Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO JANE (HIS WIFE, ON HER BIRTHDAY, THE SIXTH OF NOVEMBER) by THOMAS HOOD

Poet Analysis

First Line: WELCOME, DEAR HEART, AND A MOST KIND GOOD-MORROW
Last Line: SO MAY THY LIFE BE MEASURED OUT BY FLOWERS!
Subject(s): BIRTHDAYS; LOVE - MARITAL; WEDDED LOVE; MARRIAGE - LOVE;

WELCOME, dear Heart, and a most kind goodmorrow;
The day is gloomy, but our looks shall shine: --
Flowers I have none to give thee, but I borrow
Their sweetness in a verse to speak for thine.

Here are red Roses, gathered at thy cheeks,
The white were all too happy to look white:
For love the Rose, for faith the Lily speaks;
It withers in false hands, but here 'tis bright!

Dost love sweet Hyacinth? Its scented leaf
Curls manifold, -- all love's delights blow double:
'Tis said this flow'ret is inscribed with grief, --
But let that hint of a forgotten trouble.

I plucked the Primrose at night's dewy noon;
Like Hope, it showed its blossoms in the night; --
'Twas, like Endymion, watching for the Moon!
And here are Sun-flowers, amorous of light!

These golden Buttercups are April's seal, --
The Daisy-stars her constellations be:
These grew so lowly, I was forced to kneel,
Therefore I pluck no daisies but for thee!

Here's Daisies for the morn, Primrose for gloom,
Pansies and Roses for the noontide hours: --
A wight once made a dial of their bloom, --
So may thy life be measured out by flowers!



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