Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TAMMANY HALL, 1819 by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK

Poet Analysis

First Line: THERE'S A BARREL OF PORTER AT TAMMANY HALL
Last Line: IS THAT BARREL OF PORTER AT TAMMANY HALL.
Subject(s): NEW YORK CITY - 19TH CENTURY; TAMMANY HALL, NEW YORK CITY;

There's a barrel of porter at Tammany Hall,
And the bucktails are swigging it all the night long;
In the time of my boyhood 'twas pleasant to call
For a seat and cigar, 'mid the jovial throng.

That beer and those bucktails I'll never forget;
But oft, when alone, and unnoticed by all,
I think, is the porter-cask foaming there yet?
Are the bucktails still swigging at Tammany Hall?

No! the porter was out long before it was stale,
But some blossoms on many a nose brightly shone,
And the speeches inspired by the fumes of the ale,
Had the fragrance of porter when porter was gone.

How much Cozzens will draw of such beer ere he dies
Is a question of moment to me and to all;
For still dear to my soul, as 'twas then to my eyes,
Is that barrel of porter at Tammany Hall.



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