Thomas Hood Poem by Francis Duggan

So many literary critics or alias would be poets
Try to stuff their beliefs down the readers throats
And tell us who is average and who is very good
And amongst the minor writers they've placed Thomas Hood.

Is it because Thomas Hood wrote mostly for the poor
Or that he was never financially secure
Or that he did not laud sir and lord and king?
Mostly for the battlers the poet choose to sing.

The poets of the battlers seem to live it hard
To get at the under class discredit their bard
Thomas Hood the great poet by critics dragged down
To write for the working poor his barrier to renown.

As a poet and humorist Hood was versatile
He was not all sorrow he too made people smile
One who lived his verses the battlers lot he knew
And to the higher principles till death he was true.

One of those great wordsmiths who died in his prime
Thomas Hood from London had the gift of rhyme
Yet the literary critics him did under rate
Those who separate the average from the good and great.

When one looks back on literary history it comes as no surprise
To learn that the poets who wrote for the under class seldom won a literary prize
Poets who write of those in poverty never stand to gain
They are seen as minor and minor will remain.

So many literary critics or so called would be poets
Try to stuff their beliefs down the readers throats
And they who decide the average and the very good
Amongst the minor writers have placed Thomas Hood.