Leisure : W H Davies : :

W. H. DAVIES
Leisure
WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

“Leisure” is a poem by Welsh poet W. H. Davies, appearing originally in his Songs Of Joy and Others, published in 1911 by A. C. Fifield and then in Davies’ first anthology Collected Poems by the same publisher in 1916. Although it was to become Davies’ best-known poem, it was not included in any of the five Georgian Poetry anthologies published by Edward Marsh between 1912 and 1922. Thirty-two of Davies’ other poems were.

It warns that “the hectic pace of modern life has a detrimental effect on the human spirit.”[1] Modern man has no time to spend free time in the lap of nature. In his 1963 Critical Biography of Davies, Richard J. Stonesifer traces the origins of the poem back to the sonnet “The World Is Too Much with Us” by William Wordsworth, saying:

“But he went to school with Wordsworth’s sonnet “The world is too much with us”, and echoes from that sonnet resound throughout his work as from few other poems. Philosophically, no other single poem can be said to form the basis of so much of his poetry. The celebrated opening of his wise little poem “Leisure” has its origins here. (“W. H. Davies – A Critical Biography, London: Jonathan Cape, pp. 219-220 )

Stonesifer traces the central idea to a number of Davies’ other poems – “The housebuilder” (from the 1914 The Bird of Paradise), “A Happy Life” and “Traffic”, as well as “Bells” and “This World”. Davies is generally best known for the opening two lines of this poem. It has appeared in most of the anthologies of his work and in many general poem anthologies, including:

Christopher Ricks, ed. (2008). New Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. And Oxford University Press. Book of a Thousand Poems (1983), Peter Bedrick Books. : : Etc. The poem was misquoted, by the KGB in a 1991 secret message to their spy inside the FBI, Robert Hanssen.

Dear Friend:
Time is flying. As a poet said:
“What’s our life,
If full of care
You have no time
To stop and stare?”
You’ve managed to slow down the speed of Your running life to send us a message. And we appreciate it” ( AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CRIMINAL NO. ROBERT PHILIP HANSSEN, (Paragraph 122)”. FBI. Retrieved 23 October 2013.) : : : :

Davies emphasizes prominently how modernity estranged the readers from simplicity. In fact a modern man has knowingly allowed the lose of his own simplicity. One doesn’t have leisure to experience the emotional sensations in one’s surroundings. All one has to do is to “stand and stare” at the simple activities of different creatures living close to nature. For this , one must find a “time”for mind and soul and come close to ” Nature ” : : Get relieved from the hectic life and invest the time in simple activities. Significance of the proximity with nature is the central idea of the poem in 14 Lines in a regular rhyme scheme of AA BB and it goes on like this. Modernity, Simplicity, Spirituality, Nature, and most importantly Leisure are the THEMES Of The Poem. The Simple Activities lead one to the Path To Spirituality. : :

“What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:”
Couplets 1 & 2 : : Lines ( 1 To 4 ) : : : :

1. & 2. : : : : With this ornate question framed with the axis of life and time Davies presents an elegant appearance of the ‘Nature Poem’ which will follow up with some interesting imageries from Nature in the subsequent couplets. ‘What is the point of being alive.. . ?’ Explain the ‘object of activity’ that meets with an instant of ‘time‘. A person is alive with vigour , spirit and awareness of full of life. With an energetic style and heartiness ; A dynamism of body and mind. “Full of care” implies ‘full of worries’ of day- to-day routine occuring everyday , day -after -day , day- by- day which is an up-keeping of the necessities and periodical bodily requirements. The constant attention in modern times especially in metro- cities has flurrid a man who busies himself or herself fully with scheduled engagements. Hence , he or she will not have time good enough to simply “stand and stare” at the simple things in the Nature. No time to go out in the natural surroundings to observe and appreciate it. : : : : : : : In the 2 Nd couplet , Davies talks about “no time to stand beneath the boughs” ( line 3 ) : ( And no time to ) “stare as long as 🐑 sheep and 🐄 🐄 cows:” ( line 4 ) : : In following such timeworn examples in “sheep and cows” having plentiful time at their pasture land or places like stables as they are all domesticated animals in hold of their caretakers, Davies points in for the rustic simple scenes where the modern man living in metroplex will never go out as for him or her , it is not a part of the way of living. This line is ‘not elegant’ to appear with the central idea of the poem and seems created in concordance of rhyme for a word”boughs” in line 3. : : : :

“No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:” : : Couplets 3 & 4 : : Lines ( 5 To 8 ) : : : :

3 . & 4 : : : : While ( journeying ) , we move through the woods. But , in this woodsy forests , we have “no time to see.. . Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:”( lines 5 & 6 ) : : Here in the 4 Th Couplet, Davies presents a challenging finds in the Nature, which to him is fascinating : catches the wavelets and disturbances in the surface of the Streams , a sort of flash beams by the sunlight that makes the eye popping bright shines 🔯🌟🔯 🌟🔯 looking “Streams full of Stars, like skies at night:” ( lines 7 & 8 ) : : : : This imagery connects the heavenly Sky elements with Eart elements of Streams water. As he imagines this happenings “in broad daylight” although unbelievable it is amazingly impressive imagery to see , but we have “No time to see” : : : :

“No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?” : : : : : : : Couplets 5 & 6 : : : : Lines ( 9 To 12 ) : : : :

5 & 6. : : : : Here, the poet touches on the state of a beauty ‘about’ to “smile”: : ” her eyes” reflect the sense of happiness first. Then one can see how the emotion gets expressed through her ‘face’. A ‘quick and brief’ look at “beauty’s glance”: : ( of a beautiful girl/ woman/In Nature !?) ) : : with sparkling “eyes” and mended “enrich(ed) smiling face ( “mouth”) are the womanly picturesque figure of her beauty who gracefully and rhythmically moves with her dancing “feet” ( lines 9 To 12 ) and which Davies encourages a busy modern man to see in “her” ( not specified who she is : : A beautiful girl/woman at home or a lifeform in Nature !? Perhaps by required personification of the dancing patterns seen in few birds in their soaring flights or peacock’s dance with his beautiful plumages or the movements in some flowering plants or in the flowerbeds found in Nature ) : : The modern man has “No time” to turn to a beautiful girl and watch how her feet graciously move while she dances. Along with that, one doesn’t wait till her mouth can enrich that smile her eyes began. : : : :

“A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.” : : : : :: Couplet 7 : : :: Last Two Lines ( 13 & 14 ) : : ::

7. : : : : Refrains are used in poems and songs. They are repeated sections of text that usually appear at the end of a stanza or verse. The last Couplet 7 is an example of ‘Refrain’ : : The 1 St Opening Couplet is remodeled to the Closing Last Couplet 7 .: :. “poor life”, a metaphorical reference to mental poverty, is that of a person who doesn’t have time to “stand and stare”, that is to enjoy those things. : : : :

Enrich that smile her eyes began.” In the final couplet of the poem, Davies states that a life which is so bogged down by worry that it allows one no time for Leisure is indeed a miserable life. : : : : “A poor life this,” if full of care, there is no time to stand and stare. Henceforth, people need Leisure to experience the benefits of nature and the bliss of being alive. To conclude here it might be echoed of Wordsworth’s words that the ‘the world is too much with us’ like that of a burden which need a long vacation of Leisure. So little time for the simple enjoyment of things ! ! ?

“Leisure” Nature Poem : By WH Davies : : Information Appreciation and poem Analysis Presented by V Jayaraj Pune India September 5 , 2022 : : : : ભાદરવા સુદ અગિયારસ ::