Skip to content
Linespedia

Martha (Died January 7, 1861)

By Oliver Wendell Holmes

Topics: classic

Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;     Toll the bell! toll the bell!     Her weary hands their labor cease;     Good night, poor Martha, - sleep in peace!     Toll the bell!     Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;     Toll the bell! toll the bell!     For many a year has Martha said,     "I'm old and poor, - would I were dead!"     Toll the bell!     Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;     Toll the bell! toll the bell!     She'll bring no more, by day or night,     Her basket full of linen white.     Toll the bell!     Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;     Toll the bell! toll the bell!     'T is fitting she should lie below     A pure white sheet of drifted snow.     Toll the bell!     Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;     Toll the bell! toll the bell!     Sleep, Martha, sleep, to wake in light,     Where all the robes are stainless white.     Toll the bell!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;..."

"Martha (Died January 7, 1861)" is a quintessential example of Oliver Wendell Holmes's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Sexton! Martha's dead and gone;..." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

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

Related lines

"The house was crammed from roof to floor,     Heads piled on heads at every door;     Half dead with August's seething heat     I crowded on an"

"Yon whey-faced brother, who delights to wear     A weedy flux of ill-conditioned hair,     Seems of the sort that in a crowded place     One el"

""How many have gone?" was the question of old     Ere Time our bright ring of its jewels bereft;     Alas! for too often the death-bell has toll"

"We count the broken lyres that rest     Where the sweet wailing singers slumber,     But o'er their silent sister's breast     The wild-flowers"

"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"

Oliver Wendell Holmes

About Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) was an American poet, physician, and essayist. His poems "Old Ironsides" and "The Chambered Nautilus" are American classics. He was part of the Fireside Poets group.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"The house was crammed from roof to floor,     Head..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

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