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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CASCA by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: BUTCHERS ARE HONEST THOUGH THEIR AGILE KNIVES
Last Line: WHITE AS THE LILY.

Butchers are honest though their agile knives
They wield with an engrossed dexterity.
To smile with natural hatred like a dog,
Dull, fretful, thirsty; -- this is to be he
Who may unheated lave in burning blood
Hands white and large with idleness and sleep.
He is earth's hero -- this plain, bloated Casca.
He glides like a great woman; while a hare
Squats in his shaggy breast, and stares, and trembles
If peeps the lightning in. So, let him pass;
His bloody hands his chosen orators.
There is much pig's flesh in a world of swine,
White as the lily.



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