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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON MRS. NICELY; A PATTERN FOR HOUSEKEEPERS by THOMAS HOOD

Poet Analysis

First Line: SHE WAS A WOMAN PEERLESS IN HER STATION
Last Line: AND POLISHED FLOORS AND TABLES SHINE HER BACK.
Subject(s): HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYEES; SERVANTS; DOMESTICS; MAIDS;

ON MRS. NICELY,

WRITTEN AFTER SEEING MRS. DAVENPORT IN HER CHARACTER AT COVENT GARDEN.

SHE was a woman peerless in her station,
With household virtues wedded to her name;
Spotless in linen, grass-bleached in her fame,
And pure and clear-starched in her reputation;
Thence in my Castle of Imagination
She dwells for evermore, the dainty dame,
To keep all airy draperies from shame,
And all dream-furniture in preservation;
There walketh she with keys quite silver-bright,
In perfect hose, and shoes of seemly black,
Apron and stomacher of lily-white,
And decent order follows in her track:
The burnished plate grows lustrous in her sight,
And polished floors and tables shine her back.



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