Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PLOUGHMAN, IN IMITATION OF MILTON, by SAMUEL JONES


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PLOUGHMAN, IN IMITATION OF MILTON, by                    
First Line: Happy's the man whose pleasant labours with the lark
Last Line: Lies sheltered only in her shift below him.
Subject(s): Milton, John (1608-1674); Plowing & Plowmen


HAPPY'S the man whose pleasant labours with the lark
Salute the opening of the radiant east;
Who, cheerful as the sun, begins his task
Of cultivating Nature's plenteous gifts,
Without a certain hope, except in heav'n;
Who in his nostrils snuffs the morning dew,
And takes the physic of the op'ning ground;
Yet feels no guilty love annoy his rest,
No lust of lawless gain to make him rise
And hammer mischiefs for a sleeping man;
Who neither spurs nor spares his beast too far,
But makes him serve the purpose heav'n designed;
Whose team with bells to him impart a joy
Like that old soldiers feel when hostile fire
Deals death like fate, and makes the coward run
Or die, with apprehensions vast and strange:
Or as the lover feels, when Byblis first,
Agreed to crown him monarch of her joys,
Lies sheltered only in her shift below him.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net