Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FAITHLESS NELLY GRAY; A PATHETIC BALLAD, by THOMAS HOOD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Ben battle was a soldier bold Last Line: With a stake in his inside. Variant Title(s): Faithles Nellie Gray Subject(s): Legs | ||||||||
BEN BATTLE was a soldier bold, And used to war's alarms; But a cannon-ball took off his legs, So he laid down his arms. Now as they bore him off the field, Said he, "Let others shoot; For here I leave my second leg, And the Forty-second Foot." The army-surgeons made him limbs: Said he, "They're only pegs; But there's as wooden members quite As represent my legs." Now Ben he loved a pretty maid, -- Her name was Nelly Gray; So he went to pay her his devours, When he devoured his pay. But when he called on Nelly Gray, She made him quite a scoff; And when she saw his wooden legs, Began to take them off. "O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray! Is this your love so warm? The love that loves a scarlet coat Should be more uniform." Said she, "I loved a soldier once, For he was blithe and brave; But I will never have a man With both legs in the grave. "Before you had those timber toes Your love I did allow; But then, you know, you stand upon Another footing now." "O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray! For all your jeering speeches, At duty's call I left my legs In Badajos's breaches." "Why, then," said she, "you've lost the feet Of legs in war's alarms, And now you cannot wear your shoes Upon your feats of arms!" "O false and fickle Nelly Gray! I know why you refuse: Though I've no feet, some other man Is standing in my shoes. I wish I ne'er had seen your face; But, now a long farewell! For you will be my death; -- alas! You will not be my Nelly!" Now when he went from Nelly Gray His heart so heavy got, And life was such a burden grown, It made him take a knot. So round his melancholy neck A rope he did intwine, And, for his second time in life, Enlisted in the Line. One end he tied around a beam, And then removed his pegs; And as his legs were off, -- of course He soon was off his legs. And there he hung till he was dead As any nail in town; For, though distress had cut him up, It could not cut him down. A dozen men sat on his corpse, To find out why he died, -- And they buried Ben in four cross-roads, With a stake in his inside. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPITAPH ON TOMBSTONE ERECTED OVER MARQUIS OF ANGLESEA'S LEG by GEORGE CANNING MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER FAME by THOMAS HOOD ENEMIES OF ENORMITY by DAVID RIVARD RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME by JAMES TATE THE HURDLERS by HENRY DE MONTHERLANT THE LEGLESS MAN by ROBERT WILLIAM SERVICE POEM IN WHICH MY LEGS ARE ACCEPTED by KATHLEEN FRASER RISING FROM A CRAMPED POSITION by JAMES HARRISON |
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