CAPACITY POEMS

An Octopus

of ice. Deceptively reserved and flat,
it lies “in grandeur and in mass”
beneath a sea of shifting snow-dunes;
dots of cyclamen-red and maroon on its clearly defined
.....

Marianne Moore

There Is A Flower That Bees Prefer

380

There is a flower that Bees prefer-
And Butterflies-desire-
.....

Emily Dickinson

Twould Ease'a Butterfly

682

'Twould ease-a Butterfly-
Elate-a Bee-
.....

Emily Dickinson

Monna Innominata: A Sonnet Of Sonnets

1

Lo dì che han detto a' dolci amici addio. (Dante)
Amor, con quanto sforzo oggi mi vinci! (Petrarca)
.....

Christina Rossetti

An Essay On Man: Epistle I.

THE DESIGN.

Having proposed to write some pieces on human life and manners, such as (to use my Lord Bacon's expression) come home to men's business and bosoms, I thought it more satisfactory to begin with considering man in the abstract, his nature and his state; since, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or imperfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpose of its being.

.....

Alexander Pope

Captain Craig

I

I doubt if ten men in all Tilbury Town
Had ever shaken hands with Captain Craig,
.....

Edwin Arlington Robinson

God's Measure

God measures souls by their capacity
For entertaining his best Angel, Love.
Who loveth most is nearest kin to God,
Who is all Love, or Nothing.
.....

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

'john T'

I think a great deal too much fuss
Has been aroused 'mid all of us
About this crude economist John T.
And fellows of his kidney now,
.....

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

The Blossoming Of The Solitary Date-tree. A Lament

I.
Beneath the blaze of a tropical sun the mountain peaks are the Thrones of Frost, through the absence of objects to reflect the rays. 'What no one with us shares, seems scarce our own.' The presence of a ONE,

The best belov'd, who loveth me the best,
.....

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Various Quotes From On Poetry And Craft: Selected Prose Of Theodore Roethke

The poem, even a short time after being written,
seems no miracle; unwritten, it seems
something beyond the capacity of the gods.

.....

Theodore Roethke

To Helen - 1848

I saw thee once- once only- years ago:
I must not say how many- but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
.....

Edgar Allan Poe

The Piute

Unbeautiful is the Piute!
Howe'er bedecked with bravery,
His person is unsavory
Of soap he's destitute.
.....

Ambrose Bierce

Puritans - (from Hudibras)

Our brethren of New England use
Choice malefactors to excuse,
And hang the guiltless in their stead,
Of whom the churches have less need;
.....

Samuel Butler

Spirit

Be still, thou unregenerate part,
Disturb no more my settled heart,
For I have vow'd (and so will do)
Thee as a foe still to pursue,
.....

Anne Bradstreet

Nero

This Rome, that was the toil of many men,
The consummation of laborious years-
Fulfilment's crown to visions of the dead
And image of the wide desire of kings-
.....

Clark Ashton Smith

Eureka - A Prose Poem (an Essay On The Material And Spiritual Universe)

It is with humility really unassumed, it is with a sentiment even of awe, that I pen the opening sentence of this work: for of all conceivable subjects I approach the reader with the most solemn, the most comprehensive, the most difficult, the most august.

What terms shall I find sufficiently simple in their sublimity -- sufficiently sublime in their simplicity, for the mere enunciation of my theme?

.....

Edgar Allan Poe

Ch 08 On Rules For Conduct In Life - Maxim 36

Even after falling into mud a jewel retains its costliness, and dust, although it may rise into the sky, is as contemptible as before. Capacity without education is deplorable and education without capacity is thrown away. Ashes are of high origin because the nature of fire is superior, but as they have no value of their own, they are similar to earth and the price of sugar arises not from. the cane but from its own quality.

The land of Canaan having no natural excellence,
The birth of a prophet therein could not enhance its worth.
.....

Saadi Shirazi

Heaven Is So Far Of The Mind

370

Heaven is so far of the Mind
That were the Mind dissolved-
.....

Emily Dickinson

I Thought That Nature Was Enough

1286

I thought that nature was enough
Till Human nature came
.....

Emily Dickinson

My Cocoon Tightens'colors Tease'

1099

My Cocoon tightens-Colors tease-
I'm feeling for the Air-
.....

Emily Dickinson

To Make Routine A Stimulus

1196

To make Routine a Stimulus
Remember it can cease-
.....

Emily Dickinson

The Island Of The Fay

“Nullus enim locus sine genio est.”

Servius.

.....

Edgar Allan Poe

The Power Of Words

‘Oinos.'

Pardon, Agathos, the weakness of a spirit new-fledged with
immortality!
.....

Edgar Allan Poe

To Helen

I saw thee once-once only-years ago:
I must not say how many-but not many.
It was a July midnight; and from out
A full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,
.....

Edgar Allan Poe

The Flesh And The Spirit

In secret place where once I stood
Close by the Banks of Lacrim flood,
I heard two sisters reason on
Things that are past and things to come.
.....

Anne Bradstreet

Captain Craig I

I doubt if ten men in all Tilbury Town
Had ever shaken hands with Captain Craig,
Or called him by his name, or looked at him
So curiously, or so concernedly,
.....

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Le Poison (the Poison)

Le vin sait revêtir le plus sordide bouge
D'un luxe miraculeux,
Et fait surgir plus d'un portique fabuleux
Dans l'or de sa vapeur rouge,
.....

Charles Baudelaire

To --

LONG ere I knew theeâ??years of loveless daysâ??
A Shape would gather from my dreams and pour
The soul-sweet influence of its gentle gaze
Into my being, thrilling it to the core,
.....

Charles Harpur

The Policeman's Lot

When a felon's not engaged in his employment,
Or maturing his felonious little plans,
His capacity for innocent enjoyment
Is just as great as any honest man's.
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

From The Chrysalis

My cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I'm feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.
.....

Emily Dickinson

Heaven Is So Far Of The Mind

370

Heaven is so far of the Mind
That were the Mind dissolved—
.....

Emily Dickinson

The Idols

An Ode
Luce intellettual, piena d' amore


.....

Robert Laurence Binyon

The Prelude - Book First

INTRODUCTION CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL-TIME

Oh there is blessing in this gentle breeze,
A visitant that while it fans my cheek
.....

William Wordsworth

Sordello: Book The Fourth

Meantime Ferrara lay in rueful case;
The lady-city, for whose sole embrace
Her pair of suitors struggled, felt their arms
A brawny mischief to the fragile charms
.....

Robert Browning

Eclogue

ALLOPHANES.
UNSEASONABLE man, statue of ice,
What could to countries solitude entice
Thee, in this year's cold and decrepit time ?
.....

John Donne

Blossing Of The Solitary Date-tree, The

Beneath the blaze of a tropical sun the mountain peaks are the Thrones of
Frost, through the absence of objects to reflect the rays. `What no one
with us shares, seems scarce our own.' The presence of a ONE,

.....

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

He Asked About The Quality

He left the office where he'd been given
a trivial, poorly paid job
(something like eight pounds a month, including bonuses)
left at the end of the dreary work
.....

Constantine P. Cavafy

A Poet To...

Long ere I knew theeâ??years of loveless days,
A shape would gather from my dreams, and pour
The soul-sweet influence of its gentle gaze
Into my heart, to thrill it to the core:
.....

Charles Harpur

From The Chrysalis.

My cocoon tightens, colors tease,
I'm feeling for the air;
A dim capacity for wings
Degrades the dress I wear.
.....

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

The Policeman's Lot.

When a felon's not engaged in his employment
Or maturing his felonious little plans.
His capacity for innocent enjoyment,
Is just as great as any honest man's
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

Cousin Rufus' Story

My little story, Cousin Rufus said,
Is not so much a story as a fact.
It is about a certain willful boy--
An aggrieved, unappreciated boy,
.....

James Whitcomb Riley

The Bucolics

Ladies and gentlemen: I take this opportunity
To introduce myself and mention that, much as we may deplore the fact, we are
essentially an agricultural community
Altho' in our metropolitan centres, millions may live and toil.
.....

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Lines In Memoriam Regarding The Entertainment In Reform Street Hall, Dundee

'Twas on the 31st of March, and in the year of 1893,
I gave an entertainment in the city of Dundee,
To a select party of gentlemen, big and small,
Who appreciated my recital in Reform Street Hall.
.....

William Topaz Mcgonagall

The Baby's Vengeance

Weary at heart and extremely ill
Was PALEY VOLLAIRE of Bromptonville,
In a dirty lodging, with fever down,
Close to the Polygon, Somers Town.
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

There Is A Flower That Bees Prefer

380

There is a flower that Bees prefer—
And Butterflies—desire—
.....

Emily Dickinson

Limited Liability

Some seven men form an Association
(If possible, all Peers and Baronets),
They start off with a public declaration
To what extent they mean to pay their debts.
.....

William Schwenck Gilbert

A 'born Leader Of Men'

Tuckerton Tamerlane Morey Mahosh
Is a statesman of world-wide fame,
With a notable knack at rhetorical bosh
To glorify somebody's name
.....

Ambrose Bierce

Do Your All

'Do your bit!' How cheap and trite
Seems that phrase in such a fight!
'Do your bit!' That cry recall,
Change it now to 'Do your all!'
.....

Edgar Albert Guest

Sacred And Profane Love

In the dark shadow of the windless pines
Whose gloomy glory lines the obsequies
Of the gaunt Claudian Aqueduct along
The lone Campagna to sepulchral Rome,
.....

Alfred Austin

The Angel In The House. Book Ii. Canto Vi.

Preludes.

I Love's Perversity
How strange a thing a lover seems
.....

Coventry Patmore