No Buyers Lyrics
Labours along the street in the rain:
With it a man, a woman, a pony with whiteybrown hairs. —
The man foots in front of the horse with a shambling sway
At a slower tread than a funeral train
While to a dirge-like tune he chants his wares
Swinging a Turk's-head brush (in a drum-major's way
When the bandsmen march and play)
A yard from the back of the man is the whiteybrown pony's nose:
He mirrors his master in every item of pace and pose:
He stops when the man stops, without being told
And seems to be eased by a pause; too plainly he's old
Indeed, not strength enough shows
To steer the disjointed waggon straight
Which wriggles left and right in a rambling line
Deflected thus by its own warp and weight
And pushing the pony with it in each incline
The woman walks on the pavement verge
Parallel to the man:
She wears an apron white and wide in span
And carries a like Turk's-head, but more in nursing-wise:
Now and then she joins in his dirge
But as if her thoughts were on distant things
The rain clams her apron till it clings. —
So, step by step, they move with their merchandize
And nobody buys
About
Hardy was a keen observer. There are an array of instances of alliteration throughout the poem.
the first stanza is the description of the place. It is a bazaar, full of merchants selling their goods, each one with its own wagon. It is raining. It also presents the characters which are a man, his wife and a pony (it is not a healthy and strong horse, it is a pony…gives a weak connotation). The man is shouting his goods but not in a lively way. He shouts them without passion, as in a funeral and he has a Turks head brush. There are many words related to death and this gives a very negative atmosphere. The three characters are old and this is conveyed when it describes the horse´s hairs as Whitey Brown.
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