Summary of Leisure by William Henry Davies – Myeduz
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11/30/2015 Summary of Leisure by William Henry Davies – Myeduz
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By Abhishek Dey on April 13, 2015 @ronniedey
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Summary of Leisure by William Henry Davies
About the poet: William Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Daviesspent a large part of his life as a tramp or hobo in the United Kingdom and United States, but wasalso one of the most popular poets of his time. His poetry is mainly concerned with observationsabout life’s hardships, the ways in which the human condition is reflected in nature, his owntramping adventures and the various characters he met on those adventures. Davies is usuallyconsidered to be a Georgian poet.
About the poem: The poem “Leisure” by W. H.Davies was originally included in his collection ofpoetry entitled Songs of Joy and Others, whichwas published in 1911 by A. C. Fifield. Followingthis, it was again published in Davies’ firstanthology entitled Collected Poems, which wasbrought out by the same publisher in 1916.Although this poem was to become Davies’ bestknown poem, curiously it was never included inany of the five Georgian Poetry anthologiespublished by Edward Marsh between 1912 and1922. Thirty two of Davies’ other poems werethough.
In the Critical Biography of Davies written by Richard Stonesifer in 1963, the author traces theorigins of this poem back to the sonnet “The world is too much with us” by William Wordsworth.
The poem is written as a set of seven rhyming couplets. We shall take each couplet separatelyand summarize it here.
Lines 1 – 2:
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
In these lines, the poet poses a rhetorical question to his readers. That is, the poet asks aquestion to which he does not expect anyone to reply since the answer to it is very obvious. Heasks whether life has any value if man cannot find the time to take a break from his hecticschedule and stare at nature.
Lines 3 – 4:
Summary of Leisure by William Henry Davies
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No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
In these lines, the poet starts to enumerate the aspects of nature that should capture man’s gazewhile he’s taking a break from the humdrum routine he follows every single day. The poet saysthat man should stand beneath the shade of trees and stare at his surroundings in the samemanner and for the same amount of time that farm animals like the sheep or the cow stare attheirs. In saying so, he implies that man generally has no regard for his surroundings, and doesnot notice it on a day to day basis.
Lines 5 – 6:
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
In these lines, the poet shows how different man is from the other creatures that god has put onthe face of the earth. He says that man has no time to locate the various places in the grassylands where squirrels hide the nuts that they like to eat at intervals while man is walking by theforests inhabited by these squirrels.
Lines 7 – 8:
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
In these lines, the poet mentions some other things that man does not have the time to indulge in.In the process of doing so, the poet remarks on how the night and the day are equally beautiful inthis world. He says that the way the sunlight shines on the surface of the waves of water is similarto the way in which the stars light up the sky in the night time. However, man does not have thetime to observe, or to marvel at, either of these times.
Lines 9 – 10:
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
In these lines, the poet imagines the figure of a woman and sees her as the embodiment ofBeauty. However, even when this woman glances at man for a split second, man does not havethe time to return the gaze. Therefore, he misses out on the opportunity to watch the woman’sfeet move gracefully as she dances.
Lines 11 – 12:
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
In these lines, the poet continues to describe all the things that the woman mentioned in theprevious couplet does that man does not have the leisure to look at. He says that man can at themost catch a hint of a smile as it begins to appear at the corners of her mouth. However, one isreminded at this time of a popular saying that the sincere smile is one that spreads upwards fromthe mouth and reaches the eyes in order to light them up. Even this momentary process is toolong for man to have the patience to watch in full. Hence, he does not stop to see the smile on the
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Analysis of Leisure by WilliamHenry Davies
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woman’s lips reaching her eyes and thereby enhancing the intensity of it.
Lines 13 – 14:
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
In these lines, the pet echoes the opening couplet of the poem. He says that life is ratherdiminished in its quality if man cannot afford to devote some of his valuable time in simplystanding still and staring at the wondrous sights of nature.
Conclusion:
“Leisure” is a poem that is extremely contextual to the modern age of industrialisation andurbanisation. That is perhaps why it was so popular among contemporary readers, and also whyreaders are still able to relate to it till this day.
RELATED ITEMS BOARD POEMS POEM SUMMARY SCHOOL POEMS WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES
► Cbse Notes► Poetry and Poems► Summary of the Book
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Abhishek is a marketing research and social media consultant who developed a keeninterest in blogging. He can be contacted at [email protected]
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