Dickens
In a time
When the Thames was an open sewer.
Lime masked the corrupt effluent and smoking soot.
Fog hung on grey buildings creeping into every crevice.
Unnatural vapours hung onto the stove-pipe hats and grey drab coats
That came and went like shadows.
A Victorian society built on the ignorance and suffering of the poor.
From the harsh impersonality's of institutions and dirty factories.
A young orphan emerged searching for the vanished happiness.
Armed with the required pen and compassion
He changed systems
That allowed the bleak houses and child prostitution to flourish.
Today I watched the children play.
Uniformed girls sit in a circle swapping gossip.
Boys chased a football that bounced along
The lush green oval like a frightened rabbit.
Having a dickens of a time.
Font size:
Submitted on December 04, 2010
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 4 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXXBXXX XBXXX XXXXA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 763 |
Words | 129 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 5, 5 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Dickens" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/69484/dickens>.
Discuss the poem Dickens with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In