[ { "title": "Death", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "It is not death, that sometime in a sigh", "This eloquent breath shall take its speechless flight;", "That sometime these bright stars, that now reply", "In sunlight to the sun, shall set in night;", "That this warm conscious flesh shall perish quite,", "And all life's ruddy springs forget to flow;", "That thoughts shall cease, and the immortal sprite", "Be lapped in alien clay and laid below;", "It is not death to know this,--but to know", "That pious thoughts, which visit at new graves", "In tender pilgrimage, will cease to go", "So duly and so oft,--and when grass waves", "Over the past-away, there may be then", "No resurrection in the minds of men." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Time of Roses", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "It was not in the Winter", "Our loving lot was cast;", "It was the time of roses—", "We pluck'd them as we pass'd!", "", "That churlish season never frown'd", "On early lovers yet:", "O no—the world was newly crown'd", "With flowers when first we met!", "", "'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,", "But still you held me fast;", "It was the time of roses—", "We pluck'd them as we pass'd!" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Song of the Shirt", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "With fingers weary and worn,", "With eyelids heavy and red,", "A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,", "Plying her needle and thread--", "Stitch! stitch! stitch!", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "And still with a voice of dolorous pitch", "She sang the \"Song of the Shirt.\"", "", "\"Work! work! work!", "While the cock is crowing aloof!", "And work — work — work,", "Till the stars shine through the roof!", "It's Oh! to be a slave", "Along with the barbarous Turk,", "Where woman has never a soul to save,", "If this is Christian work!", "", "\"Work — work — work", "Till the brain begins to swim;", "Work — work — work", "Till the eyes are heavy and dim!", "Seam, and gusset, and band,", "Band, and gusset, and seam,", "Till over the buttons I fall asleep,", "And sew them on in a dream!", "", "\"Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!", "Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives!", "It is not linen you're wearing out,", "But human creatures' lives!", "Stitch — stitch — stitch,", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "Sewing at once with a double thread,", "A Shroud as well as a Shirt.", "", "But why do I talk of Death?", "That Phantom of grisly bone,", "I hardly fear its terrible shape,", "It seems so like my own —", "It seems so like my own,", "Because of the fasts I keep;", "Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,", "And flesh and blood so cheap!", "", "\"Work — work — work!", "My Labour never flags;", "And what are its wages? A bed of straw,", "A crust of bread — and rags.", "That shatter'd roof — and this naked floor —", "A table — a broken chair —", "And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank", "For sometimes falling there!", "", "\"Work — work — work!", "From weary chime to chime,", "Work — work — work!", "As prisoners work for crime!", "Band, and gusset, and seam,", "Seam, and gusset, and band,", "Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb'd,", "As well as the weary hand.", "", "\"Work — work — work,", "In the dull December light,", "And work — work — work,", "When the weather is warm and bright —", "While underneath the eaves", "The brooding swallows cling", "As if to show me their sunny backs", "And twit me with the spring.", "", "Oh! but to breathe the breath", "Of the cowslip and primrose sweet —", "With the sky above my head,", "And the grass beneath my feet", "For only one short hour", "To feel as I used to feel,", "Before I knew the woes of want", "And the walk that costs a meal!", "", "Oh! but for one short hour!", "A respite however brief!", "No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,", "But only time for Grief!", "A little weeping would ease my heart,", "But in their briny bed", "My tears must stop, for every drop", "Hinders needle and thread!\"", "", "With fingers weary and worn,", "With eyelids heavy and red,", "A woman sat in unwomanly rags,", "Plying her needle and thread —", "Stitch! stitch! stitch!", "In poverty, hunger, and dirt,", "And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, —", "Would that its tone could reach the Rich! —", "She sang this \"Song of the Shirt!\"" ], "linecount": "89" }, { "title": "The Dream of Eugene Aram", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "'Twas in the prime of summer-time", "An evening calm and cool,", "And four-and-twenty happy boys", "Came bounding out of school:", "There were some that ran and some that leapt,", "Like troutlets in a pool.", "", "Away they sped with gamesome minds,", "And souls untouched by sin;", "To a level mead they came, and there", "They drave the wickets in:", "Pleasantly shone the setting sun", "Over the town of Lynn.", "", "Like sportive deer they coursed about,", "And shouted as they ran,--", "Turning to mirth all things of earth,", "As only boyhood can;", "But the Usher sat remote from all,", "A melancholy man!", "", "His hat was off, his vest apart,", "To catch heaven's blessed breeze;", "For a burning thought was in his brow,", "And his bosom ill at ease:", "So he leaned his head on his hands, and read", "The book upon his knees!", "", "Leaf after leaf he turned it o'er", "Nor ever glanced aside,", "For the peace of his soul he read that book", "In the golden eventide:", "Much study had made him very lean,", "And pale, and leaden-eyed.", "", "At last he shut the pond'rous tome,", "With a fast and fervent grasp", "He strained the dusky covers close,", "And fixed the brazen hasp;", "\"Oh, God! could I so close my mind,", "And clasp it with a clasp!\"", "", "Then leaping on his feet upright,", "Some moody turns he took,--", "Now up the mead, then down the mead,", "And past a shady nook,--", "And lo! he saw a little boy", "That pored upon a book.", "", "\"My gentle lad, what is't you read --", "Romance or fairy fable?", "Or is it some historic page,", "Of kings and crowns unstable?\"", "The young boy gave an upward glance,--", "\"It is 'The Death of Abel.'\"", "", "The Usher took six hasty strides,", "As smit with sudden pain, --", "Six hasty strides beyond the place,", "Then slowly back again;", "And down he sat beside the lad,", "And talked with him of Cain;", "", "And, long since then, of bloody men,", "Whose deeds tradition saves;", "Of lonely folks cut off unseen,", "And hid in sudden graves;", "Of horrid stabs, in groves forlorn,", "And murders done in caves;", "", "And how the sprites of injured men", "Shriek upward from the sod. --", "Ay, how the ghostly hand will point", "To show the burial clod:", "And unknown facts of guilty acts", "Are seen in dreams from God!", "", "He told how murderers walk the earth", "Beneath the curse of Cain, --", "With crimson clouds before their eyes,", "And flames about their brain:", "For blood has left upon their souls", "Its everlasting stain!", "", "\"And well,\" quoth he, \"I know for truth,", "Their pangs must be extreme, --", "Woe, woe, unutterable woe, --", "Who spill life's sacred stream!", "For why, Methought last night I wrought", "A murder, in a dream!", "", "One that had never done me wrong --", "A feeble man and old;", "I led him to a lonely field,", "The moon shone clear and cold:", "Now here, said I, this man shall die,", "And I will have his gold!", "", "\"Two sudden blows with a ragged stick,", "And one with a heavy stone,", "One hurried gash with a hasty knife, --", "And then the deed was done:", "There was nothing lying at my foot", "But lifeless flesh and bone!", "", "\"Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone,", "That could not do me ill;", "And yet I feared him all the more,", "For lying there so still:", "There was a manhood in his look,", "That murder could not kill!\"", "", "\"And lo! the universal air", "Seemed lit with ghastly flame;", "Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes", "Were looking down in blame:", "I took the dead man by his hand,", "And called upon his name!", "", "\"O God! it made me quake to see", "Such sense within the slain!", "But when I touched the lifeless clay,", "The blood gushed out amain!", "For every clot, a burning spot", "Was scorching in my brain!", "", "\"My head was like an ardent coal,", "My heart as solid ice;", "My wretched, wretched soul, I knew,", "Was at the Devil's price:", "A dozen times I groaned: the dead", "Had never groaned but twice!", "", "\"And now, from forth the frowning sky,", "From the Heaven's topmost height,", "I heard a voice -- the awful voice", "Of the blood-avenging sprite --", "'Thou guilty man! take up thy dead", "And hide it from my sight!'", "", "\"I took the dreary body up,", "And cast it in a stream, --", "A sluggish water, black as ink,", "The depth was so extreme:", "My gentle boy, remember this", "Is nothing but a dream!", "", "\"Down went the corse with a hollow plunge,", "And vanished in the pool;", "Anon I cleansed my bloody hands,", "And washed my forehead cool,", "And sat among the urchins young,", "That evening in the school.", "", "\"Oh, Heaven! to think of their white souls,", "And mine so black and grim!", "I could not share in childish prayer,", "Nor join in Evening Hymn:", "Like a Devil of the Pit I seemed,", "'Mid holy Cherubim!", "", "\"And peace went with them, one and all,", "And each calm pillow spread;", "But Guilt was my grim Chamberlain", "That lighted me to bed;", "And drew my midnight curtains round", "With fingers bloody red!", "", "\"All night I lay in agony,", "In anguish dark and deep,", "My fevered eyes I dared not close,", "But stared aghast at Sleep:", "For Sin had rendered unto her", "The keys of Hell to keep!", "", "\"All night I lay in agony,", "From weary chime to chime,", "With one besetting horrid hint,", "That racked me all the time;", "A mighty yearning, like the first", "Fierce impulse unto crime!", "", "\"One stern, tyrannic thought, that made", "All other thoughts its slave;", "Stronger and stronger every pulse", "Did that temptation crave, --", "Still urging me to go and see", "The Dead Man in his grave!", "", "\"Heavily I rose up, as soon", "As light was in the sky,", "And sought the black accursèd pool", "With a wild misgiving eye:", "And I saw the Dead in the river-bed,", "For the faithless stream was dry.", "", "\"Merrily rose the lark, and shook", "The dewdrop from its wing;", "But I never marked its morning flight,", "I never heard it sing:", "For I was stooping once again", "Under the horrid thing.", "", "\"With breathless speed, like a soul in chase,", "I took him up and ran;", "There was no time to dig a grave", "Before the day began:", "In a lonesome wood, with heaps of leaves,", "I hid the murdered man!", "", "\"And all that day I read in school,", "But my thought was otherwhere;", "As soon as the midday task was done,", "In secret I went there:", "And a mighty wind had swept the leaves,", "And still the corpse was bare!", "", "\"Then down I cast me on my face,", "And first began to weep,", "For I knew my secret then was one", "That earth refused to keep:", "Or land, or sea, though he should be", "Ten thousand fathoms deep.", "", "\"So wills the fierce avenging Sprite,", "Till blood for blood atones!", "Ay, though he's buried in a cave,", "And trodden down with stones,", "And years have rotted off his flesh, --", "The world shall see his bones!", "", "\"Oh God! that horrid, horrid dream", "Besets me now awake!", "Again--again, with dizzy brain,", "The human life I take:", "And my red right hand grows raging hot,", "Like Cranmer's at the stake.", "", "\"And still no peace for the restless clay,", "Will wave or mould allow;", "The horrid thing pursues my soul --", "It stands before me now!\"", "The fearful Boy looked up, and saw", "Huge drops upon his brow.", "", "That very night while gentle sleep", "The urchin's eyelids kissed,", "Two stern-faced men set out from Lynn,", "Through the cold and heavy mist;", "And Eugene Aram walked between,", "With gyves upon his wrist." ], "linecount": "216" }, { "title": "Christmas Holidays", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "Along the Woodford road there comes a noise", "Of wheels, and Mr. Rounding's neat post-chaise", "Struggles along, drawn by a pair of bays,", "With Reverend Mr. Crow and six small boys,", "Who ever and anon declare their joys", "With trumping horns and juvenile huzzas,", "At going home to spend their Christmas days,", "And changing learning's pains for pleasure's toys.", "Six weeks elapse, and down the Woodford way", "A heavy coach drags six more heavy souls,", "But no glad urchins shout, no trumpets bray,", "The carriage makes a halt, the gate-bell tolls,", "And little boys walk in as dull and mum", "As six new scholars to the Deaf and Dumb!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "The Haunted House", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "Oh, very gloomy is the house of woe,", "Where tears are falling while the bell is knelling,", "With all the dark solemnities that show", "That Death is in the dwelling!", "", "Oh, very, very dreary is the room", "Where Love, domestic Love, no longer nestles,", "But smitten by the common stroke of doom,", "The corpse lies on the trestles!", "", "But house of woe, and hearse, and sable pall,", "The narrow home of the departed mortal,", "Ne’er looked so gloomy as that Ghostly Hall,", "With its deserted portal!", "", "The centipede along the threshold crept,", "The cobweb hung across in mazy tangle,", "And in its winding sheet the maggot slept", "At every nook and angle.", "", "The keyhole lodged the earwig and her brood,", "The emmets of the steps has old possession,", "And marched in search of their diurnal food", "In undisturbed procession.", "", "As undisturbed as the prehensile cell", "Of moth or maggot, or the spider’s tissue,", "For never foot upon that threshold fell,", "To enter or to issue.", "", "O’er all there hung the shadow of a fear,", "A sense of mystery the spirit daunted,", "And said, as plain as whisper in the ear,", "The place is haunted.", "", "Howbeit, the door I pushed—or so I dreamed--", "Which slowly, slowly gaped, the hinges creaking", "With such a rusty eloquence, it seemed", "That Time himself was speaking.", "", "But Time was dumb within that mansion old,", "Or left his tale to the heraldic banners", "That hung from the corroded walls, and told", "Of former men and manners.", "", "Those tattered flags, that with the opened door,", "Seemed the old wave of battle to remember,", "While fallen fragments danced upon the floor", "Like dead leaves in December.", "", "The startled bats flew out, bird after bird,", "The screech-owl overhead began to flutter,", "And seemed to mock the cry that she had heard", "Some dying victim utter!", "", "A shriek that echoed from the joisted roof,", "And up the stair, and further still and further,", "Till in some ringing chamber far aloof", "In ceased its tale of murther!", "", "Meanwhile the rusty armor rattled round,", "The banner shuddered, and the ragged streamer;", "All things the horrid tenor of the sound", "Acknowledged with a tremor.", "", "The antlers where the helmet hung, and belt,", "Stirred as the tempest stirs the forest branches,", "Or as the stag had trembled when he felt", "The bloodhound at his haunches.", "", "The window jingled in its crumbled frame,", "And through its many gaps of destitution", "Dolorous moans and hollow sighings came,", "Like those of dissolution.", "", "The wood-louse dropped, and rolled into a ball,", "Touched by some impulse occult or mechanic;", "And nameless beetles ran along the wall", "In universal panic.", "", "The subtle spider, that, from overhead,", "Hung like a spy on human guilt and error,", "Suddenly turned, and up its slender thread", "Ran with a nimble terror.", "", "The very stains and fractures on the wall,", "Assuming features solemn and terrific,", "Hinted some tragedy of that old hall,", "Locked up in hieroglyphic.", "", "Some tale that might, perchance, have solved the doubt,", "Wherefore, among those flags so dull and livid,", "The banner of the bloody hand shone out", "So ominously vivid.", "", "Some key to that inscrutable appeal", "Which made the very frame of Nature quiver,", "And every thrilling nerve and fiber feel", "So ague-like a shiver.", "", "For over all there hung a cloud of fear,", "A sense of mystery the spirit daunted,", "And said, as plain as whisper in the ear,", "The place is haunted!", "", "Prophetic hints that filled the soul with dread,", "But through one gloomy entrance pointing mostly,", "The while some secret inspiration said,", "“That chamber is the ghostly!”", "", "Across the door no gossamer festoon", "Swung pendulous, --no web, no dusty fringes,", "No silky chrysalis or white cocoon,", "About its nooks and hinges.", "", "The spider shunned the interdicted room,", "The moth, the beetle, and the fly were banished,", "And when the sunbeam fell athwart the gloom,", "The very midge had vanished.", "", "One lonely ray that glanced upon a bed,", "As if with awful aim direct and certain,", "To show the Bloody Hand, in burning red,", "Embroidered on the curtain." ], "linecount": "100" }, { "title": "Faithless Nelly Gray", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "A Pathetic Ballad", "", "Ben Battle was a soldier bold,", "And used to war's alarms;", "But a cannon-ball took off his legs,", "So he laid down his arms.", "", "Now as they bore him off the field,", "Said he, 'Let others shoot;", "For here I leave my second leg,", "And the Forty-second Foot.'", "", "The army-surgeons made him limbs:", "Said he, 'They're only pegs;", "But there's as wooden members quite,", "As represent my legs.'", "", "Now Ben he loved a pretty maid, --", "Her name was Nelly Gray;", "So he went to pay her his devours,", "When he devoured his pay.", "", "But when he called on Nelly Gray,", "She made him quite a scoff;", "And when she saw his wooden legs,", "Began to take them off.", "", "'O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!'", "Is this your love so warm?", "The love that loves a scarlet coat", "Should be a little more uniform.", "", "Said she, ' I loved a soldier once,", "For he was blithe and brave;", "But I will never have a man", "With both legs in the grave", "", "'Before you had those timber toes", "Your love I did allow;", "But then, you know, you stand upon", "Another footing now.'", "", "'O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!", "For all your jeering speeches,", "At duty's call I left my legs", "In Badajos's breaches.'", "", "'Why, then,' said she, 'you've lost the feet", "Of legs in war's alarms,", "And now you cannot wear your shoes", "Upon your feats of arms!'", "", "'O false and fickle Nelly Gray!", "I know why you refuse:", "Though I've no feet, some other man", "Is standing in my shoes.", "", "'I wish I ne'er had seen your face;", "But, now, a long farewell!", "For you will be my death' -- alas!", "You will not be my Nell!'", "", "Now when he went from Nelly Gray", "His heart so heavy got,", "And life was such a burden grown,", "It made him take a knot.", "", "So round his melancholy neck", "A rope he did intwine,", "And, for his second time in life,", "Enlisted in the Line.", "", "One end he tied around a beam,", "And then removed his pegs;", "And, as his legs were off -- of course", "He soon was off his legs.", "", "And there he hung till he was dead", "As any nail in town;", "For, though distress had cut him up,", "It could not cut him down.", "", "A dozen men sat on his corpse,", "To find out why he died, --", "And they buried Ben in four cross-roads", "With a stake in his inside." ], "linecount": "69" }, { "title": "Faithless Sally Brown", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "Young Ben he was a nice young man,", "A carpenter by trade;", "And he fell in love with Sally Brown,", "That was a lady's maid.", "", "But as they fetch'd a walk one day,", "They met a press-gang crew;", "And Sally she did faint away,", "Whilst Ben he was brought to.", "", "The Boatswain swore with wicked words,", "Enough to shock a saint,", "That though she did seem in a fit,", "'Twas nothing but a feint.", "", "\"Come, girl,\" said he, \"hold up your head,", "He'll be as good as me;", "For when your swain is in our boat,", "A boatswain he will be.\"", "", "So when they'd made their game of her,", "And taken off her elf,", "She roused, and found she only was", "A coming to herself.", "", "\"And is he gone, and is he gone?\"", "She cried, and wept outright:", "\"Then I will to the water side,", "And see him out of sight.\"", "", "A waterman came up to her,--", "\"Now, young woman,\" said he,", "\"If you weep on so, you will make", "Eye-water in the sea.\"", "", "\"Alas! they've taken my beau Ben", "To sail with old Benbow;\"", "And her woe began to run afresh,", "As if she'd said Gee woe!", "", "Says he, \"They've only taken him", "To the Tender ship, you see\";", "\"The Tender-ship,\" cried Sally Brown", "\"What a hard-ship that must be!\"", "", "\"O! would I were a mermaid now,", "For then I'd follow him;", "But Oh!--I'm not a fish-woman,", "And so I cannot swim.", "", "\"Alas! I was not born beneath", "The virgin and the scales,", "So I must curse my cruel stars,", "And walk about in Wales.\"", "", "Now Ben had sail'd to many a place", "That's underneath the world;", "But in two years the ship came home,", "And all her sails were furl'd.", "", "But when he call'd on Sally Brown,", "To see how she went on,", "He found she'd got another Ben,", "Whose Christian-name was John.", "", "\"O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,", "How could you serve me so?", "I've met with many a breeze before,", "But never such a blow\":", "", "Then reading on his 'bacco box", "He heaved a bitter sigh,", "And then began to eye his pipe,", "And then to pipe his eye.", "", "And then he tried to sing \"All's Well,\"", "But could not though he tried;", "His head was turn'd, and so he chew'd", "His pigtail till he died.", "", "His death, which happen'd in his berth,", "At forty-odd befell:", "They went and told the sexton, and", "The sexton toll'd the bell." ], "linecount": "68" }, { "title": "Flowers", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "I will not have the mad Clytie,", "Whose head is turned by the sun;", "The tulip is a courtly queen,", "Whom, therefore, I will shun;", "The cowslip is a country wench,", "The violet is a nun; -", "But I will woo the dainty rose,", "The queen of everyone.", "", "The pea is but a wanton witch,", "In too much haste to wed,", "And clasps her rings on every hand", "The wolfsbane I should dread; -", "Nor will I dreary rosemary", "That always mourns the dead; -", "But I will woo the dainty rose,", "With her cheeks of tender red.", "", "The lily is all in white, like a saint,", "And so is no mate for me -", "And the daisy's cheek is tipped with blush,", "She is of such low degree;", "Jasmine is sweet, and has many loves,", "And the broom's betrothed to the bee; -", "But I will plight with the dainty rose,", "For fairest of all is she." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Autumn", "author": "Thomas Hood", "lines": [ "I Saw old Autumn in the misty morn", "Stand shadowless like Silence, listening", "To silence, for no lonely bird would sing", "Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn,", "Nor lowly hedge nor solitary thorn;—", "Shaking his languid locks all dewy bright", "With tangled gossamer that fell by night,", "Pearling his coronet of golden corn.", "", "Where are the songs of Summer?—With the sun,", "Oping the dusky eyelids of the south,", "Till shade and silence waken up as one,", "And Morning sings with a warm odorous mouth.", "Where are the merry birds?—Away, away,", "On panting wings through the inclement skies,", "Lest owls should prey", "Undazzled at noonday,", "And tear with horny beak their lustrous eyes.", "", "Where are the blooms of Summer?—In the west,", "Blushing their last to the last sunny hours,", "When the mild Eve by sudden Night is prest", "Like tearful Proserpine, snatch'd from her flow'rs", "To a most gloomy breast.", "Where is the pride of Summer,—the green prime,—", "The many, many leaves all twinkling?—Three", "On the moss'd elm; three on the naked lime", "Trembling,—and one upon the old oak-tree!", "Where is the Dryad's immortality?—", "Gone into mournful cypress and dark yew,", "Or wearing the long gloomy Winter through", "In the smooth holly's green eternity.", "", "The squirrel gloats on his accomplish'd hoard,", "The ants have brimm'd their garners with ripe grain,", "And honey bees have stored", "The sweets of Summer in their luscious cells;", "The swallows all have wing'd across the main;", "But here the Autumn melancholy dwells,", "And sighs her tearful spells", "Amongst the sunless shadows of the plain.", "Alone, alone,", "Upon a mossy stone,", "She sits and reckons up the dead and gone", "With the last leaves for a love-rosary,", "Whilst all the wither'd world looks drearily,", "Like a dim picture of the drownèd past", "In the hush'd mind's mysterious far away,", "Doubtful what ghostly thing will steal the last", "Into that distance, gray upon the gray.", "", "O go and sit with her, and be o'ershaded", "Under the languid downfall of her hair:", "She wears a coronal of flowers faded", "Upon her forehead, and a face of care;—", "There is enough of wither'd everywhere", "To make her bower,—and enough of gloom;", "There is enough of sadness to invite,", "If only for the rose that died, whose doom", "Is Beauty's,—she that with the living bloom", "Of conscious cheeks most beautifies the light:", "There is enough of sorrowing, and quite", "Enough of bitter fruits the earth doth bear,—", "Enough of chilly droppings for her bowl;", "Enough of fear and shadowy despair,", "To frame her cloudy prison for the soul!" ], "linecount": "62" } ]