The Poet's Portion
Thomas Hood
1799 to 1845
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
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Before its leafy presence; for indeed
But live and bloom, and be a joy forever.
So that what there is steep'd shall perish never,
A poet's wide possession of the earth.
Before its budding—ere the first red streaks,—
The flagging poppies lose their ancient flame.
A magic talisman of mighty power?
Oh! blest to see the flower in its seed,
But he will sip it first—before the lees.
What is a mine—a treasury—a dower—
Escap'd in thought; but his rich thinkings be
Linger for harvesting? Before the leaf
And Winter cannot rob him of their cheeks.
Twenty bright flushes—ere another kens
Like overflows of immortality:
'Tis his to taste rich honey,—ere the bees
Are busy with the brooms. He may forestall
Its golden 'lection of the topmost trees,
No sweet there is, no pleasure I can name,
Look—if his dawn be not as other men's!
June's rosy advent for his coronal;
Leaves are but wings on which the summer flies,
Before th' expectant buds upon the bough,
He has th' enjoyment of a flower's birth
Twining his thoughts to bloom upon his brow.
And each thing perishable fades and dies,
Is commonly abroad, in his piled sheaf
And opes the splendid fissures of the morn.
When do his fruits delay, when doth his corn
The first of sunlight is abroad—he sees