ by **Randall Jarrell**. I came in to mention that one as well. A restored B17 Flying Fortress paid a visit to my local airfield; that poem was screaming in my head when I saw it. Also (can’t do the spacing right, so sorry): who used to ride a watersmooth-silver stallion Another ee cummings, **Buffalo Bill’s Defunct**. I always liked that imagery. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/25 "2005-07-21T03:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > This is just to say > I have eaten the plums > You had left in the icebox > And were probably saving for breakfast. > Forgive me. > They were delicious. > So sweet and so cool. The most amazing poem I’ve ever read. It says so much while seemingly saying nothing, and the image it gives is vivid and touching. I’m also fond of this, especially when I learned about the pun: “And your quaint honor turn to dust.” [spoiler]“quaint” was a pun, pronounced like a four-letter word for a bit of female anatomy. [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/26 "2005-07-21T03:04:52Z")
**andros** , your Atwood quotation reminded me of [Merwin’s Separation](http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1107.html): _Your absence has gone through me Like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color._ My favorite is probably [Meredith’s The Illiterate](http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/Illiterate.html). The whole poem is great, with the image that it evokes of a person afraid, ashamed, confused, and hopeful all at once. _Touching your goodness, I am like a man Who turns a letter over in his hand And you might think that this was because the hand Was unfamiliar but, truth is, the man Has never had a letter from anyone; And now he is both afraid of what it means And ashamed because he has no other means To find out what it says than to ask someone._ ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/27 "2005-07-21T04:45:07Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Tiger, tiger, burning bright. That’s the first one I thought of when I read the thread title! I’m also very fond of this, courtesy of Lord Byron: _She walks in beauty like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies_ Oh, and this one has always haunted me, thank you Mr. Stephen Crane: - In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it. I said, “Is it good, friend?” “It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart.” \* ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/28 "2005-07-21T18:10:46Z")
My first thought was _Ozymandias_, but there are lots more, many mentioned above. > [@Robert Browning](#): > > … Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, > Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without > Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; > Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands > As if alive. … Even better: > [@John Keats](#): > > And this is why I sojourn here, > Alone and palely loitering, > Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake, > And no birds sing. Best of all: > [@Lewis Carroll](#): > > And, as in uffish thought he stood, > The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, > Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, > And burbled as it came! > > One two! One two! And through and through > The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! > He left it dead, and with its head > He went galumphing back. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/29 "2005-07-21T18:42:33Z")
Love it! Keep 'em coming: Here are some old friends: Eugene Field: _We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in this beautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we!_ Coleridge: _My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank; Sure I had drunken in my dreams And still my body drank._ Anon: _Westron wind, when wilt thou blow That small rain down can rain? Christ, that my love were in my arms, And I in my bed again!_ Nash: \*The pirate gaped at Belinda’s dragon, And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon, He fired two bullets but they didn’t hit, And Custard gobbled him, every bit. \* And to keep things fresh, here’s one I’ve never posted before: Neruda: _Sometimes I see alone coffins under sail, embarking with the pale dead, with women that have dead hair, with bakers who are as white as angels, and pensive young girls married to notary publics, caskets sailing up the vertical river of the dead, the river of dark purple, moving upstream with sails filled out by the sound of death, filled by the sound of death which is silence._ ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/30 "2005-07-21T19:50:38Z")
I love these lines from “Ode to a Nightingale,” by John Keats: The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that oft-times hath Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/31 "2005-07-21T19:55:10Z")
Wordsworth again: \*When oft upon my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood. \* Perfect! ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/32 "2005-07-21T20:11:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > (I’m not sure if these are exact.) > > I hate most poetry, but I’ve always liked > > “The woods are long, dark, and deep > And I have miles to go before I sleep.” I agree with “…Snowy Evening.” The exact lines are thus: The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. From **Aubade** , by Philip Larkin: Slowly light strengthens, and the room takes shape. It stands plain as a wardrobe, what we know, Have always known, know that we can’t escape, Yet can’t accept. One side will have to go. Meanwhile telephones crouch, getting ready to ring In locked-up offices, and all the uncaring Intricate rented world begins to rouse. The sky is white as clay, with no sun. Work has to be done. Postmen like doctors go from house to house. From **Why Did I Dream of You Last Night?** , by Larkin: So many things I had thought forgotten Return to my mind with stranger pain: –Like letters that arrive addressed to someone Who left the house so many years ago. From **i sing of Olaf glad and big** , by e.e. cummings while kindred intellects evoke allegiance per blunt instruments- Olaf (being to all intents a corpse and wanting any rag upon what God unto him gave) responds, without getting annoyed “I will not kiss your fucking flag” … his rectum wickedly to tease by means of skillfully applied bayonets roasted hot with heat- Olaf (upon what were once knees) does almost ceaselessly repeat “there is some shit I will not eat” ---
**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:** [July 21, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/33 "2005-07-21T20:24:16Z")
\*\*Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands Oh where hae you been? They hae slay the Earl of Murray, And Lady Mondegreen. \*\* I know, I know. But it is a lovely image. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/34 "2005-07-21T21:06:04Z")
My favorite poem is [A Dream Deferred](http://www.cswnet.com/~menamc/langston.htm) by Langston Hughes, because every image in there has so much impact. I like > [@](#): > > Or crust and sugar over– > like a syrupy sweet? because it’s so unexpected. Not rage or frustration or resentment, but the perfect sense of disappointment and despair, something perfect turned rotten. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/35 "2005-07-21T21:08:34Z")
From **The Garden of Proserpine** by Swinburne: _From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be: That no life lives for ever; That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea._ ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/36 "2005-07-22T00:19:33Z")
I just discovered ee cummings’ [the boys i mean are not refined](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/11887) (warning: profanity). That last line kills me: _they shake the mountains when they dance_ ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/37 "2005-07-22T00:33:32Z")
Looks like e e cummings is getting a lot of play: > [@](#): > > one day anyone died i guess > (and noone stopped to kiss his face) > busy folk buried them side by side > little by little and was by was Burns: > [@](#): > > Scots what hae wi’ Wallace bled, > Scots, wham Bruce has aften led, > Welcome to your gory bed, > Or to victorie! or > [@](#): > > Still, thou art blessed compar’d wi’ me! > The present only toucheth thee: > But Och! I backward cast my e’e, > On prospects drear! > An’ forward, tho’ I canna see, > I guess an’ fear! Finally, just about anything by Stephen Crane - > [@](#): > > To the maiden > The sea was blue meadow > Alive with little froth-people > Singing. > > To the sailor, wrecked, > The sea was dead grey walls > Superlative in vacancy > Upon which nevertheless at fateful time > Was written > The grim hatred of nature ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/38 "2005-07-22T00:40:05Z")
Poe’s been with me all day: > [@](#): > > And, over each quivering form, > The curtain, a funeral pall, > Comes down with the rush of a storm ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/39 "2005-07-22T01:54:23Z")
From **Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night** , by Dylan Thomas “Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lighting they Do not go gentle into that good night.” Can’t believe I forgot Dylan Thomas. Can’t believe I’m only the second person to bring him up. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314/40 "2005-07-22T02:22:00Z")
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses Rembering the Trojan War: “And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.” I can hear the steel (well, bronze) weapons striking. An old warrior compared to a sword hanging on the wall: “How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-poetry-image-s/313314.md?page=3)