Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN, by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In a backwoods town / lived deacon brown
Last Line: But the ghost is digging yet.
Subject(s): Ghosts; Legends; Story-telling; Supernatural


In a backwoods town
Lived Deacon Brown,
And he was a miser old;
He would trust no bank,
So he dug, and sank
In the ground a box of gold,
Down deep in the ground a box of gold.

He hid his gold,
As has been told,
He remembered that he did it;
But sad to say,
On the very next day,
He forgot just where he hid it:
To find his gold he tried and tried
Till he grew faint and sick, and died.

Then on each dark and gloomy night
A form in phosphorescent white,
A genuine hair-raising sight,
Would wander through the town.
And as it slowly roamed around,
With a spade it dug each foot of ground;
So the folks about
Said there was no doubt
'Twas the ghost of Deacon Brown.

Around the church
This Ghost would search,
And whenever it would see
The passers-by
Take wings and fly
It would laugh in ghostly glee,
Hee, hee!—it would laugh in ghostly glee.

And so the town
Went quickly down,
For they said that it was haunted;
And doors and gates,
So the story states,
Bore a notice, "Tenants wanted."

And the town is now for let,
But the ghost is digging yet.





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