Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A GAME OF FIVES, by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A GAME OF FIVES, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Five little girls, of five, four, three, two, one
Last Line: "the answer to that ancient problem ""how the money goes!"
Alternate Author Name(s): Carroll, Lewis
Subject(s): Aging; Girls; Man-woman Relationships; Marriage; Women; Male-female Relations; Weddings; Husbands; Wives


FIVE little girls, of Five, Four, Three, Two, One:
Roiling on the hearthrug, full of tricks and fun.

Five rosy girls, in years from Ten to Six:
Sitting down to lessons—no more time for tricks.

Five growing girls, from Fifteen to Eleven:
Music, Drawing, Languages, and food enough for seven!

Five winsome girls, from Twenty to Sixteen:
Each young man that calls, I say "Now tell me which you mean!"

Five dashing girls, the youngest Twenty-one:
But, if nobody proposes, what is there to be done?

Five showy girls—but Thirty is an age
When girls may be engaging, but they somehow don't engage.

Five dressy girls, of Thirty-one or more:
So gracious to the shy young men they snubbed so much before!

Five passé girls—Their age? Well, never mind!
We jog along together, like the rest of human kind:
But the quondam "careless bachelor" begins to think he knows
The answer to that ancient problem "how the money goes!"





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