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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN A MUSIC-HALL: 2. TOM JENKS by JOHN DAVIDSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: A FUR-COLLARED COAT AND A STICK AND A RING
Last Line: GIVES A FELLOW MORE TIME TO HIMSELF, DO YOU SEE?
A FUR-COLLARED coat and a stick and a ring,
And a chimney- pot hat to the side-that's me!
I'm a music-hall singer that never could sing;
I'm a sort of a fellow like that, do you see?


I go pretty high in my line, I believe,
Which is comic, and commonplace, too, maybe.
I was once a job-lot, though, and didn't receive
The lowest price paid in the biz., do you see?


For I never could get the right hang of the trade;
So the managers wrote at my name, " D.B.,"
In the guide-books they keep of our business and grade,
Which means-you'll allow me-damned bad, do you see?


But a sort of a kind of a pluck that's mine
Despised any place save the top of the tree.
I needed some rubbing before I could shine,
Some grinding, and pruning, and that, do you see?


So I practised my entrance-a kind of half- moon,
With a flourishing stride and a bow to a T,
And the bark and the yelp at the end of the tune,
The principal things in my biz. , do you see?


Oh, it's business that does it, and blow all the rest!
The singers ain't in it alongside of me;
They trust to their voices, but I know what's best
Smart business, like clockwork and all, do you see?


I'm jolly, and sober, and fond of my wife;
And she and the kids, they're as happy as me.
I was once in a draper's; but this kind of life
Gives a fellow more time to himself, do you see?




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