Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LITTLE BRITAIN, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "in ancient times, no matter where" Last Line: "where birds escape the fatal gun, / and men alone are shot at" Subject(s): Debt;great Britain;poverty | ||||||||
IN ancient times, no matter where, A nation lived of wise men, Who lawyers fed with special care, Bum-bailiffs and excisemen; Who made good laws to guard a hare, A partridge or a pheasant, But left the poor to nature's care: Say, was not this right pleasant? Who shut up men within brick walls, Because they were indebted; Then let them out when hunger's calls Had them to shadows fretted; Who paid ten thousand fools and knaves, And twenty thousand villains, To make their fellow-subjects slaves, And steal their pence and shillings; Who cut each others' throats for fun, On land and on the water, While half the world looked weeping on, And half was burst with laughter. Who to this country would not run, Where only freedom's got at? Where birds escape the fatal gun, And men alone are shot at. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WEALTH OF THE DESTITUTE by DENISE LEVERTOV EMPTY PITCHFORKS by THOMAS LUX FUNERAL SERVICE by EVE MERRIAM A SMALL COUNTRY by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA DOCUMENTAL by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA NOTES ON POVERTY by HAYDEN CARRUTH SONG OF TWO CROWS by HAYDEN CARRUTH PENCIL STUB JOURNALS: CHOICES by JOHN CIARDI AT LAST WE KILLED THE ROACHES by LUCILLE CLIFTON TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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