Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OLD CANADA; OR, GEE BUCK GEE, by ALEXANDER MCLACHLAN Poet's Biography First Line: The country's goin' fast to ruin! Last Line: Ain't it a caution?gee buck gee! Subject(s): Canada; Education; Farm Life; Progress; Canadians; Agriculture; Farmers | ||||||||
The country's goin' fast to ruin! This edication's our undoin', We're comin' to a pretty pass, Our boys who scarce have been to grass, Have all gone off, bound to the teachers, Or city clerks, or peddlin' preachers; Our darters too, are quite Sultanas, All strummin' on them cuss'd pianos, And try to trip us up with rules They've learn'd away at Grammar Schools, And look upon the likes o' me Who nurs'd them criters on my knee As far beneath them,Gee Buck Gee! And then they're all Book Farmers too! And they would teach me what to do; Manurin', ploughin', drainin', seedin', All farmin's to be done by readin'! O Lord! O Lord! it makes me mad, When every striplin' o' a lad, And every edicated ass, Who scarce knows growin' wheat from grass, Must teach the like o' me to farm, Wi' Latin names as long's my arm; Them criters teach the like o' me? Who farm'd ere they could reach my knee, Ain't it presumption?Gee Buck Gee! I tell ye what! them and their books, Are getting to be perfect pukes; And sure enough this edication Will be the ruin o' the nation; We'll not ha' men, it's my opinion, Fit to defend our New Dominion; Not one o' them can swing an axe, But they will bore you with the facts; I'd send the criters off to work, But that, by any means they'll shirk! Grandad to some o' them I be, O, that's what riles and vexes me! Ain't it a caution?Gee Buck Gee! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KICKING THE LEAVES by DONALD HALL THE FARMER'S BOY: WINTER by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: SPRING by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: SUMMER by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD THE FARMER'S BOY: AUTUMN by ROBERT BLOOMFIELD IN THE FOREST by ALEXANDER MCLACHLAN SONG, FR. THE EMIGRANT by ALEXANDER MCLACHLAN YOUNG CANADA, OR JACK'S AS GOOD AS HIS MASTER by ALEXANDER MCLACHLAN |
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