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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SHORT SONG OF CONGRATULATION, by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Long-expected one and twenty Last Line: You can hang or drown at last! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson, Dr. Variant Title(s): One And Twenty Subject(s): Birthdays; Inheritance & Succession; Labor & Laborers; Marriage; Wealth; Youth; Heirs; Work; Workers; Weddings; Husbands; Wives; Riches; Fortunes | |||
LONG-EXPECTED One-and-twenty, Lingering year, at length is flown: Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty, Great Sir John, are now your own. Loosened from the minor's tether, Free to mortgage or to sell, Wild as wind and light as feather, Bid the sons of thrift farewell. Call the Betsies, Kates, and Jennies, All the names that banish care; Lavish of your grandsire's guineas, Show the spirit of an heir. All that prey on vice and folly Joy to see their quarry fly: There the gamester, light and jolly, There the lender, grave and sly. Wealth, Sir John, was made to wander, Let it wander as it will; Call the jockey, call the pander, Bid them come and take their fill. When the bonny blade carouses, Pockets full, and spirits high-- What are acres? What are houses? Only dirt, or wet or dry. Should the guardian friend or mother Tell the woes of wilful waste, Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother;-- You can hang or drown at last! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL LIFE IN A LIFE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FOUR POEMS ABOUT JAMAICA: 3. A HAIRPIN TURN ABOVE READING, JAMAICA by WILLIAM MATTHEWS IMAGINE YOURSELF by EVE MERRIAM THE PROPHET by LUCILLE CLIFTON I AM FIFTY-TWO YEARS OLD' by KENNETH REXROTH LAST VISIT TO THE SWIMMING POOL SOVIETS by KENNETH REXROTH PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR AS A YOUNG ANARCHIST by KENNETH REXROTH ON SOME LINES OF LOPE DE VEGA by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) ON THE DEATH OF DR. ROBERT LEVET, A PRACTISER IN PHYSIC by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY MR. GARRICK AT ... THEATRE ROYALE, 1747 by SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784) |
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