Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MOOR, by WILLIAM BARNES Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Where yonder leaning hill-side roves Last Line: But pass no door of man's abode. Subject(s): Country Life; Moors (land) | ||||||||
Where yonder leaning hill-side roves With woody dippings, far around, And many jutting brows, and coves, Of rugged cliffs, and slopy ground, Beside the stream that slowly sinks With reaches tinted from the skies, And stream-side meadows, lowly lies The moor, with dikes and sedgy brinks. About us there the willow shade Oft play'd beside the water's edge, And there the rodded bulrush sway'd Its soft brown club, above the sedge, And by the aspen or the bridge, The angler sat, and lightly whipp'd His little float, that, dancing, dipp'd From o'er the waveling's little ridge. There cows, in clusters, rambled wide, Some hanging low their heads to eat, Some lying on their heavy side, Some standing on their two-peaked feet, Some sheeted white, some dun or black, Some red, and others brindled dark, Some marked with milk-white star, or spark, And ours all white along the back. There cows, to others, low'd; now here, Now there, from open heat to shade; And out among them, far or near, With quiv'ring scream, the horses neigh'd, The while some boy, within the mead, On some high mare might come astride; And sliding down her bulging side, Might set her, snorting, free to feed. And there we saw the busy crow For mussels down the river play, And rooks sweep on where men below Went, water hemm'd, their crooked way, And gamb'ling boys, in merry train, On holidays came rambling by With often-grounded poles, to fly In high-bow'd flight, o'er dike and drain. There men at work on pathless grass, Are seen, though out of hearing, wide, By neighbour-meeting folk, that pass The many-roaded upland side. So some may like the trampled road, O'er well-rubbed stile-bars, with a gloss, And some the moor, that some may cross But pass no door of man's abode. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BOY ON THE MOOR by ANNETTE ELISABETH VON DROSTE-HULSHOFF THE SPANISH GYPSY: BOOK 3 by MARY ANN EVANS THE SPANISH GYPSY: BOOK 4 by MARY ANN EVANS GAULZERY (GALSWORTHY) MOOR by JOHN GALSWORTHY ON MARTOCK MOOR by THOMAS HARDY TO MY CHILDREN: 5. ON THE MOOR by DOLLIE CAROLINE MAITLAND RADFORD THE LOVER'S ROCK by ROBERT SOUTHEY ON THE HEATH by ARTHUR WILLIAM SYMONS A WINTER NIGHT by WILLIAM BARNES EVENEN IN THE VILLAGE by WILLIAM BARNES |
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