Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE BED-SITTING-ROOM, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES Poet Analysis First Line: Must I live here, with scripture on my walls Last Line: I leave with haste your death-preparing room. Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H. | ||||||||
Must I live here, with Scripture on my walls, Death-cards with rocks and anchors; on my shelf Plain men and women with plain histories A proud landlady knows, and no one else? Let me have pictures of a richer kind: Scenes in low taverns, with their beggar rogues Singing and drinking ale; who buy more joy With a few pence than others can with pounds. Show gipsies on wild commons, camped at fires Close to their caravans; where they cook flesh They have not bought, and plants not sold to them. Show me the picture of a drinking monk With his round belly like a mare in foal, Belted, to keep his guts from falling out When he laughs hearty; or a maid's bare back, Who teases me with a bewitching smile Thrown over her white shoulder. Let me see The picture of a sleeping damosel, Who has a stream of shining hair to fill Up that deep channel banked by her white breasts. Has Beauty never smiled from off these walls, Has Genius never entered in a book? Nay, Madam, keep your room; for in my box I have a lovely picture of young Eve, Before she knew what sewing was. Alas! If I hung on your wall her naked form, Among your graves and crosses, Scripture texts, Your death-cards with their anchors and their rocks -- What then? I think this life a joyful thing, And, like a bird that sees a sleeping cat, I leave with haste your death-preparing room. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHILD'S PET by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES A MOTHER TO HER SICK CHILD by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES A STRANGE MEETING by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES A THOUGHT by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES ADVICE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES APRIL'S LAMBS by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES BIRD AND BROOK by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES COWSLIPS AND LARKS by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES DAYS TOO SHORT by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES EARLY MORN by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES |
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