Skip to content
Linespedia

London Types - XII. Flower-Girl

By William Ernest Henley

Topics: classic

There's never a delicate nurseling of the year     But our huge LONDON hails it, and delights     To wear it on her breast or at her ear,     Her days to colour and make sweet her nights.     Crocus and daffodil and violet,     Pink, primrose, valley-lily, clove-carnation,     Red rose and white rose, wall-flower, mignonette,     The daisies all - these be her recreation,     Her gaudies these!    And forth from DRURY LANE,     Trapesing in any of her whirl of weathers,     Her flower-girls foot it, honest and hoarse and vain,     All boot and little shawl and wilted feathers:     Of populous corners right advantage taking,     And, where they squat, endlessly posy-making.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"There's never a delicate nurseling of the year..."

Exploring the themes of classic, William Ernest Henley delivers a powerful performance in "London Types - XII. Flower-Girl"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:William Ernest Henley

"There's never a delicate nurseling of the year..." by William Ernest Henley

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

Related lines

"What have I done for you,     England, my England?     What is there I would not do,     England, my own?     With your glorious eyes austere,"

"(Ob. October 30, 1897)     He looked half-parson and half-skipper: a quaint,     Beautiful blend, with blue eyes good to see,     And old-world wh"

"Out of the night that covers me,     Black as the Pit from pole to pole,     I thank whatever gods may be     For my unconquerable soul."

"Blue-eyed and bright of face but waning fast     Into the sere of virginal decay,     I view her as she enters, day by day,     As a sweet suns"

"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"

William Ernest Henley

About William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) was an English poet, critic, and editor best known for his poem "Invictus" ("I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul"). Written while recovering from tuberculosis of the bone, it has become one of the most quoted poems of courage and resilience.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"What have I done for you,     England, my England?..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

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