Classic and Contemporary Poetry
MORAL REFLECTIONS ON THE CROSS OF ST. PAUL'S, by THOMAS HOOD Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The man that pays his pence, and goes Last Line: Though I should stand upon the cross, and ball! Subject(s): St. Paul's Cathedral, London | ||||||||
THE man that pays his pence, and goes Up to thy lofty cross, St. Paul, Looks over London's naked nose, Women and men: The world is all beneath his ken, He sits above the Ball. He seems on Mount Olympus' top, Among the Gods, by Jupiter! and lets drop His eyes from the empyreal clouds On mortal crowds. Seen from these skies, How small those emmets in our eyes! Some carry little sticks -- and one His eggs -- to warm them in the sun: Dear! what a hustle, And bustle! And there's my aunt. I know her by her waist, So long and thin, And so pinch'd in Just in the pismire taste. Oh! what are men? -- Beings so small, That, should I fall Upon their little heads, I must Crush them by hundreds into dust! And what is life? and all its ages -- There's seven stages! Turnham Green! Chelsea! Putney! Fulham! Brentford! and Kew! And Tooting, too! And oh! what very little nags to pull 'em. Yet each would seem a horse indeed, If here at Paul's tip-top we'd got 'em; Although, like Cinderella's breed, They're mice at bottom. Then let me not despise a horse, Though he looks small from Paul's high cross! Since he would be, -- as near the sky, -- Fourteen hands high. What is this world with London in its lap? Mogg's Map. The Thames, that ebbs and flows in its broad channel? A tidy kennel. The bridges stretching from its banks? Stone planks. Oh me! hence could I read an admonition To mad Ambition! But that he would not listen to my call, Though I should stand upon the cross, and ball! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BALLAD: TIME OF ROSES by THOMAS HOOD DEATH IN THE KITCHEN by THOMAS HOOD FAITHLESS NELLY GRAY; A PATHETIC BALLAD by THOMAS HOOD FALSE POETS AND TRUE; TO WORDSWORTH by THOMAS HOOD MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER BIRTH by THOMAS HOOD MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER DEATH by THOMAS HOOD MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER MORAL by THOMAS HOOD NOCTURNAL SKETCH; BLANK VERSE IN RHYME by THOMAS HOOD |
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