Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONG OF THE MINERS by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHEN STARVING CATTLE SEE
Last Line: SHALL WE LIE DOWN LIKE THESE DUMB BRUTES AND DIE?
Subject(s): SINGING & SINGERS; SONGS;

When starving cattle see
Their blades of grass
Locked up in ice that cuts
Their mouths, like glass —
What can they do but lie in heaps and die?

And shall our people starve,
Like these wild herds?
We, with our power to think,
Our gift of words —
Shall we lie down like these dumb brutes and die?



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