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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN ENIGMA, by VINCENT BOURNE Poet's Biography First Line: A needle, small as small can be Last Line: And take me for your pains! Subject(s): Artisans | |||
A NEEDLE, small as small can be, In bulk and use surpasses me, Nor is my purchase dear; For little, and almost for nought, As many of my kind are bought As days are in the year. Yet though but little use we boast, And are procured at little cost, The labour is not light; Nor few artificers it asks, All skilful in their several tasks, To fashion us aright. One fuses metal o'er the fire, A second draws it into wire, The shears another plies, Who clips in lengths the brazen thread For him who, chafing every shred, Gives all an equal size. A fifth prepares, exact and round, The knob with which it must be crowned; His follower makes it fast: And with his mallet and his file To shape the point, employs awhile The seventh and the last. Now therefore, CEdipus! declare What creature, wonderful and rare, A process that obtains Its purpose with so much ado At last produces!--tell me true, And take me for your pains! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A MANUAL MORE ANCIENT THAT THE ART OF PRINTING ... by VINCENT BOURNE DENNER'S OLD WOMAN by VINCENT BOURNE FAMILIARITY DANGEROUS by VINCENT BOURNE INVITATION TO THE REDBREAST by VINCENT BOURNE NO SORROW PECULIAR TO THE SUFFERER by VINCENT BOURNE ON THE PICTURE OF A SLEEPING CHILD by VINCENT BOURNE RECIPROCAL KINDNESS THE PRIMARY LAW OF NATURE by VINCENT BOURNE SPARROWS SELF-DOMESTICATED IN TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE by VINCENT BOURNE |
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