Famous Medusa Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Medusa poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous medusa poems. These examples illustrate what a famous medusa poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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...e living world of men,
Beneath them standing, with one purpose they
Cried, and so loudly that I shrank for fear,
"Medusa! let her from her place appear,
To change him into stone! Our first default
That venged no wrath on Theseus' deep assault,
So brings him."
"Turn thou from their sight," my guide
Enjoined, nor wholly on my fear relied,
But placed his hands across mine eyes the while
He told me further "Risk no glance. The sight
Of Gorgon, if she...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...fendea ciascuna il petto;
battiensi a palme, e gridavan s? alto,
ch'i' mi strinsi al poeta per sospetto.
«Vegna Medusa: s? 'l farem di smalto»,
dicevan tutte riguardando in giuso;
«mal non vengiammo in Teseo l'assalto».
«Volgiti 'n dietro e tien lo viso chiuso;
ch? se 'l Gorg?n si mostra e tu 'l vedessi,
nulla sarebbe di tornar mai suso».
Cos? disse 'l maestro; ed elli stessi
mi volse, e non si tenne a le mie mani,
che con le sue ancor non mi chiudes...Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs,
Eyes rolled by white sticks,
Ears cupping the sea's incoherences,
You house your unnerving head -- God-ball,
Lens of mercies,
Your stooges
Plying their wild cells in my keel's shadow,
Pushing by like hearts,
Red stigmata at the very center,
Riding the rip tide to the nearest point of
departure,
Dragging their Jesus ...Read more of this...
by
Bogan, Louise
...I had come to the house, in a cave of trees,
Facing a sheer sky.
Everything moved, -- a bell hung ready to strike,
Sun and reflection wheeled by.
When the bare eyes were before me
And the hissing hair,
Held up at a window, seen through a door.
The stiff bald eyes, the serpents on the forehead
Formed in the air.
This is a dead sce...Read more of this...
by
Bogan, Louise
...fulness all pain and woe,
All in one moment, and so near the brink;
But Fate withstands, and, to oppose th' attempt,
Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards
The ford, and of itself the water flies
All taste of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on
In confused march forlorn, th' adventurous bands,
With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast,
Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found
No rest. Through many a dark and dreary vale
The...Read more of this...
by
Milton, John
...m thence I hope not to behold,O'er me prevail, as o'er that Arab oldMedusa, when she changed him to an oak;Nor ever can the fairy knot be brokeWhose light outshines the sun, not merely gold;I mean of those bright locks the curlèd snareWhich folds and fastens with so sweet a graceMy soul, whose hum...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
...
The seeing, thinking all the while
How, flower-like, beauty comes to birth;
And thinking this, began to smile.
Medusa! For she could not see
The world she turned to stone and ash.
Only herself she saw, a tree
That flowered beneath a lightning-flash.
Thus dreamed her face—a lovely thing
To worship, weep for, or to break . . .
Better to carve a claw, a wing,
Or, if the heart provide, a snake....Read more of this...
by
Aiken, Conrad
...white than snow;And in her hand a shield like his she bareWho slew Medusa; a fair pillar thereOf jasp was next, and with a chain (first wetIn Lethe flood) of jewels fitly set,Diamonds, mix'd with topazes (of old'Twas worn by ladies, now 'tis not) first holdShe caught, then bound him fast; then su...Read more of this...
by
Petrarch, Francesco
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