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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ALL IN THE DOWNS, by THOMAS HOOD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: I would I had something to do - or to think
Last Line: One can't always be stirring the fire.
Subject(s): Boredom; Ennui
First Line: I would I had something to do - or to think
Last Line: One can't always be stirring the fire.
Subject(s): Boredom; Ennui
"Had I a little son, I would christen him 'Nothing-to-do.'"
CHARLES LAMB.
I would I had something to do—or to think!
Or something to read, or to write!
I am rapidly verging on lunacy's brink,
Or I shall be dead before night.
In my ears has been ringing and droning all day,
Without ever a stop or a change,
That poem of Tennyson's—heart-cheering lay!—
Of the moated monotonous Grange!
The stripes in the carpet and paper alike
I have counted, and counted all through,
And now I've a fervid ambition to strike
Out some path of wild pleasure that's new.
They say, if a number you count, and recount,
That the time imperceptibly goes,—
! I wish—how I wish!—I'd ne'er learnt the amount
Of my aggregate fingers and toes.
"Enjoyment is fleeting," the proverbs all say,
'Even that which it feeds upon fails."
I've arrived at the truth of the saying to-day,
By devouring the whole of my nails.
I have numbered the minutes so heavy and slow,
Till of that dissipation I tire,
And as for exciting amusements,—you know
One can't always be stirring the fire.
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