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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE THINKER, by BERTON BRALEY Poet's Biography First Line: Back of the beating hammer Last Line: Who's making the dream come true! Subject(s): Labor & Laborers; Work; Workers | |||
BACK OF the beating hammer By which the steel is wrought, Back of the workshop's clamor The seeker may find the Thought- The Thought that is ever master Of iron and steam and steel, That rises above disaster And tramples it under heel! The drudge may fret and tinker Or labor with lusty blows, But back of him stands the Thinker, The clear-eyed man who knows; For into each plow or saber, Each piece and part and whole, Must go the Brains of Labor, Which gives the work a soul! Back of the motors humming, Back of the bells that sing, Back of the hammers drumming, Back of the cranes that swing, There is the eye which scans them Watching through stress and strain, There is the Mind which plans them -- Back of the brawn, the Brain! Might of the roaring boiler, Force of the engine's thrust, Strength of the sweating toiler -- Greatly in these we trust. But back of them stands the Schemer, The Thinker who drives things through; Back of the Job -- the Dreamer Who's making the dream come true! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AFTER WORKING SIXTY HOURS AGAIN FOR WHAT REASON by HICOK. BOB DAY JOB AND NIGHT JOB by ANDREW HUDGINS BIXBY'S LANDING by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON BUILDING WITH STONE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LINES FROM A PLUTOCRATIC POETASTER TO A DITCH-DIGGER by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS IN CALIFORNIA: MORNING, EVENING, LATE JANUARY by DENISE LEVERTOV |
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