Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, JACK AND JILL, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN


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JACK AND JILL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: So, up the steep side of the rugged hill
Last Line: And shrieks of anguish chill the conscious pump.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Thomson, James (1700-1748)


So, up the steep side of the rugged hill,
Companions in adventure, Jack and Jill
With footing nice and anxious effort hale
To the moist pump the necessary pail.
The industrious pair their watery task divide,
And woo the bashful Naiad side by side.
The sturdier swain, for arduous labour planned,
The handle guiding in his practised hand,
With art hydraulic and propulsion stout
Evokes the crystal treasure from the spout,
The maid attentive to the useful flow,
Adjusts the apt receptacle below;
The gelid waves with bright reflections burn,
And mirrored beauty blushes in the urn.
Now down the slope, their task accomplished, they
The liquid plunder of the pump convey,And seek the level sward; incautious pair!

Too soon, alas, too soon shall ye be there.
The hero first the strong compulsion feels,
And finds his head supplanted by his heels;
In circles whirled he thunders to the plain,
Vain all his efforts, all his language vain,
Vain his laced boots and vain his eyebrow dark,
And vain, ah! vain, his vaccination mark.
The inverted pail his flying form pursues,
With humid tribute and sequacious dews:
(So, through affrighted skies, o'er nations pale,
Behind the comet streams the comet's tail).
The prudent fair, of equilibrium vain,
Views, as he falls, the rotatory swain.
Exhilaration heaves her bosom young,

Tilts the fine nose, protrudes the vermeil tongue,
Bids from her throat the silvery laughters roll
And cachinnations strike the starry pole.
Gnomes! her light foot your envious fingers trip,
And freeze the titter on the ruby lip;
The massy earth with strong attraction draws,
And Venus yields to gravitation's laws;
From rock to rock the charms of Beauty bump,
And shrieks of anguish chill the conscious pump.





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