PoemHunter.com   
Dead Boy by John Crowe Ransom   
Participate in our survey Search:
Search Poems, Poets, Quotations and Lyrics   
Home Poets Poems Lyrics Quotations Music Forum Member Area Poetry E-Books
 
John Crowe Ransom
John Crowe Ransom
(1888 - 1974 / Ohio / United States)
11 poems of John Crowe Ransom
click to download
Poet's Page  Biography  Poems  Quotations  Comments   Stats  
 
<< prev. poem Poems by John Crowe Ransom : 11 / 55 next poem >>
  
  Dead Boy

User Rating:

5.5 /10
(29 votes)



  The little cousin is dead, by foul subtraction,
A green bough from Virginia's aged tree,
And none of the county kin like the transaction,
Nor some of the world of outer dark, like me.

A boy not beautiful, nor good, nor clever,
A black cloud full of storms too hot for keeping,
A sword beneath his mother's heart—yet never
Woman bewept her babe as this is weeping.

A pig with a pasty face, so I had said,
Squealing for cookies, kinned by poor pretense
With a noble house. But the little man quite dead,
I see the forbears' antique lineaments.

The elder men have strode by the box of death
To the wide flag porch, and muttering low send round
The bruit of the day. O friendly waste of breath!
Their hearts are hurt with a deep dynastic wound.

He was pale and little, the foolish neighbors say;
The first-fruits, saith the Preacher, the Lord hath taken;
But this was the old tree's late branch wrenched away,
Grieving the sapless limbs, the short and shaken.


John Crowe Ransom

Submitted Date Friday, January 03, 2003



Read poems about / on: tree, woman, beautiful, house, mother, green, dark, death, world, heart, women, wind

<< prev. poem Poems by John Crowe Ransom : 11 / 55 next poem >>
 
  Comments about this poem (Dead Boy by John Crowe Ransom )
Christopher White (4/18/2005 12:53:00 AM)
0 person liked.
0 person did not like.
This poem is Ransom at his clever best. Too often Ransom seems to verge on collapsing under the weight of his own importance. But I think he pulls off some effective effects here without seeming to be too enamored of his own sleights of hand.

-chrispoet@netscape.net
 
PoemHunter.com Updates

02.16.2012/ Poem of The Day from a Member
'The Idea Of An Idea' by Salema Khatun

'Narrating the Arab Spring' Conference
Cairo University February 18-20 2012

02.16.2012/ Modern Poem of The Day
'Legend' by Harold Hart Crane

Happy Birthday Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov!
(1866–1949) Russian poet and playwright

02.15.2012/ Poem of The Day from a Member
'A Cloud Of Rain' by Jasbir Chatterjee

 
 
  Top 500 Poems

  1. Phenomenal Woman
    Maya Angelou
  2. Still I Rise
    Maya Angelou
  3. If You Forget Me
    Pablo Neruda
  4. Dreams
    Langston Hughes
  5. The Road Not Taken
    Robert Frost
  6. Annabel Lee
    Edgar Allan Poe
  7. I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You
    Pablo Neruda
  8. If
    Rudyard Kipling
  9. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
    Maya Angelou
  10. A Dream Within A Dream
    Edgar Allan Poe
The complete list of Top 500 Poems >>
 
 

(c) Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge..  About Us | Copyright notice | Privacy statement | Help
2/16/2012 1:30:15 PM. #.# You Are Here: Dead Boy by John Crowe Ransom

Home | Poets | Poems | Free Poetry eBooks | Contests | Sites | Submit a Poem | Manage Your Poems | Game Gar | Oyun | Contact Us

Christmas Poems | Love Poems | Pablo Neruda | Death Poems | Sad Poems | Birthday Poems | Wedding Poems | Nature Poems | Sorry Poems 

[Hata Bildir]