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Subject: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Matches Found: 157

UPDATE command denied to user 'poetryex_users'@'localhost' for table `poetryex_poems`.`subcnt` "ON GILES COREY, EXECUTED AS A WIZARD, 17TH CENTURY", by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Giles cory was a wizard strong
Last Line: And he did no confession make; / but wickedlie he dyed
Variant Title(s): Giles Corey
Subject(s): "capital Punishment;corey, Giles;salem, Massachusetts;witchcraft & Witches;" Hanging;executions;death Penalty


A HANGING, ZOMBA CENTRAL PRISON, by FRANK MKALAWILE CHIPASULA                        Poet's Biography
First Line: His pendulous body tolled
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Police States; Prisons & Prisoners; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Convicts


A LETTER FOR MARIAN, by THOMAS MCGRATH    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I sit musing, ten minutes from the jap
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Politics & Government; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


A LONDON FETE, by COVENTRY KERSEY DIGHTON PATMORE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: All night fell hammers, shock on shock
Last Line: Went forth to fight, with murderous faces.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 47. THE CARPENTER'S SON, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here the hangman stops his cart
Last Line: Live, lads, and I will die.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Bible; Capital Punishment; Religion; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Theology


A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 9, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On moonlit heath and lonesome bank
Last Line: A hundred years ago.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


A WOMAN, by GERARD LABRUNIE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: They loved each other, in joy or grief
Last Line: A bumper of wine and still gaily laughed.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nerval, Gerard De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Laughter; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Male-female Relations


A WOMAN'S EXECUTION (PARIS, 1817), by EDWARD KING    Poem Text                    
First Line: Sweet-breathed and young
Last Line: "vive la commune!"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Paris, France; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


A.E. HOUSMAN AND A FEW FRIENDS, by HUMBERT WOLFE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When lads have done with labour
Last Line: Even for housman's verse.'
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


AGAINST [OR, AGANIS] THE THIEVES OF LIDDESDALE, by RICHARD MAITLAND    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis            
First Line: Of liddesdale the common thiefis [thieves]
Last Line: Hing on a tree whill they be deid.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lethington, Lord
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Lynching; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


ALL LIFE IN A LIFE, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: His father had a large family
Subject(s): Family Life; City & Town Life; Wealth; Social Protest; Capital Punishment; Conduct Of Life; Relatives; Riches; Fortunes; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


AMONG PHILISTINES, by ROBERT SAMUEL GWYNN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night before they meant to pluck his eyes
Alternate Author Name(s): Gwynn, R. S.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Samson; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


AMONG PHILISTINES, by ROBERT SAMUEL GWYNN    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night before they meant to pluck his eyes
Last Line: As searing, the twin picks hissed in his eyes
Alternate Author Name(s): Gwynn, R. S.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Samson


AMONG THE PINES, by MARJORIE AGOSIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: A gallows light traverses the pines. The disfigured fog with its brumous
Last Line: The sunken paving stones
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Disappeared Persons - Argentina; Human Rights - Argentina; Prisons And Prisoners


AN ELEGY ON SIR CHARLES LUCAS AND SIR GEORGE LISLE, by HENRY KING (1592-1669)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In measures solemn as the groans that fall
Last Line: The monuments of their base cruelty.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Great Britain - Civil War; Injustice; Lisle, Sir George (d. 1648); Lucas, Sir Charles; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; English Civil War


ANDRE, by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: This is the place where andre met that death
Last Line: Had been his name, -- if that, indeed, could be!
Alternate Author Name(s): Roge, Mme.
Subject(s): American Revolution; Andre, John (1750-1780); Capital Punishment; Soldiers; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


ANDRE'S LAST REQUEST [OR, REQUEST TO WASHINGTON] [OCTOBER 1, 1780], by NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: It is not the fear of death
Last Line: By a soldier's death!
Subject(s): American Revolution; Andre, John (1750-1780); Capital Punishment; History; Military Justice; Presidents, United States; Soldiers; Washington, George (1732-1799); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Historians; Courts Martial


ARTEMIS, by RITA BOUMI PAPPAS    Poem Source                    
First Line: This road I'm taking is long and bright
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Women


ARTISTE MANQUEE, by PETER JOHNSON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tatyana is unhappy
Last Line: Tatyana is lowered into the tank
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death


ASOLANDO: MUCKLE-MOUTH MEG, by ROBERT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Frowned the laird on the lord: 'so, red-handed I catch thee?'
Last Line: "to muckle-mouth meg in good earnest!"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Marriage; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


AT ELY; JOHN TIPTOFT, EARL OF WORCESTER, D. 1470, by ANTHONY THWAITE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Among the floating passengers below
Last Line: Who at another time, alone, knelt down %and felt the axe descend on tower hill
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


AT SUNRISE, by ROSA ZAGNONI MARINONI    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They pushed him straight against the wall
Last Line: Against the bedroom wall.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


AWAITING THE GUILLOTINE, 1794, by ANDRE MARIE CHENIER    Poem Text                    
First Line: As a last zephyr, or the last warm ray
Last Line: For you alone to live has any worth.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Chenier, Andre Marie De (1762-1794); French History - Reign Of Terror; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


BALLADE OF THE MEN WHO WERE HANGED, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Brother men who come along now, we
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


BALLADE OF THE MEN WHO WERE HANGED, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Brother men who come along now, we
Last Line: O pray to god that he show grace to us
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


BALLADE: 37, by THOMAS WYATT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In mourning wise since daily I increase
Last Line: Pray for the souls of those be dead and gone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Wyat, Thomas
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Mourning; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Bereavement


BATHSHEBA, by HARRY HIBBARD KEMP    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: King david, from his house-top / saw one whose only dress
Last Line: "are flies, in the web of craft!"
Subject(s): Bathsheba (bible); Capital Punishment; Lust; Marriage; Women; Women In The Bible; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


BLACK DEATHS, by ROBERT HAY MORRISON    Poem Source                    
First Line: We do not hang them now, but still they hang
Last Line: In some far noose another lost one dies, %and one of the surviving lost remembers
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Despair; Human Rights


BROWN OF OSSAWATOMIE [DECEMBER 2, 1859], by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: John brown of ossawatomie spake on his dying day
Last Line: To love!
Subject(s): Abolitionists; American Civil War; Brown, John (1800-1859); Capital Punishment; Freedom; Slavery; United States - History; Anti-slavery; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Liberty; Serfs


CASUALTIES: 11. CONVERSATIONS AT ACCRA, by JOHN PEPPER CLARK    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The situation may change
Last Line: In the wind spell no design
Alternate Author Name(s): Clark-bekederemo, J. P.; Clark, J. P.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hunting; Leadership


CENSORS, by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Censors are dead men
Last Line: Breathing of the dead men, %the censors, breathing with relief
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawrence, D. H.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Censorship; Human Rights


CENTRAL PRISON, by MINNIE BRUCE PRATT            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A sign passed on her way to work
Last Line: So she could eat a berry and fly away, gone home
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Women; Prisons & Prisoners


CLEVER TOM CLINCH GOING TO BE HANGED, by JONATHAN SWIFT    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: As clever tom clinch, while the rabble was bawling
Last Line: Who hung like a hero, and never would flinch.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


DANNY DEEVER, by RUDYARD KIPLING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: What are the bugles blowin' for?' said files-on-parade
Last Line: After hangin' danny deever in the mornin'.
Variant Title(s): Files-on-parade
Subject(s): Army Life; Bugles; Capital Punishment; Military Justice; Napoleon I (1769-1821); Soldiers; War; Drills & Minor Tactics; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Courts Martial


DARK ROOMS, by MARJORIE AGOSIN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Darkness waits for me
Last Line: In the dark room %distant, blurred, delirious
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Disappeared Persons - Argentina; Fear; Human Rights - Argentina; Prisons And Prisoners


DEATH OF DAMIENS OR L'APRES-MIDI DES LUMIERES, by ROBERT FRANCIS BRISSENDEN    Poem Source                    
First Line: The man's left leg
Last Line: The dying madman's hair %has all gone white
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Damien, Father (1840-1889); Death; Human Rights


DEATH SENTENCE, by FLORENCE MARGARET SMITH    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Cold as no plea
Last Line: The law allows it %and the court awards
Alternate Author Name(s): Smith, Stevie
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Human Rights; Law And Lawyers; Prisons And Prisoners


DIFFICULT, by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: What I could not do in life
Last Line: I will not. Clickity. Clack
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Devil; Repentance; Sin


EIGHT O'CLOCK, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: He stood, and heard the steeple
Last Line: Its strength, and struck.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The


ELECTROCUTION, by LOLA RIDGE    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He sudders - feeling on the shaven spot
Last Line: Whose soul, expanding in white agony, %had fused in flaming circuit with the night
Alternate Author Name(s): Lawson, David, Mrs.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


ELEGY ON THE URGENCY OF FAXES AND PHONECALLS AGAIN, by JOAN PAYNE KINCAID    Poem Source                    
First Line: Drums and chants grow silent
Last Line: Live like the forests with momentary %permission
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Fax (facsimile Telegraphy); Nigerian Civil War; Telephones


EPIGRAM ON A ROPE-MAKER HANGED, by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Here lies a man much wronged in his hopes
Last Line: For he liv'd by the rope, and died by the halter
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, William Of Tavistock
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


EPISTLE TO A GENTLEMAN OF THE TEMPLE, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Sir, upon casting an attentive look
Last Line: The bishop, and us all! I am, sir,—yours.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Gentlemen; Heaven; Life; Spiritual Life; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Paradise


EPITAPH IN BALLADE FORM, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: O brother men that live when we have end
Last Line: But praye godde to absolve us of our doome.
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; God; Prayer; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The


EXECUTION, by DAVID HENDERSON    Poem Source                    
First Line: The black and white photo has a grainy
Last Line: Before each dawn, for time to come
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Photography And Photographers


EXECUTION, by ELEMER (GEORGE) HORVATH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Look, I take every revolution to heart
Last Line: As you when you first kissed me
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Martyrs; Revolutions


EXECUTION OF ALICE HOLT, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: A dreadful case of murder
Last Line: On chester's fatal tree
Subject(s): Capital Punishment;crimes & Criminals;death;murder; "hanging;executions;death Penalty;dead, The;


EXECUTION OF FELICE ORSINI, MARCH 13TH, 1858, by HARRIET ELEANOR HAMILTON (BAILLE) KING    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A day to be remembered
Last Line: The red rose crown is thine %for evermore
Alternate Author Name(s): Hamilton-king, Harriet Eleanor
Subject(s): Assassination; Capital Punishment; Italy - Revolutions; Napoleon Iii (1808-1873); Orsini, Felice (1819-1858)


EXECUTION OF MR. CARP, by HEID E. ERDRICH    Poem Source                    
First Line: Carp were garbage eaters
Last Line: The depth and weight of peace as it descends
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Death


FIVE MEN, by ZBIGNIEW HERBERT    Poem Source         Poet Analysis            
First Line: They take them out in the morning
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


FOR ETHEL ROSENBERG, by ADRIENNE CECILE RICH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Europe 1953: / throughout my random sleepwalk
Last Line: With secrets she has never sold
Subject(s): Antinuclear Movement; Capital Punishment; Communism; Mccarthyism; Rosenberg Case; Nuclear Freeze; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Rosenberg, Ethel; Rosenberg, Julius


FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY 1794, by HENRY JAMES PYE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Rous'd from the gloom of transient death
Last Line: Sacred to patriot worth, to patriot bosoms dear.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Capital Punishment; George Iii, King Of England (1738-1820); Great Britain - Wars With France; Louis Xiv, King Of France (1638-1715); Pitt, William, The Younger (1759-1806); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


FOUR ROADS, by ALICE M. GREENE    Poem Source                    
First Line: Four roads lead out of the town
Last Line: Blest are the dead, the noble dead, %the dead who die in the lord!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


FRIAR LAURENCE O'FARRELL: LONGFORD, 1651, by THOMAS WALSH    Poem Text                    
First Line: The van of ireton's troops at morning broke
Last Line: By ireton gave it formal burial
Alternate Author Name(s): Gill, Roderick; Strange, Garrett
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Clergy; Religion; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Theology


GOLEM, by SEAN SINGER    Poem Source                    
First Line: ...Who killed the martyred man found reborn in silt and
Last Line: The waves creosote resin sea singing who killed
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Martyrs; Murder


GUILT, by KOFI ANYIDOHO    Poem Source                    
First Line: And they opened up his wound
Last Line: But they hanged him all the same
Subject(s): Africa - Neocolonialism; Capital Punishment


HANGING DAY: PROCESSION, by WOLE SOYINKA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Hanging day. A hollow earth
Last Line: But here, alone the solitary deed
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


HANGING, ZOMBA CENTRAL PRISON, by FRANK MKALAWILE CHIPASULA    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: His pendulous body tolled
Last Line: Before the sandbags dragged his compressed body %into the dark hole, into total oblivion
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Police States; Prisons And Prisoners


HANGMAN, by GUNNAR EKELOF    Poem Source                    
First Line: Hangman %what will you do with my arms?
Last Line: Does this give you pleasure?
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


HANGMAN'S NOOSE ON EXHIBIT, by EDWARD EVERETT ROLS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Did the doomed man know
Last Line: And given him another hour of breath?
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


HE FELL AMONG THIEVES, by HENRY JOHN NEWBOLT    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ye have robbed,' said he, 'ye have slaughter'd and made an end'
Last Line: Faded, and the hill slept.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Heroism; Murder; War; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Heroes; Heroines


HON. MR. SUCKLETHUMBKIN'S STORY: THE EXECUTION; A SPORTING ANECDOTE, by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: My lord tomnoddy got up one day
Last Line: So -- my lord tomnoddy went home to bed!
Alternate Author Name(s): Ingoldsby, Thomas
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


HOW SIR RICHARD DIED, by GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Stately as bridegroom to a feast
Last Line: And bowed his head -- and so he died.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


I AM FRANCOIS, TO MY DISMAY, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
Last Line: My neck'll learn what my arse may weigh
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Subject(s): Self; Capital Punishment


I STARTED SUBSCRIBING, by TRISH REEVES    Poem Text                    
First Line: To the christian science monitor
Subject(s): Buses; Capital Punishment; Gays & Lesbians; Photography & Photographers; Women; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


IMAGERIE D'EPINAL, by ALEKSANDER WAT    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The executioner yawned. The blood was still dripping from his axe
Last Line: Happiness for all--to enemies death.'
Alternate Author Name(s): Chwat, Aleksander
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Communism


IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR'S HARNESS, by JAMES HARRISON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: One man hauls all the darkness
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Nature


IN THE STONE JUG, by FORD MADOX FORD    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Old days are gone
Last Line: Too shall come in with me out of the rain.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hueffer, Ford Hermann; Hueffer, Ford Madox
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Death; Sin; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The


INTERNMENT, by VINCENT BUCKLEY    Poem Source                    
First Line: They have him squeezed into the square room
Last Line: Patrick shivers %a mouthful of water after five days
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Human Rights


JOHN BROWN, by EDNA DEAN PROCTOR    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: John brown died on the scaffold for the slave
Last Line: Freedom reigns to-day!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dean
Variant Title(s): The President's Proclamation
Subject(s): Abolitionists; Brown, John (1800-1859); Capital Punishment; Freedom; Slavery; Anti-slavery; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Liberty; Serfs


KIM'S STORY, by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: One hundred and sixteen blew up %above the andaman sea. The bomb
Last Line: With a pearl, touching up my mouth, %inventing my perfections
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Danger; Prisons And Prisoners; Terrorism; Women - Captives


KING NASTY, by PAUL RANDOLPH VIOLI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Let me sketch it out for you
Last Line: How do you like your bourbon?
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Courts And Courtiers; Plays And Playwrights; Poetry And Poets; Prisons And Prisoners; Revolutions; Suicide


KRINIO, by RITA BOUMI PAPPAS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Aim straight at my heart
Last Line: Not even in a dream
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Women


LATIMER AND RIDLEY, BURNED AT THE STAKE IN OXFORD, 1555, by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Tis good to sing of champions old
Last Line: The word of god, be ours!
Alternate Author Name(s): Bon Gaultier (with Theodore Martin)
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Freedom; Heresy; Religious Discrimination; Singing & Singers; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Liberty; Heretics; Religious Conflict; Songs


LEACHED, by FRANCES SAWYER    Poem Text                    
First Line: In france they martyred one progenitor
Last Line: Heroes set forth in a menagerie.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; England; France; Martyrs; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; English


LXXXVI, by GIZELLA HERVAY    Poem Source                    
First Line: I wane with the moon
Last Line: To never-resurrection
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Exiles; Prisons And Prisoners


MAMMA, WHERE DID PAPA GO?, by HENRY A. START    Poem Text                    
First Line: Manuel and little juan
Last Line: "mamma, where did papa go?"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Children; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Childhood


MARGRAVE, by ROBINSON JEFFERS    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: On the small marble-paved platform
Last Line: Like a passionate thought. It is very well ordered
Subject(s): Murder; Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


MARIE HAMILTON, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Marie hamilton's to the kirk gane
Last Line: The lands I was to travel in / or the death I was to die
Variant Title(s): The Queen's Marie;mary Hamilton
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging;executions;death Penalty


MARINO FALIERO, DOGE OF VENICE; AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY, by GEORGE GORDON BYRON    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Is not the messenger returned?
Last Line: The gory head rolls down the giant steps!
Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Conspiracy; Falier, Marino (1274-1355); Venice, Italy


MARRYING THE HANGMAN, by MARGARET ATWOOD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: She has been condemned to death by hanging. A man
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


MARTIN RELPH, by ROBERT BROWNING    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: My grandfather says he remembers he saw, when a youngster long ago
Last Line: Of water I wanted: and now I can walk, get home by myself, I think.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Cowardice; Pardons And Pardoners; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


MARY HAMILTON (VERSION A), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Word's gane to the kitchen
Last Line: There was marie seton, and marie beton, %and marie carmichael, and me
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death - Children; Guilt; Mary, Queen Of Scots (1542-1587)


MARY HAMILTON (VERSION B), by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: There were ladies, they lived in a bower
Last Line: Ye should na shamed me here
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death - Children; Guilt; Mary, Queen Of Scots (1542-1587)


MISERABLE SINNER, by SUZANNE OWENS    Poem Source                    
First Line: I am a child of chance with a window brush
Last Line: I draw power. I walk barefoot
Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Death - Children; Murder; Pregnancy; Rape; Sin


MONTROSE, by RONALD STUART THOMAS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: It is said he went gaily to that scaffold
Last Line: Such for the consummation of her marriage
Alternate Author Name(s): Thomas, R. S.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Montrose, 5th Earl And 1st Marquis Of


MUMFORD: THE MARTYR OF NEW ORLEANS, by INA MARIE PORTER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Where murdered mumford lies
Last Line: Our colors wave.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Capital Punishment; Mumford, William B.; New Orleans, Battle Of (1862); U.s. - History; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


NATHAN HALE, SEPTEMBER 22, 1776, by JOHN MACMULLEN    Poem Text                    
First Line: Come all alumni gather round
Last Line: Amidst the patriot band.
Subject(s): American Revolution; Capital Punishment; Hale, Nathan (1755-1776); Memory; New York City; Patriotism; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Manhattan; New York, New York; The Big Apple


NEGROES LYNCHED IN MISSISSIPPI, by JOHN FREEMAN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So always, justice drowsy and hate rising
Last Line: Proffering his blood to pleasure antichrist.
Subject(s): African Americans; Capital Punishment; Jesus Christ; Lynching; Mississippi; Murder; Negroes; American Blacks; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


NO SPEECH FROM THE SCAFFOLD, by THOMSON WILLIAM GUNN    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There will no speech from
Last Line: As he rests there, while %he is still a human
Alternate Author Name(s): Gunn, Thom
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Human Rights


ON HIMSELF, UPON HEARING WHAT WAS HIS SENTENCE, by JAMES GRAHAM (1612-1650)    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Let them bestow on every airth a limb
Last Line: And confident thou'lt raise me with the just.
Alternate Author Name(s): Montrose, 1st Marquis Of
Variant Title(s): His Metrical Prayer;verses Composed On The Eve Of His Execution
Subject(s): Bible; Capital Punishment; Montrose, 5th Earl & 1st Marquis Of; Religion; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Graham, James (1612-165); Theology


ON THE EVE OF HIS EXECUTION, by OTSU    Poem Source                    
First Line: The golden crow lights on the western huts
Last Line: Whose is the house I go to tonight?
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


ON THE LORD DERBY, by CHARLES COTTON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: To what a formidable greatness grown
Last Line: Cut your own throats, despair, and die, and damn.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Stanley, James. 7th Earl Of Derby; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


ON THE PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN ABOUT TO BE HANGED, by THOMAS HARDY    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Comely and capable one of our race
Last Line: Brought to derision!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


ONLY A JEW, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "in the land of brittany, and long ago"
Last Line: "''twas only a jew,' the folk said, 'only a jew!'"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment;jews; Hanging;executions;death Penalty;judaism


OOM GERT'S STORY, by C. LOUIS LEIPOLDT    Poem Source                    
First Line: My boy, what do you think that I can tell you?
Last Line: (sweetheart, just pass me back the sugar-bowl, %and pour another cup for cousin klaas!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


OSAWATOMIE, by CARL SANDBURG    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I don't know how he came
Last Line: And the fool killers had a laugh
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Native Americans; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Indians Of America; American Indians; Indians Of South America


PALMYRA: OCTOBER 18, 1862, by CAROLINE COLLINS    Poem Source                    
First Line: Missouri: dark wind in the trees
Last Line: Renegade, unrepentant, unforgiving
Subject(s): American Civil War; Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Fights; Military Service, Voluntary; Soldiers; U.s. - History; Violence


PATHETIC APHORISMS, by RAFAEL ESTRADA    Poem Source                    
First Line: A hanged man and his shadow can function as a sundial
Last Line: With lucifer's fall came gravity
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Death; Evil


REMARKS ON DR. AKENSIDE'S AND MR. WHITEHEAD'S VERSES, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Whither is europe's ancient spirit fled?
Last Line: "and whitehead grasp th' exacuating fife."
Subject(s): Akenside, Mark (1721-1770); Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Death; Physicians; Poetry & Poets; Punishment; Whitehead, William (1715-1785); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Doctors


RIZPAH, by ALFRED TENNYSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis         Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: Wailing, wailing, wailing, the wind over land and sea
Last Line: Going. He calls.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; England; Mothers; Rizpah (bible); Tragedy; Women In The Bible; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; English


ROPE FOR HARRY FAT, by JAMES KEIR BAXTER    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Oh some have killed in angry love
Last Line: We will not change our policy,' %says harry fat the proud
Alternate Author Name(s): Hemi; Baxter, James K.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime And Criminals; Human Rights; Murder; Prisons And Prisoners; Rope


SARAH THREENEEDLES (BOSTON, 1698), by KATHARINE LEE BATES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: By the grim grace of the puritans she had been
Last Line: Her food was more divine.
Subject(s): Infanticide; Capital Punishment' Puritans


SHAMEFUL DEATH, by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896)    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: There were four of us about that bed
Last Line: And for alice, his wife, pray too.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The


SNOW IS STORMING, by SANDOR CSOORI    Poem Source                     Poet's Biography
Last Line: Like the poor, %like the prisoners-of-war
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Snow; Winter


SOME FRENCHMEN, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Monsieur etienne de silhouette
Last Line: Developed just in time for bed
Subject(s): Ampere, Jean Jacques Antoine (1800-1864); Capital Punishment; Daguerre, Louis (1789-1851); France; Guillotin, Joseph Ignace (1738-1814); Paintings And Painters; Sax, Adolph (1814-1894); Silhouette, Etienne De (1709-1767); Writing & Writers; Hanging; Exec


SOME FRENCHMEN, by JOHN UPDIKE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Monsieur etienne de silhouette
Subject(s): Ampere, Jean Jacques Antoine (1800-1864); Capital Punishment; Daguerre, Louis (1789-1851); France; Guillotin, Joseph Ignace (1738-1814); Paintings And Painters; Sax, Adolph (1814-1894); Silhouette, Etienne De (1709-1767); Writing And Writers


SONG, FOR THE KING'S BIRTHDAY, 28 MAY 1716, by NICHOLAS ROWE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Lay thy flowery garlands by
Last Line: Than the bloom of all thy roses.
Subject(s): Birthdays; Capital Punishment; Courts & Courtiers; Crowns; George I, King Of England (1660-1727); Great Britain - Parliament; Jacobites; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 14. ON READING WORDSWORTH'S SONNETS .., by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As the broad ocean endlessly upheaveth
Last Line: And feel god flow forever through his breast.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 15. THE SAME CONTINUED, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Once hardly in a cycle blossometh
Last Line: At the next beating of the infinite heart.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 16. THE SAME CONTINUED, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The love of all things springs from love of me
Last Line: An old man faithless in humanity.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 17. THE SAME CONTINUED, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A poet cannot strive for despotism
Last Line: But widens to the boundless perfectness.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 18. THE SAME CONTINUED, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Therefore think not the past is wise alone
Last Line: Save in the forethought of the eternal one.
Variant Title(s): Wisdom Of The Eternal One
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


SONNET: 19. THE SAME CONTINUED, by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Far 'yond this narrow parapet of time
Last Line: Undimmed by clouds of weak mortality.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Poetry & Poets; Wordsworth, William (1770-1850); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


STACKALEE, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Come all you sporty fellows
Last Line: "or they'll hang you in the jail, / like they did that bad man stackalee"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment;crimes & Criminals; Hanging;executions;death Penalty


STYLE, by BRENDAN KENNELLY    Poem Source                    
First Line: The morning larry rainbow hanged himself
Last Line: This was the style he liked. This was what he asked for.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Suicide


TELL ME NEWS, by SIPHO SYDNEY SEPAMLA    Poem Source                    
First Line: Tell me of a brother
Last Line: Of a mangled corpse %not begun to sit on your conscience
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Human Rights; Immortality; Prisons And Prisoners


THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL, by OSCAR WILDE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He did not wear his scarlet coat
Last Line: The brave man with a sword!
Alternate Author Name(s): Finga, O'flahertie Wills
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Freedom; Love; Murder; Prisons & Prisoners; Religion; Sleep; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Liberty; Convicts; Theology


THE BATTLE OF CHARLESTOWN, by HENRY HOWARD BROWNELL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Fresh palms for the old dominion!
Last Line: There's an end of old john brown!
Subject(s): Abolitionists; Brown, John (1800-1859); Capital Punishment; Slavery; Anti-slavery; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Serfs


THE BEWITCHED HAND, SELS, by GERARD LABRUNIE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: On the morning of his execution, eustace bouteron
Last Line: Reached the window sill where maitre gonin was waiting for it.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nerval, Gerard De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Magic; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE BRIDE'S TRAGEDY, by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Now eve has strewn the sun's wide billowy couch
Last Line: Dies.
Subject(s): Betrayal; Bigamy; Brides; Capital Punishment; Conscience; Courts & Courtiers; Debt; Deception; Family Life; Grief; Guilt; Insanity; Love; Marriage; Murder; Secrets; Suicide; Tragedy; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Royal Court Life; Royalty; Kings; Q


THE CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO LORDS AT THEIR EXECUTION, by JOHN BYROM    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: As crowds attended when the fatal blow
Last Line: "and balmerino call, ""a valiant martyr."
Subject(s): Balmerino, Arthur Elphinstone, Lord; Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Jacobite Rebellion (1745-1746); Kilmarnock, William Boyd, Earl Of; Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE CULPRIT, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The night my father got me
Last Line: And I have none.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE DEATH PENALTY, by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: They err who think to silence crime with crime
Last Line: And on its ruins build the school.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Murder; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE EPITAPH IN FORM OF A BALLAD, by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Men, brother men, that after us yet live
Last Line: But pray to god that he forgive us all.
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Variant Title(s): Ballade Of The Gibbet
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Villains In Literature; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE EXECUTION OF JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUIS OF MONTROSE, by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twas in the year of 1650, and on the twenty-first of may
Last Line: In a short space of time, which cannot be equalled in story
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Montrose, 5th Earl And 1st Marquis Of; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN, by ARTHUR SZE    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Muskets triggered a white smoke
Last Line: Like friends long unseen, now returned.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Maximilian, Emperor Of Mexico (1832-67); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE FALL; A GREAT FAVORIT BEHEADED, by LUIS DE GONGORA    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The bloody trunk of him who did possess
Last Line: Much doctrine lies under this little stone.
Alternate Author Name(s): Argote Y Gongora, Luis De
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Charles I, King Of England (1600-1649); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE GALLOWS, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The suns of eighteen centuries have shone
Last Line: Abhorred of earth and heaven, a pagan brotherhood!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Clergy; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops


THE GOSPEL WOMEN: 13. THE WOMAN IN THE TEMPLE, by GEORGE MACDONALD    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: A still dark joy! A sudden face!
Last Line: Oh, wash them clean again!
Subject(s): Bible; Capital Punishment; Jesus Christ; Redemption; Shame; Women; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE HANGING, by JAMES EDWARD HERVEY MACDONALD    Poem Text                    
First Line: I bind the soul that fathered me
Last Line: I hang, behead, electrocute.;
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Jesus Christ; Law & Lawyers; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE HANGING MAN, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: By the roots of my hair some god got hold of me
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Torture; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE HANGING OF BLACK CUDJO (1780); A DIALECT BALLAD, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Well, maussa! If you wants to heer, I'll tell you 'bout um 'true
Last Line: "but sabe dat gab to stuff de years of de next fool you meet!'"
Subject(s): American Revolution; Capital Punishment; Marion, Francis (1737-1795); Slavery; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Serfs


THE HANGING TREE, by GEORGIA PERLE SCHMIDT    Poem Text                    
First Line: A gnarled old tree trunk with shoots
Last Line: "forgives and saves the soul."
Alternate Author Name(s): Schmidt, G. Perle
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Trees; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE HUMAN SACRAFICE, by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Far from his close and noisome cell
Last Line: God's angel cries, forbear!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE KENNIFFS, by JOHN CREEVEY    Poem Text                    
First Line: If you wish to hear a story, lads
Last Line: If he should chance to fall.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crime & Criminals; Death; Hunting; Murder; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Hunters


THE LAMENTATION OF HUGH REYNOLDS, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: "my name it is hugh reynolds, I come of honest parents"
Last Line: And convey me into heaven to the blessed trinity
Subject(s): Capital Punishment;lament; Hanging;executions;death Penalty


THE LOST MOMENTS OF A. DALMAS, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: The solemn bell for me is tolling
Last Line: "dalmas, you must prepare to go"
Subject(s): Bells;capital Punishment;crimes & Criminals;grief; Hanging;executions;death Penalty;sorrow;sadness


THE LULLABY OF A FEMALE CONVICT TO HER CHILD...TO EXECUTION, by HENRY KIRKE WHITE    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep, baby mine, enkerchieft on my bosom
Last Line: For never more thou'lt press a mother's breast.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE NEGATIVES, by PHILIP LEVINE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: I dig in the soft earth all
Subject(s): Desertion, Military; Capital Punishment; Homecoming; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED, by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
Last Line: "and at darkly we waked him in clover, / and sent him to take a ground sweat"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging;executions;death Penalty


THE SUBSTITUTE, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: How say'st thou? Die to-morrow?
Last Line: Knelt by the corse -- alone.
Subject(s): American Civil War; Capital Punishment; Confederate States Of America; United States - History; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Confederacy


THE TRIAL OF MAN, by SYLVIA PLATH    Poem Text     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: The ordinary milkman brought that dawn
Alternate Author Name(s): Hughes, Ted, Mrs.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


THEY HANGED HIM, I SAID DISMISSIVELY, by DENNIS BRUTUS    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Now, it is still easiest to say, they hanged him %dismissiv ely
Alternate Author Name(s): Bruin, John
Subject(s): Capital Punishment


THREE CROSSES, by EVA WARNER    Poem Text                    
First Line: Three ancient crosses on a hill
Last Line: Their victims (dust now) challenge still.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Crucifixion; Injustice; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Jesus Christ - Crucifixion


TICHBORNE'S ELEGY, WRITTEN IN THE TOWER BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, by CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE    Poem Text     Poem Explanation             Recitation     Poet's Biography
First Line: My prime of youth is but a frost of cares
Last Line: And now I live, and now my life is done.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tychborn, Chidiock; Ticheborne, Chidiock
Variant Title(s): Retrospect;elegy;lines Written By One In The Tower;verses Written In The Tower;poem Written On The Eve Of Execution;elegy For Himself;lines Written In The Tower, The Night Before .. Execution
Subject(s): Adversity; Capital Punishment; Death; Mourning; Remorse; Self-pity; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Bereavement


TORTURE, by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA    Poem Source         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Nothing has changed
Last Line: While the body is and is and is 5and has no place to go
Subject(s): Bodies; Capital Punishment; Pain


TWELVE GOOD MEN AND TRUE, by NANCY BYRD TURNER    Poem Text                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The rusty key has whined in the lock, the rickety door is fast
Last Line: They're tired, now, and they want their tea, the twelve good men and true!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Creation; God; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


TWO FUNERALS: 2., by LOUIS UNTERMEYER    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Facing a cold and sneering sky
Last Line: Are laughing still.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lewis, Michael
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Death; Funerals; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Dead, The; Burials


TWO TAKEN, by SCOTT HIGHTOWER            Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: In iran, the table of allah
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Iran; Capital Punishment - Minors; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men; Persia


UNDER SENTENCE, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Off! Off! No treacherous priest for me!
Last Line: Fair chance for all to see me die!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


UPON THE GALLOWS HUNG A WRETCH, by EMILY DICKINSON    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
Last Line: Oh, what a livid boon!
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Mothers & Sons


VERSE RECITED BY CLERK OF ST. SEPULCHRE'S BEFORE EXECUTION, by UNKNOWN    Poem Source                    
First Line: Imprimis john gonne for the dethe of a mane in westm' all moste xx yeres paste
Last Line: Robert hyll servynmane for murdre. %thomas jenyns bocher for dett
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; London


VERSES ON DANIEL GOOD (WHO WAS EXECUTED FOR MURDER), by ANONYMOUS    Poem Text                    
First Line: Of all the wild deeds upon murder's black list
Last Line: An' we hope that his life we shall ne'er see again
Subject(s): Capital Punishment;murder; Hanging;executions;death Penalty


VICTOR GALBRAITH, by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW    Poem Text         Poet Analysis             Poet's Biography
First Line: Under the walls of monterey
Last Line: "of victor galbraith!"
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Galbraith, Victor; Military Justice; Monterey, Mexico; United States - Mexican War (1846-1848); Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty; Courts Martial


VILLON'S EPITAPH , by FRANCOIS VILLON    Poem Text     Poem Explanation                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Brother men, who after us still live
Last Line: But pray to god that he absolve us all
Alternate Author Name(s): Montcorbier, Francois De
Variant Title(s): The Ballad Of The Hange
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Mercy; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


WE SHALL OVERCOME, by BREYTEN BREYTENBACH    Poem Source                    
First Line: A man walks calmly on his legs in the grass
Last Line: Stiff words %in a book
Subject(s): Capital Punishment