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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
VOICE OF TOIL, by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I heard men saying, leave hope and praying Subject(s): Labor And Laborers | |||
I am the voice of Toil and Hunger, pain and woe; I am the swordless, sorrowful, unresting seed of war. I am the clutch'd and bleeding hand, the asker and the knower, I am the friend of all my kind, the lover of the poor. I am the voice of him who sits, and watches in the night; I am the bearer of all tales, and comforts, and alarms; I am the mother hen who calls her famishing brood to light, I am the nurse of all great men, and all good women's arms. I am the sower and the seed of every striving soul, I am the tyrant and the slave, the war, and what shall be; I am the one thing under heaven that naught can bend or bow, I am the power of all the earth, the joy of all the sea. The dust and sweat and blood of Toil, the up-turned, furrow'd sod, Are known to me, are part of me, and I part of them all; My ear is on the railway-train, my hand upon the rod, My heart is with the smithy-stroke, the fire, the forge, the mall. The face of Hunger's self is mine, the children wan and weak; The sick, the lost, the old, the lone, the weary, and the sad; The prisoner in his dungeon deep, the felon on the bleak Therefore my sword is in my hand, my word is on my tongue, My love is as a flame to burn, and as a banner hung; I am the arm of all who live, the tongue of all the dead, I am the first, the last, the peace, the fury, and the dread. I am the power of patience and of impatience too; I am the bitter cold of life, the burning heat of woe; I am the soul of all that lives, the beauty of the night; I am the lord of lordless lands, the giver of the light. I am the voice of Toil and Hunger, pain and woe; I am the swordless, sorrowful, unresting seed of war. I am the clutch'd and bleeding hand, the asker and the knower, I am the friend of all my kind, the lover of the poor. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HEDGES by CLAUDE COLLEER ABBOTT STALLION by CLAUDE COLLEER ABBOTT CLERK'S LUNCH by ANYA ACHTENBERG PIECE WORK by MONA ELAINE ADILMAN NIGHT SHIFT AT THE PLATING DIVISION OF KEELER BRASS by JAMES B. ALLEN YOU OWE THEM EVERYTHING by JOHN ALLMAN TIEMPO MUERTO by RICARDO ALONSO FOR THE BED AT KELMSCOTT by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) |
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