OUR demagogues, as wise old Aristophanes may show, Are playing just the game they played two thousand years ago. "They work," says he, "like seamen when they go to fish for eels; They stir the mud, and foul the ponds, and so they fill their creels. For fools, like eels, pop up their heads, whene'er they scent a riot; And orators in shoals would starve, if once the State grew quiet." Moral Let workmen plead the workmen's cause, and trust no flatterer's cant, Hold fast by English fortitude -- you'll ne'er need Irish rant. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A PORTRAIT by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE HAYSTACK IN THE FLOODS by WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896) TO A DOG by JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY AN OLD WOMAN: 1 by EDITH SITWELL OVERTURE TO A DANCE OF LOCOMOTIVES by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS |