Skip to content
Linespedia

Sonnet. To My Wife.

By Thomas Hood

Topics: classic

The curse of Adam, the old curse of all,     Though I inherit in this feverish life     Of worldly toil, vain wishes, and hard strife,     And fruitless thought, in Care's eternal thrall,     Yet more sweet honey than of bitter gall     I taste, through thee, my Eve, my sweet wife.     Then what was Man's lost Paradise! - how rife     Of bliss, since love is with him in his fall!     Such as our own pure passion still might frame,     Of this fair earth, and its delightful bow'rs,     If no fell sorrow, like the serpent, came     To trail its venom o'er the sweetest flow'rs; -     But oh! as many and such tears are ours,     As only should be shed for guilt and shame!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"The curse of Adam, the old curse of all,..."

"Sonnet. To My Wife." is a quintessential example of Thomas Hood's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Thomas Hood

"The curse of Adam, the old curse of all,..." by Thomas Hood

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"'Twas in the middle of the night,     To sleep young William tried,     When Mary's ghost came stealing in,     And stood at his bedside."

"It's a shame, so it is, - men can't Let alone     Jobs as is Woman's right to do - and go about there Own -     Theirs Reforms enuff Alreddy wi"

"Farewell, farewell, to my mother's own daughter.     The child that she wet-nursed is lapp'd in the wave;     The Mussulman, coming to fish in t"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Thomas Hood

About Thomas Hood

Thomas Hood (1799–1845) was an English poet and humorist whose social protest poems "The Song of the Shirt" and "The Bridge of Sighs" drew attention to the plight of the poor. He was also a master of comic verse and wordplay.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"'Twas in the middle of the night,     To sleep you..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.