Social Commentaries

Wagner

by Rupert Brooke 1887–1915

From The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1915)

Social CommentariesArts & Sciences

Creeps in half wanton, half asleep,
One with a fat wide hairless face.
He likes love-music that is cheap;
Likes women in a crowded place;
And wants to hear the noise they're making.

His heavy eyelids droop half-over,
Great pouches swing beneath his eyes.
He listens, thinks himself the lover,
Heaves from his stomach wheezy sighs;
He likes to feel his heart's a-breaking.

The music swells. His gross legs quiver.
His little lips are bright with slime.
The music swells. The women shiver.
And all the while, in perfect time,
His pendulous stomach hangs a-shaking.

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A satirical portrait of a fat man at a Wagner concert who 'likes love-music that is cheap', and whose 'pendulous stomach' shakes in time.

MLA

Brooke, Rupert. “Wagner.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/28/.

Chicago

Brooke, Rupert. “Wagner.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/28/.

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