Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A WOMAN'S HISTORY, by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES Poet Analysis First Line: When mary price was five years old Last Line: And beaten it to death. Alternate Author Name(s): Davies, W. H. Subject(s): Innocence; Women | ||||||||
When Mary Price was five years old, And had a bird that died, She laid its body under flowers; And called her friends to pray to God, And sing sad hymns for hours. When she, before her fifteenth year, Was ruined by a man, The neighbours sought him out, and said -- 'You'll come along and marry her, Or hang till you are dead.' When they had found the child he wronged, And playing with her doll, 'I'll come along with you,' said she -- 'But I'll not marry anyone Unless my doll's with me.' With no more love's heat in her than The wax upon her arm; With no more love-light in her eyes Than in the glass eyes of her doll -- Nor wonder, nor surprise. When Mary Price was thirty-five, And he was lying dead, She wept as though her heart would break: But neighbours winked to see her tears Fall on a lover's neck. Now, Mary Price is seventy-five, And skinning eels alive: She, active, strong, and full of breath, Has caught the cat that stole an eel, And beaten it to death. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARISTOTLE TO PHYLLIS by JOHN HOLLANDER A WOMAN'S DELUSION by SUSAN HOWE JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN by ANDREW HUDGINS THE WOMEN ON CYTHAERON by ROBINSON JEFFERS TOMORROW by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD LADIES FOR DINNER, SAIPAN by KENNETH KOCH GOODBYE TO TOLERANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV A BIRD'S ANGER by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES |
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