Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Inspirational PoemsHands All Round
First pledge our Queen this solemn night,
Then drink to England, every guest;
That man’s the best Cosmopolite
Who loves his native country best.
May freedom’s oak for ever live
With stronger life from day to day;
That man’s the true Conservative
Who lops the moulder’d branch away.
Hands all round!
God the traitor’s hope confound!
To this great cause of Freedom drink, my friends,
And the great name of England, round and round.
To all the loyal hearts who long
To keep our English Empire whole!
To all our noble sons, the strong
New England of the Southern Pole!
To England under Indian skies,
To those dark millions of her realm!
To Canada whom we love and prize,
Whatever statesman hold the helm.
Hands all round!
God the traitor’s hope confound!
To this great name of England drink, my friends,
And all her glorious empire, round and round.
To all our statesmen so they be
True leaders of the land’s desire!
To both our Houses, may they see
Beyond the borough and the shire!
We sail’d wherever ship could sail,
We founded many a mighty state;
Pray God our greatness may not fail
Through craven fears of being great.
Hands all round!
God the traitor’s hope confound!
To this great cause of Freedom drink, my friends,
And the great name of England, round and round.
Overview Short Summary
This public poem uses the phrase hands all round as a communal gesture. It covers the hands poems keyword from a social and ceremonial angle.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Community: The title phrase suggests people joined in a shared pledge.
- Patriotism: The poem is built around national loyalty.
- Public unity: Hands become a gesture of collective participation.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is ceremonial and public; the mood is energetic and communal.
Craft Literary Devices
- Refrain: “Hands all round” creates a chant-like structure.
- Apostrophe: The poem addresses guests and friends directly.
To the Spade of a Friend
Spade! with which Wilkinson hath tilled his Lands,
And shaped these pleasant walks by Emont’s side,
Thou art a tool of honour in my hands;
I press thee through the yielding soil with pride.
Rare Master has it been thy lot to know;
Long hast Thou served a Man to reason true;
Whose life combines the best of high and low,
The toiling many and the resting few;
Health, quiet, meekness, ardour, hope secure,
And industry of body and of mind;
And elegant enjoyments, that are pure
As Nature is;—too pure to be refined.
Here often hast Thou heard the Poet sing
In concord with his River murmuring by;
Or in some silent field, while timid Spring
Is yet uncheered by other minstrelsy.
Who shall inherit Thee when Death has laid
Low in the darksome Cell thine own dear Lord?
That Man will have a trophy, humble Spade!
A trophy nobler than a Conqueror’s sword.
If he be One that feels, with skill to part
False praise from true, or greater from the less,
Thee will he welcome to his hand and heart,
Thou monument of peaceful happiness!
With Thee he will not dread a toilsome day,
His powerful Servant, his inspiring Mate.
And, when thou art past service, worn away,
Thee a surviving soul shall consecrate.
His thrift thy uselessness will never scorn;
An Heir-loom in his cottage wilt thou be:—
High will he hang thee up, and will adorn
His rustic chimney with the last of Thee!
Overview Short Summary
Wordsworth turns a spade held in the hand into an emblem of honest labor, friendship, and peaceful rural life. It supports working hands and hands and work searches.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Labor: The hand holding the spade honors physical work.
- Friendship: The tool is linked to a friend’s life and values.
- Simplicity: The poem praises quiet usefulness over conquest.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is affectionate and reflective; the mood is peaceful and respectful.
Craft Literary Devices
- Apostrophe: The poet directly addresses the spade.
- Contrast: A humble spade is called nobler than a conqueror’s sword.
The Tyger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Overview Short Summary
Blake repeatedly asks what hand could create the tiger. The poem is useful for classic poems about hands because the hand becomes a symbol of divine or mysterious making.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Creation: The hand represents the power that forms the tiger.
- Wonder: The speaker is amazed and unsettled by the creature.
- Power: The poem links making with fire, hammer, chain, and anvil.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is awed and questioning; the mood is intense and mysterious.
Craft Literary Devices
- Rhetorical questions: Questions drive the poem’s wonder.
- Symbolism: The hand stands for creative force.
Theme in Yellow
I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o’-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.
Overview Short Summary
This playful poem includes children joining hands around a jack-o’-lantern. It supports hand poems for kids and poems about hands for children.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Childhood: Hands appear in a circle of children at play.
- Seasonal joy: The poem celebrates autumn and Halloween.
- Imagination: The jack-o’-lantern speaks as if alive.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is playful and warm; the mood is festive and childlike.
Craft Literary Devices
- Personification: The pumpkin speaks in the first person.
- Imagery: Yellow, orange, and gold create bright autumn visuals.
The Lonely Street
School is over. It is too hot
to walk at ease. At ease
in light frocks they walk the streets
to while the time away.
They have grown tall. They hold
pink flames in their right hands.
In white from head to foot,
with sidelong, idle look—
in yellow, floating stuff,
black sash and stockings—
touching their avid mouths
with pink sugar on a stick—
like a carnation each holds in her hand—
they mount the lonely street.
Overview Short Summary
The poem captures girls walking in heat, each holding pink sugar in her hand. It fits hands and touch searches through everyday body imagery.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Youth: The girls have grown tall but still carry childlike sweets.
- Everyday observation: Hands reveal a small moment of urban life.
- Sensory detail: Color, heat, and taste shape the scene.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is observational and understated; the mood is languid and visual.
Craft Literary Devices
- Imagery: Pink flames and carnations make the held sweets vivid.
- Free verse: The loose line movement mirrors walking.
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