Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FALSTAFF, by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Twas in a tavern that with old age stooped Last Line: What simple mouse brought such a mountain forth?' Alternate Author Name(s): Ramal, Walter; De La Mare, Walter | ||||||||
'Twas in a tavern that with old age stooped And leaned rheumatic rafters o'er his head -- A blowzed, prodigious man, which talked, and stared, And rolled, as if with purpose, a small eye Like a sweet Cupid in a cask of wine. I could not view his fatness for his soul, Which peeped like harmless lightnings and was gone; As haps to voyagers of the summer air. And when he laughed, Time trickled down those beams, As in a glass; and when in self-defence He puffed that paunch, and wagged that huge, Greek head, Nosed like a Punchinello, then it seemed A hundred widows wept in his small voice, Now tenor, and now bass of drummy war. He smiled, compact of loam, this orchard man; Mused like a midnight, webbed with moonbeam snares Of flitting Love; woke -- and a King he stood, Whom all the world hath in sheer jest refused For helpless laughter's sake. And then, forfend! Bacchus and Jove reared vast Olympus there; And Pan leaned leering from Promethean eyes. 'Lord!' sighed his aspect, weeping o'er the jest, 'What simple mouse brought such a mountain forth?' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALONE (2) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE AN EPITAPH by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ARABIA by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE BUNCHES OF GRAPES by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ECHO by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE ENGLAND (2) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE FARE WELL by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE FIVE EYES by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE JOHN MOULDY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE MOTLEY by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE |
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