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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LINES TO LORD BATHURST by ALEXANDER POPE

Poet Analysis

First Line: A WOOD? QUOTH LEWIS; AND WITH THAT
Last Line: AN HONEST MAN, BECAUSE NOT HANG'D.
Subject(s): BATHURST, ALLEN, 1ST EARL (1684-1775); LEWIS, ERASMUS (1670-1754); STATESMEN;

A wood? quoth Lewis; and with that,
He laughd, and shook his Sides so fat:
His tongue (with Eye that markd his cunning)
Thus fell a reas'ning, not a running.
Woods are (not to be too prolix)
Collective Bodies of strait Sticks.
It is, my Lord, a meer Conundrum
To call things Woods, for what grows und'r 'em.
For Shrubs, when nothing else at top is,
Can only constitute a Coppice.
But if you will not take my word,
See Anno quart. of Edward, third.
And that they're Coppice calld, when dock'd,
Witness Ann. prim. of Henry Oct.
If this a Wood you will maintain
Meerly because it is no Plain;
Holland (for all that I can see)
Might e'en as well be termed the Sea;
And C-- by be fair harangu'd
An honest Man, because not hang'd.



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