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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE WANDERER: 1. IN ITALY: NEWS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON

Poet Analysis

First Line: NEWS, NEWS, NEWS, MY GOSSIPING FRIENDS!
Last Line: T IS A WOMAN THAT REIGNS IN HELL.
Subject(s): GOSSIP; ITALY; TRAVEL; WOMEN; ITALIANS; JOURNEYS; TRIPS;

NEWS, news, news, my gossiping friends!
I have wonderful news to tell.
A lady, by me, her compliments sends;
And this is the news from Hell:

The Devil is dead. He died resigned,
Though somewhat opprest by cares;
But his wife, my friends, is a woman of mind,
And looks after her lord's affairs.

I have just come back from that wonderful place,
And kist hands with the Queen down there;
But I cannot describe Her Majesty's face,
It has filled me so with despair.

The place is not what you might suppose:
It is worse in some respects.
But all that I heard there, I must not disclose,
For the lady that told me objects.

The laws of the land are not Salique,
But the King never dies, of course;
The new Queen is young, and pretty, and @3chic@1,
There are women, I think, that are worse.

But however that be, one thing I know,
And this I am free to tell;
The Devil, my friends, is a woman, just now;
'T is a woman that reigns in Hell.



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