Living
The Re-echo Club: as by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
From The Re-echo Club
How do I keep thee? Let me count the ways.
I bar up every breadth and depth and height
My hands can reach, while feeling out of sight
For bolts that stick and hasps that will not raise.
I keep thee from the public's idle gaze,
I keep thee in, by sun or candle light.
I keep thee, rude, as women strive for Right.
I keep thee boldly, as they seek for praise,
I keep thee with more effort than I'd use
To keep a dry-goods shop or big hotel.
I keep thee with a power I seemed to lose
With that last cook. I'll keep thee down the well,
Or up the chimney-place! Or if I choose,
I shall but keep thee in a Pumpkin shell.
Codex Note
A parody by Carolyn Wells, written in the manner of Elizabeth Barrett Browning as a contribution to the imagined Re-Echo Club (Pumpkin Eater).
Cite this poem
MLA
Wells, Carolyn. “The Re-echo Club: as by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wells_c/291/.
Chicago
Wells, Carolyn. “The Re-echo Club: as by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wells_c/291/.
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