The Poet's Portion
Thomas Hood
1799 to 1845
Track 1
Reconstruct the poem by dragging each line into its correct position. Your goal is to reassemble the original poem as accurately as possible. As you move the lines, you'll see whether your arrangement is correct, helping you explore the poem's flow and meaning. You can also print out the jumbled poem to cut up and reassemble in the classroom. Either way, take your time, enjoy the process, and discover how the poet's words come together to create something truly beautiful.
Easy Mode - Auto check enabled
Twenty bright flushes—ere another kens
Before its budding—ere the first red streaks,—
The first of sunlight is abroad—he sees
He has th' enjoyment of a flower's birth
Look—if his dawn be not as other men's!
So that what there is steep'd shall perish never,
Oh! blest to see the flower in its seed,
When do his fruits delay, when doth his corn
A poet's wide possession of the earth.
Is commonly abroad, in his piled sheaf
And Winter cannot rob him of their cheeks.
No sweet there is, no pleasure I can name,
'Tis his to taste rich honey,—ere the bees
Linger for harvesting? Before the leaf
The flagging poppies lose their ancient flame.
Are busy with the brooms. He may forestall
What is a mine—a treasury—a dower—
June's rosy advent for his coronal;
And opes the splendid fissures of the morn.
Twining his thoughts to bloom upon his brow.
Leaves are but wings on which the summer flies,
Before th' expectant buds upon the bough,
But he will sip it first—before the lees.
A magic talisman of mighty power?
Before its leafy presence; for indeed
Like overflows of immortality:
And each thing perishable fades and dies,
But live and bloom, and be a joy forever.
Its golden 'lection of the topmost trees,
Escap'd in thought; but his rich thinkings be