Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN HOSPITAL: 12. ETCHING, by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Two and thirty is the ploughman Last Line: In his voice. Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E. Subject(s): Hospitals | ||||||||
Two and thirty is the ploughman. He's a man of gallant inches, And his hair is close and curly, And his beard; But his face is wan and sunken, And his eyes are large and brilliant, And his shoulder-blades are sharp, And his knees. He is weak of wits, religious, Full of sentiment and yearning, Gentle, faded -- with a cough And a snore. When his wife (who was a widow, And is many years his elder) Fails to write, and that is always, He desponds. Let his melancholy wander, And he'll tell you pretty stories Of the women that have wooed him Long ago; Or he'll sing of bonnie lasses Keeping sheep among the heather, With a crackling, hackling click In his voice. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HAVING BEEN ASKED WHAT IS A MAN? I ANSWER by PHILIP LEVINE NEW YEAR'S EVE, IN HOSPITAL by PHILIP LEVINE THE DEMOCRATIC DIME by EVE MERRIAM THIS DID NOT HAPPEN by THYLIAS MOSS WALT WHITMAN IN THE CIVIL WAR HOSPITALS by DAVID IGNATOW A FIELD HOSPITAL by RANDALL JARRELL BALLADE OF DEAD ACTORS by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY |
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