Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LIFE AND DEATH AT SUNRISE (NEAR DOGBURY GATE, 1867), by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The hills uncap their tops Last Line: "-- he was ninety-odd. He could call up the french revolution." Subject(s): Old Age | ||||||||
THE hills uncap their tops Of woodland, pasture, copse, And look on the layers of mist At their foot that still persist: They are like awakened sleepers on one elbow lifted, Who gaze around to learn if things during night have shifted. A waggon creaks up from the fog With a laboured leisurely jog; Then a horseman from off the hill-tip Comes clapping down into the dip; While woodlarks, finches, sparrows, try to entune at one time, And cocks and hens and cows and bulls take up the chime. With a shouldered basket and flagon A man meets the one with the waggon, And both the men halt of long use. "Well," the waggoner says, "what's the news?" "-- 'Tis a boy this time. You've just met the doctor trotting back. She's doing very well. And we think we shall call him 'Jack.' "And what have you got covered there?" He nods to the waggon and mare. "Oh, a coffin for old John Thinn: We are just going to put him in." "-- So he's gone at last. He always had a good constitution." "-- He was ninety-odd. He could call up the French Revolution." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT EIGHTY I CHANGE MY VIEW by DAVID IGNATOW FAWN'S FOSTER-MOTHER by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE DEER LAY DOWN THEIR BONES by ROBINSON JEFFERS OLD BLACK MEN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A WINTER ODE TO THE OLD MEN OF LUMMUS PARK, / MIAMI, FLORIDA by DONALD JUSTICE AFTER A LINE BY JOHN PEALE BISHOP by DONALD JUSTICE TO HER BODY, AGAINST TIME by ROBERT KELLY SONG FROM A COUNTRY FAIR by LEONIE ADAMS AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM' by THOMAS HARDY |
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