Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A MAIDEN AND HER HAIR, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES Poet Analysis First Line: Her cruel hands go in and out Last Line: And her simplicity of face. Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H. Subject(s): Hair | ||||||||
Her cruel hands go in and out, Like two pale woodmen working there, To make a nut-brown thicket clear -- The full, wild foliage of her hair. Her hands now work far up the North Then, fearing for the South's extreme, They into her dark waves of hair Dive down so quick -- it seems a dream. They're in the light again with speed, Tossing the loose hair to and fro, Until, like tamed snakes, the coils Lie on her bosom in a row. For wise inspection, up and down One coil her busy hands now run; To screw and twist, to turn and shape, And here and there to work like one. And now those white hands, still like one, Are working at the perilous end; Where they must knot those nut-brown coils, Which will hold fast, though still they'll bend. Sometimes one hand must fetch strange tools, The other then must work alone; But when more instruments are brought, See both make up the time that's gone. Now that her hair is bound secure, Coil top of coil, in smaller space, Ah, now I see how smooth her brow, And her simplicity of face. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PORTRAIT WITH BROWN HAIR by DONALD JUSTICE OPENING HER JEWEL BOX by WILLIAM MATTHEWS THE BLONDE SONATA by JOHN FREDERICK NIMS THE SONG CALLED HIS HIDE IS COVERED WITH HAIR by HILAIRE BELLOC THE WOMEN WITH FABLED HAIR by MADELINE DEFREES DECRYPTING THE MESSAGE by EDWARD FIELD A BIRD'S ANGER by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES |
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