Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD WOMAN OF TROYES, by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER Poet's Biography First Line: She is an old woman, certainly one Last Line: Of this old woman of troyes! Subject(s): Old Age; Troy; Women | ||||||||
SHE is an old woman, certainly one Of the most remarkable under the sun, Not even excepting the old woman who Lived very retired in the heel of a shoe, And was troubled with troublesome boys; The very quintessence of spirit and strength, Corked down in a body not four feet in length, And perhaps I should add, the very personi- Fication of everything skinny and bony, Is this Old Woman of Troyes! As soon as the diligence, clatter, and clang, Gets into the square, and pulls up with a bang, Probably waking up half of the people, And shaking the town from the stones to the steeple, With a terrible racket and noise; Out of Le Grand Mulet (mentioned by Murray As "good, clean, and cheap"), in all sorts of a hurry, With a light in her handof course a rush light She comes with a rush, in the depth of the night, This queer Old Woman of Troyes! She unloads in a trice, I really can't state Exactly the number of cwt., From the top of the diligence down to the flags; While as for such matters as baskets and bags, They're nothing but trifles and toys; Around and around the old woman scampers, Amongst packages, boxes, and barrels, and hampers; A bale of packed cotton, or load of pressed hay, Would be nothing at all, I'll venture to say, To this Old Woman of Troyes! While we are looking, she's gone for a minute, Flies to the court-yard, and disappears in it, But only, it seems, to take a fresh start, For out of the gate with a monster hand-cart, Like a squadron of horse she deploys; Then into it piles up trunks, boxes, and chests, As a tailor would pile up trousers and vests, Hops into the shafts like a twelve-pounder shot, And off through the streets, at a rousing round trot, Goes this Old Woman of Troyes! Now, if Hugo or Scribe had been in the coupé, Or Janin or Sue, it's easy to say, That, besides with the hand-cart this very long run. In a novel or play she might have had one, And made a prodigious great noise; Or in England, that country of guilds and of crafts, She'd surely be christened the Countess of Shafts, Leaving the bury out of the word, Which would make it too long, by more than a third, For this Old Woman of Troyes! Now, ye mothers all over the world attend, And I'll give you the moral that comes at the end; If you have a large family, in a long series Of Peggies, and Sallies, and Annas, and Maries; Without wishing your girls had been boys, Don't make of these Peggies, or Annas, or Maries, Hot-house camellias or gilt-cage canaries, To break other people's and then their own hearts, But teach them the useful, industrial arts Of this Old Woman of Troyes! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ARISTOTLE TO PHYLLIS by JOHN HOLLANDER A WOMAN'S DELUSION by SUSAN HOWE JULIA TUTWILER STATE PRISON FOR WOMEN by ANDREW HUDGINS THE WOMEN ON CYTHAERON by ROBINSON JEFFERS TOMORROW by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD LADIES FOR DINNER, SAIPAN by KENNETH KOCH GOODBYE TO TOLERANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV NOTHING TO WEAR' by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER THE INCOGNITA OF RAPHAEL by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER A GOLDEN WEDDING: C.B.-E.A.B., 1825-1875 by WILLIAM ALLEN BUTLER |
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