Strong Beer
'What do you think
The bravest drink
Under the sky?'
'Strong beer,' said I.
'There's a place for everything,
Everything, anything,
There's a place for everything
Where it ought to be:
For a chicken, the hen's wing;
For poison, the bee's sting;
For almond-blossom, Spring;
A beerhouse for me.
'There's a prize for everyone,
Everyone, anyone,
There's a prize for everyone,
Whoever he may be:
Crags for the mountaineer,
Flags for the Fusilier,
For all good fellows, beer!
Strong beer for me!'
'Tell us, now, how and when
We may find the bravest men?'
'A sure test, an easy test:
Those that drink beer are the best,
Brown beer strongly brewed,
Plain man's drink, plain man's food.'
Oh, never choose as Gideon chose
By the cold well, but rather those
Who look on beer when it is brown,
Smack their lips and gulp it down.
Leave the lads who tamely drink
With Gideon by the water brink,
But search the benches of the Plough,
The Tun, the Sun, the Spotted Cow,
For jolly rascal lads who pray,
Pewter in hand, at close of day,
'Teach me to live that I may fear
The grave as little as my beer.'
| Title |
Strong Beer
|
|---|---|
| Author |
Graves, Robert (1895-1985)
|
| Item date |
(1995, 1997, 1999)
|
| Content | |
| Copyright |
The Robert Graves Copyright Trust
|
| Digital repository | |
| Repository name |
ProQuest
|
| Repository address URL | |
| First line |
'What do you think
|
| Publication source |
Robert Graves Complete Poems: Volumes 1 - 3
|
| Publication editor |
Graves, Beryl and Ward, Dunstan
|
| Publishers |
Carcanet
|
| Publication place |
Manchester
|
Collection
Citation
“Strong Beer,” by Graves, Robert (1895-1985). The Robert Graves Copyright Trust via First World War Poetry Digital Archive, accessed May 20, 2024, http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/collections/item/3455.
Permitted Use
This item is available for non-commercial educational use under the terms of the Jisc Model Licence. Further details available at: http://ww1lit.nsms.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/permitteduse
