Get Your Premium Membership

Barmaid

 Though, if you ask her name, she says Elise,
Being plain Elizabeth, e'en let it pass,
And own that, if her aspirates take their ease,
She ever makes a point, in washing glass,
Handling the engine, turning taps for tots,
And countering change, and scorning what men say,
Of posing as a dove among the pots,
Nor often gives her dignity away.
Her head's a work of art, and, if her eyes Be tired and ignorant, she has a waist; Cheaply the Mode she shadows; and she tries From penny novels to amend her taste; And, having mopped the zinc for certain years, And faced the gas, she fades and disappears.

Poem by William Ernest Henley
Biography | Poems | Best Poems | Short Poems | Quotes | Email Poem - BarmaidEmail Poem | Create an image from this poem

Poems are below...



More Poems by William Ernest Henley

Comments, Analysis, and Meaning on Barmaid

Provide your analysis, explanation, meaning, interpretation, and comments on the poem Barmaid here.

Commenting turned off, sorry.


Book: Shattered Sighs