example of lyric poetry

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Example of Lyric Poetry

ELEGY

Too proud to die; broken and blind he died

The darkest way, and did not turn away,A cold kind man brave in his narrow pride

On that darkest day, Oh, forever mayHe lie lightly, at last, on the last, crossedHill, under the grass, in love, and there grow

Young among the long flocks, and never lie lostOr still all the numberless days of his death,

though

Above all he longed for his mother's breast

Which was rest and dust, and in the kind groundThe darkest justice of death, blind and unblessed.Let him find no rest but be fathered and found,

I prayed in the crouching room, by his blind bed,In the muted house, one minute before

Noon, and night, and light. The rivers of the dead

veined his poor hand I held, and I sawthrough his unseeing eyes to the roots of the sea.

(An old tormented man three-quarters blind,

I am not too proud to cry that He and hewill never go out of my mind.

All his bones crying, and poor in all but pain,

being innocent, he dreaded that he diedHating his God, but what he was plain:

An old kind man brave in his burning pride.


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The sticks of the house were his; his books heowned.

Even as a baby he had never cried;Nor did he know, save to his secret wound.

Out of his eyes I saw the last light glide.Here among the liught of the lording sky

an old man is with me where I go

walking in the meadows of his son's eye

on whom a world of ills came down like snow.He cried as he died, fearing at last the spheres'

Last sound, the world going out without a breath:Too proud to cry, too frail to check the tears,And caught between two nights, blindness and

death.

O deepest wound of all that he should dieon that darkest day. Oh, he could hide

the tears out of his eyes, too proud to cry.

Until I die he will not leave my side.)


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Example of Haiku

Basho Matsuo

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

Autumn moonlight

a worm digs silently

into the chestnut.

Lightning flash

what I thought were faces

are plumes of pampas grass.


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Example of Ode

Ode To The Forgotten

Ode to the people who were forgotten

They were once loved and cared for

Ode to their lives

Everyday they hurt

While in desperation for loveand generosity.

Ode to their heart

That was torn apart viciously

With little consideration

Of their inner feelings

Ode to their memories

That bring back happinessOr to the ones

That are very vague.

Ode to those who have tried

Those who haven't given up

The ones that will keep climbin

For them life hasn't been easy.


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Example of Sonnet

Red Blushed And All Cut UpBy Paul McCann

Talking to myself thereSomeone had overheard.I was lost for a word.

There was nothing to share.Embarrassed I was there.Left awkward and absurd .A broken wingless bird.

With nowhere to fly there.Caught red faced there was I.

Didn't want to be seen.I just wanted to die.

I just wanted to scream.I'm so terribly shy.

Lost for words it would seem.


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Example of Dramatic Poetry

Tamburlaine the Greatby Christopher Marlowe

In Tamburlaine Christopher Marlowe shows the

audience from the very beginning that Mycetes, the

king of Persia, is not a wise ruler. He is unable

to keep his nation unified because in order to do

so he must possess wisdom and strength, which

according to Cosroe they were both traits that

Mycetes lacked. Mycetes is the complete opposite

of what a ruler should be and therefore cannot

last long in power. According to Machiavellis Il

Principe, a ruler in order to retain power must

act like the lion and the fox in order to survive.

The lion represents strength whereas the foxrepresents wit, two traits that are essential for

a successful ruler.

In the Prologue Marlowe tells the audience that

they are going to witness a tragic glass and the

audience is then introduced to the Scythian

shepherd scourging those kingdoms that are led by

rulers weaker than him. The tragedy of the play is

of those rulers who are more concerned with pompand outward appearances that they must fall. The

De Casibus Tragedy was concerned with showing the

downfall of those sultans who believe they were

rising on the wheel of fortune however once they

reach the top they will go down. The instability

of the fortunes wheel means that these rulers


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will always meet their end unless one can be both

a lion and a fox.

A Lion and a Fox

In the first scenes Tamburlaine is described by

the King of Persia, Mycetes, in Machiavellian

terms as a fox in the midst of harvest-time/Doth

prey upon my flocks of passengers, creating the

impression that Tamburlaine is a brave,

resourceful and a military leader.

This description puts in contrast the failings of

the weak king Mycetes who finds himselfaggrieved/Yet insufficient to express the same.

The King of Persia far from being a fox and a

lion is a weak, inarticulate king who cannot

quite express his conceived grief.

Fate and Fortune

Tamburlaine makes his appearance in the play right

after being described by the opposition as a foxpreying upon the kings flocks. Tamburlaine

declares that he holds the Fates and Fortune in

his power and further adds that even Jove himself

will stretch himself from heaven.

Fate and Fortune are mentioned throughout the

play. The Wheel of Fortune, also mentioned in

Machiavelli doctrine, was known to be fickle and

unreliable and to abandon great rulers once theyreach the top but from the very beginning of the

play when Tamburlaine is still in a shepherds

weed he declares that he holds the Fates bound

fast in iron chains/And with my hand turn

Fortunes wheel about.


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The Birth of Tamburlaines Ambition

Tamburlaine is made the regent of Persia when he

assisted Cosroe in defeating the Persian army.Tamburlaine starts to mull over the power of a

king following the ease of his victory on behalf

of another. Soon after Tamburlaines alliance with

Cosroe we witness the birth of Tamburlaines

ambition and the beginning of his unstoppable

power.

The desire for power drives Tamburlaines

ambition. Power is epitomized by the Crown ofwhose significance as the representation of power

over life and death is recurrent throughout the

play.

An Aspiring Mind

As the events of the play progress Tamburlaineaspires for greater and greater power. His pursuitfor power compels Tamburlaine to betray Cosroe.Within Tamburlaines philosophy it is nature

itself which teaches us all to have aspiringminds and the greater the presumption the

better natures lesson has been learnt.

For Tamburlaine the Crown is the essential symbolof power, the crown is the ripest fruit of

all/That perfect bliss and sole felicity/The sweetfruition of an earthly crown.

The Great Chain of Being

The prevalent belief at the time was that theruler of the State should be divinely appointed byGod; however Tamburlaine rises to great power inspite of his lowly birth and being described as

peasant ignorant by the Soldan of Egypt.


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Tamburlaine seemingly challenges the Great Chainof Being by rising to power from the lowly statusof a shepherd. According to Tamburlaine his birthis no impediment to his fame since only power

determines ones worth and achievement.

The Quest for Slippery Crowns

Tamburlaines relentless pursuit for powertransformed him into a merciless mercenary whotreated his prisoners in a brutal and callous

manner. By the end of the first part ofTamburlaine the audience leaves Tamburlaine atthe height of his power but his wife Zenocrate

voices her fear for Tamburlaines future.

Zenocrate knows that victory and power are notforever, and somehow foresees that Tamburlaine

will also be abandoned by the Wheel of Fortune andmeet his downfall as in the De Casibus Tragedy:

Those that are proud of fickle emperyAnd place their chiefest good in earthly pomp,

Behold the Turk and his great empress.Ah Tamburlaine my love, sweet Tamburlaine

That fights for sceptres and for slippery crowns,Behold the Turk and his great empress.


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Paradise lost by John Milton

Satan: Satan is the first major character

introduced in the poem. A beautiful youth, he is atragic figure best described by his own words

"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven". Heis introduced to Hell after a failed rebellion towrestle control of Heaven from God. Satan's desire

to rebel against his creator stems from hisunwillingness to accept that all beings don't

deserve freedom, declaring the angels "self-begot,self-raised", thereby eliminating Gods authority

over them as their creator.

Satan is portrayed as charismatic and persuasive.Satan's persuasive powers are first evident whenhe makes arguments to his angel-followers as towhy they should try to overthrow God. He arguesthat they ought to have equal rights to God and

that Heaven is an unfair monarchy.

The role of Satan as a driving force in the poemhas been the subject of much scholarly debate.Positions range from views of William Blake who

stated Milton "wrote in fetters when [he] wrote ofAngels and God, and at liberty when of Devils andHell, [because] he was a true Poet and of theDevil's party without knowing it" to critic

William H. Marshall's interpretation of the poemas a Christian morality tale.


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Mephistopheles

Although Mephistopheles appears to Faustus as adevil a worker of Satan critics claim that hedoes not search for men to corrupt but come toserve and ultimately collect the souls of thosewho are already damned. Farnham explains, "Nordoes Mephistophiles first appear to Faustus as adevil who walks up and down in earth to tempt andcorrupt any man encountered. He appears because hesenses in Faustus magical summons that Faustus isalready corrupt, that indeed he is already 'in

danger to be damned'."

Mephistopheles is already trapped in his own hellby serving the Devil. He warns Faustus of the

choice he is making by selling his soul to theDevil: Mephistophilis, an agent of Lucifer,

appears and at first advises Faust not to forgothe promise of heaven to pursue his goals.

Farnham adds to his theory, [Faustus] enters anever-present private hell like that of

Mephistophiles. Both Farnham andKrstovic/Lazzardi see Mephistopheles as a workerof the devil who was summoned by the already-damned soul of Faustus. But the Gale LiteratureCriticism takes him to the next step, almostportraying Mephistopheles as a protector whileFarnham displays him as a servant of Lucifer.


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UlyssesAlfred Lord Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,By this still hearth, among these barren crags,

Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and doleUnequal laws unto a savage race,

That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drinkLife to the lees: all times I have enjoyed

Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with thoseThat loved me, and alone; on shore, and when

Through scudding drifts the rainy HyadesVexed the dim sea: I am become a name;For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known; cities of menAnd manners, climates, councils, governments,Myself not least, but honoured of them all;And drunk delight of battle with my peers;


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Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethroughGleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move.

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

As though to breathe were life. Life piled on lifeWere all too little, and of one to meLittle remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,And this grey spirit yearning in desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil

This labour, by slow prudence to make mildA rugged people, and through soft degreesSubdue them to the useful and the good.

Most blameless is he, centred in the sphereOf common duties, decent not to fail

In offices of tenderness, and payMeet adoration to my household gods,When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,

Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thoughtwith me

That ever with a frolic welcome tookThe thunder and the sunshine, and opposed

Free hearts, free foreheads you and I are old;Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;

Death closes all: but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:

The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deepMoans round with many voices. Come, my friends,


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'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf 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 thoughWe 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 willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

The Seven Ages of Man

(from "as you like it")

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts beeing seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling an puking in his nurse's arms:

And then the winning school-boy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel;

Seeking the bubble reputation


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Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice,In fair round belly, with good capon lined,With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side;His youthful hose well sav'd, a worl too wideFor his shrunk shanks; and his big manly voice,Turning again towards childish treble, pipesAd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends his strange eventful history,Is second childishness, and mere oblivion:Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans

everything.

William Shakespeare. 1564-1616

example of lyric poetry

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