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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LITERARY REMINISCENCES by THOMAS HOOD

Poet Analysis

First Line: TIME WAS, I SAT UPON A LOFTY STOOL
Last Line: BARILLA -- BYRON -- TALLOW -- BURNS -- AND FLAX!
Subject(s): WRITING & WRITERS;

TIME was, I sat upon a lofty stool,
At lofty desk, and with a clerkly pen
Began each morning, at the stroke of ten,
To write in Bell and Co's commercial school;
In Warnford Court, a shady nook and cool,
The favourite retreat of merchant men;
Yet would my quill turn vagrant even then,
And take stray dips in the Castalian pool.
Now double entry -- now a flowery trope --
Mingling poetic honey with trade wax --
Blogg, Brothers -- Milton -- Grote and Prescott -- Pope --
Bristles -- and Hogg -- Glyn Mills and Halifax --
Rogers -- and Towgood -- Hemp -- the Bard of Hope --
Barilla -- Byron -- Tallow -- Burns -- and Flax!




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