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Famous Fall Back Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Fall Back poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous fall back poems. These examples illustrate what a famous fall back poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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...n the hillside,
Where the river curls, Baptiste,
You know -- on the still side
One was down by the water,
She saw Isaàc
Fall back.

She did not scream, Baptiste,
She launched her canoe;
It did seem, Baptiste,
That she wanted to die too,
For before you could think
The birch cracked like a shell
In that rush of hell,
And I saw them both sink --

Baptiste ! --
He had two girls,
One is Virginie,
What God calls the other
Is not known to me....Read more of this...
by Scott, Duncan Campbell



...ident of war

My family landing there;

I’ve got no working class

Leeds uncles and aunts,

A family needs a family

To fall back on but

We had none, no aunts

In Hunslet streets

With daughters who’d

Take their knickers

Down for me with the

Excuse of having to wee. 

16



Morning disappeared in sunlight

In shadows of Kirkgate Market

Motes of light birthed me and

Brought me to consciousness

Of chaos and calm.

There was the green mesh

Of a keeping safe

In t...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry
...eam,
As it quickens within the labouring, white-hot metal,
Catch the scent and the colour of the coming dream, 
Then to fall back exhausted into the unconscious, molten life!...Read more of this...
by Lawrence, D. H.
...Although thy hand and faith, and good works too,
Have sealed thy love which nothing should undo,
Yea though thou fall back, that apostasy
Confirm thy love; yet much, much I fear thee.
Women are like the Arts, forced unto to none,
Open to all searchers, unprized if unknown.
If I have caught a bird, and let him fly,
Another fowler using these means, as I,
May catch the same bird; and, as these things be,
Women are made for men, not him, nor me.
Foxes and goat...Read more of this...
by Donne, John
...oundation bends, 
Each in the house the highest place contends, 
And each the hand that lays him will direct, 
And some fall back upon the architect; 
Yet all composed by his attractive song, 
Into the animated city throng. 

The Commonwealth does through their centres all 
Draw the circumference of the public wall; 
The crossest spirits here do take their part, 
Fastening the contignation which they thwart; 
And they, whose nature leads them to divide, 
Uphold this one, ...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew



...would be a falconress, 
and she sends me as far as her will goes. 
She lets me ride to the end of her curb 
where I fall back in anguish.
I dread that she will cast me away, 
for I fall, I mis-take, I fail in her mission.

She would bring down the little birds. 
And I would bring down the little birds. 
When will she let me bring down the little birds, 
pierced from their flight with their necks broken, 
their heads like flowers limp from the stem?

I trea...Read more of this...
by Duncan, Robert
...lengths on him quickly 
He dropped right away from the pack; 
I tell you it made me feel sickly 
To see the blue jacket fall back. 

Our very last hope had departed -- 
We thought the old fellow was done, 
When all of a sudden he started 
To go like a shot from a gun. 
His chances seemed slight to embolden 
Our hearts; but, with teeth firmly set, 
We thought, "Now or never! The old un 
May reckon with some of 'em yet." 

Then loud rose the war-cry for Pardon; 
He ...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...just as you'd think he couldn't lose,
With his lead of fifty yards or more,
He'd rear himself and throw the rider,
And fall back over, tangled up,
Completely gone to pieces.
You see he was a perfect fraud:
He couldn't win, he couldn't work,
He was too light to haul or plow with,
And no one wanted colts from him.
And when I tried to drive him -- well,
He ran away and killed me....Read more of this...
by Masters, Edgar Lee
...them:
"No, not with John. There wouldn't be no sense.
Eliza's had too many other men."

Laban was forced to fall back on his plan
To buy Eliza a plot to lie alone in:
Which gives him for himself a choice of lots
When his time comes to die and settle down....Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert
...'d and writhed together,
I threw my arms above my head,
For close by my side, in the lovely weather,
I saw him reel and fall back dead.

I and the slayer met together,
He waited the death-stroke there in his place,
With thoughts of death, in the lovely weather,
Gapingly mazed at my madden'd face.

Madly I fought as we fought together;
In vain: the little Christian band
The pagans drown'd, as in stormy weather
The river drowns low-lying land.

They bound my blood-s...Read more of this...
by Morris, William
...ting, Francesco:
There is room for one bullet in the chamber:
Our looking through the wrong end
Of the telescope as you fall back at a speed
Faster than that of light to flatten ultimately
Among the features of the room, an invitation
Never mailed, the "it was all a dream"
Syndrome, though the "all" tells tersely
Enough how it wasn't. Its existence
Was real, though troubled, and the ache
Of this waking dream can never drown out
The diagram still sketched on the wind,
Chos...Read more of this...
by Ashbery, John
...tle yet, and the dust still lies down.

I already know the storm, and I am troubled as the sea.
I leap out, and fall back,
and throw myself out, and am absolutely alone
in the great storm....Read more of this...
by Rilke, Rainer Maria
...g in the balance,
But Sir Colin knew he had still a chance,
But one weak officer in fear loudly shouted,
Let the Guards fall back, or they'll be totally routed. 

Then Sir Colin Campbell did make reply,
'Tis better, Sir, that every man of the Guards should die,
And to be found dead on this bloody field,
Than to have it said they fled and were forced to yield. 

Then the Coldstreams on the highlanders' right
Now advanced to engage the enemy in the fight,
But then they ...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...e Foundation bends,
Each in the House the highest Place contends,
And each the Hand that lays him will direct,
And some fall back upon the Architect;
Yet all compos'd by his attractive Song,
Into the Animated City throng.
The Common-wealth does through their Centers all
Draw the Circumf'rence of the publique Wall;
The crossest Spirits here do take their part,
Fast'ning the Contignation which they thwart;
And they, whose Nature leads them to divide,
Uphold, this one, and t...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew
...Campeche or the Isle of Pines, 
Dips in his paddle, lifts it forth again, 
And laughs to see the luminous white drops 
Fall back in flakes of fire. . . . Gold was the dream 
That cheered that desperate enterprise. And now? . . . 
Victory waited on the arms of Spain, 
Fallen was the lovely city by the lake, 
The sunny Venice of the western world; 
There many corpses, rotting in the wind, 
Poked up stiff limbs, but in the leprous rags 
No jewel ...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan
...the morning. I went home to prepare for trout fishing in America.
I didn't have any fishing tackle, so I had to fall back on
corny fishing tackle. Like a joke.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

I bent a pin and tied it onto a piece of white string.

And slept. The next morning I got up
early and ate my breakfast. I took a slice of white bread to use for bait.
I planned on making dough balls from the soft center of the bread
and putting them...Read more of this...
by Brautigan, Richard
...omise more resistance to the picker."

One by one I lost off my hat and shoes,
And still I clung. I let my head fall back,
And shut my eyes against the sun, my ears
Against my brother's nonsense; "Drop," he said,
"I'll catch you in my arms. It isn't far."
(Stated in lengths of him it might not be.)
"Drop or I'll shake the tree and shake you down."
Grim silence on my part as I sank lower,
My small wrists stretching till they showed the banjo strings.Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

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