Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CULPRIT, by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CULPRIT, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The night my father got me
Last Line: And I have none.
Alternate Author Name(s): Housman, A. E.
Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty


The night my father got me
His mind was not on me;
He did not plague his fancy
To muse if I should be
The son you see.

The day my mother bore me
She was a fool and glad,
For all the pain I cost her,
That she had borne the lad
That borne she had.

My mother and my father
Out of the light they lie;
The warrant would not find them,
And here 'tis only I
Shall hang so high.

Oh let not man remember
The soul that God forgot,
But fetch the county kerchief
And noose me in the knot,
And I will rot.

For so the game is ended
That should not have begun.
My father and my mother
They had a likely son,
And I have none.






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