Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A YEAR'S SPINNING by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE LISTENED AT THE PORCH THAT DAY
Last Line: MAY SEE THE SPINNING IS ALL DONE.
Subject(s): SPINNING;
I

HE listened at the porch that day,
To hear the wheel go on, and on;
And then it stopped, ran back away,
While through the door he brought the sun:
But now my spinning is all done.

II

He sat beside me, with an oath
That love ne'er ended, once begun;
I smiled -- believing for us both,
What was the truth for only one:
And now my spinning is all done.

III

My mother cursed me that I heard
A young man's wooing as I spun:
Thanks, cruel mother, for that word, --
For I have, since, a harder known!
And now my spinning is all done.

IV

I thought -- O God! -- my first-born's cry
Both voices to mine ear would drown:
I listened in mine agony --
It was the silence made me groan!
And now my spinning is all done.

V

Bury me 'twixt my mother's grave,
(Who cursed me on her death-bed lone)
And my dead baby's (God it save!)
Who, not to bless me, would not moan.
And now my spinning is all done.

VI

A stone upon my heart and head,
But no name written on the stone!
Sweet neighbors, whisper low instead,
'This sinner was a loving one --
And now her spinning is all done.'

VII

And let the door ajar remain,
In case he should pass by anon;
And leave the wheel out very plain, --
That HE, when passing in the sun,
May see the spinning is all done.



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