Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


MAD POLL by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES

Poet Analysis

First Line: THERE GOES MAD POLL, DRESSED IN WILD FLOWERS
Last Line: HA, HA!' POLL LAUGHS, AND SKIPS AWAY.
Subject(s): INSANITY; MADNESS; MENTAL ILLNESS;

There goes mad Poll, dressed in wild flowers,
Poor, crazy Poll, now old and wan;
Her hair all down, like any child:
She swings her two arms like a man.

Poor, crazy Poll is never sad,
She never misses one that dies;
When neighbours show their new-born babes,
They seem familiar to her eyes.

Her bonnet's always in her hand,
Or on the ground, and lying near;
She thinks it is a thing for play,
Or pretty show, and not to wear.

She gives the sick no sympathy,
She never soothes a child that cries;
She never whimpers, night or day,
She makes no moans, she makes no sighs.

She talks about some battle old,
Fought many a day from yesterday;
And when that war is done, her love --
'Ha, ha!' Poll laughs, and skips away.



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