The Boy Out Of Church
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
As Jesus and his followers
Upon a Sabbath morn
Were walking by a wheat field
They plucked the ears of corn.
They plucked it, they rubbed it,
They blew the husks away,
Which grieved the pious pharisees
Upon the Sabbath day.
And Jesus said, 'A riddle
Answer if you can,
Was man made for the Sabbath
Or Sabbath made for man?'
I do not love the Sabbath,
The soapsuds and the starch,
The troops of solemn people
Who to Salvation march.
I take my book, I take my stick
On the Sabbath day,
In woody nooks and valleys
I hide myself away.
To ponder there in quiet
God's Universal Plan,
Resolved that church and Sabbath
Were never made for man.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 82 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXB XCAC DEFE FGDG XCXC XEFE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 619 |
Words | 123 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Boy Out Of Church" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31177/the-boy-out-of-church>.
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