Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BRITISH RURAL COTTAGES IN 1842, by EBENEZER ELLIOTT


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BRITISH RURAL COTTAGES IN 1842, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The scentless rose, train'd by the poor
Last Line: Where is the aged pauper's rose!
Alternate Author Name(s): Corn-law Rhymer; Elliot, Ebenezer
Subject(s): Flowers; Great Britain; Poverty; Roses


The scentless rose, train'd by the poor,
May sometimes grace the peasant's door;
But when will comfort enter there?
Beauty without, hides death within,
Like flowers upon the shroud of sin:
For ev'n the poor man's marriage-joys,
His wife, his sad-lipp'd girls and boys,
In mercy or in mockery given,
But brighten, with their 'hour of heav'n,'
A life of ghastly toil and care:
His pay is pain, his hope despair,
Although the cottage-rose is fair!
Out of his weekly pittance small,
Three crowns, for children, wife, and all,
Poor British Slave! how can he save
A pittance for his evening's close?
No roses deck the workhouse-grave!
Where is the aged pauper's rose!





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