Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THEN by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: TWENTY, FORTY, SIXTY, EIGHTY
Last Line: THREE! -- AND A STORM OF HAIL!'

Twenty, forty, sixty, eighty,
A hundred years ago,
All through the night with lantern bright
The Watch trudged to and fro.
And little boys tucked snug abed
Would wake from dreams to hear --
'Two o' the morning by the clock,
And the stars a-shining clear!'
Or, when across the chimney-tops
Screamed shrill a North-East gale,
A faint and shaken voice would shout,
'Three! -- and a storm of hail!'



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