Thirty Bob a Week - John Davidson (1857-1909)
I couldn't touch a stop and turn a screw,
And set the
blooming world a-work for me,
Like such as cut
their teeth -- I hope, like you --
On the handle of a
skeleton gold key;
I cut mine on a
leek, which I eat it every week:
I'm a clerk at
thirty bob as you can see.
But I don't allow
it's luck and all a toss;
There's no such
thing as being starred and crossed;
It's just the
power of some to be a boss,
And the bally
power of others to be bossed:
I face the music,
sir; you bet I ain't a cur;
Strike me lucky if
I don't believe I'm lost!
For like a mole I
journey in the dark,
A-travelling along
the underground
From my Pillar'd
Halls and broad Suburbean
Park ,
To come the daily
dull official round;
And home again at
night with my pipe all alight,
A-scheming how to
count ten bob a pound.
And it's often
very cold and very wet,
And my misses
stitches towels for a hunks;
And the Pillar'd
Halls is half of it to let--
Three rooms about
the size of travelling trunks.
And we cough, my
wife and I, to dislocate a sigh,
When the noisy
little kids are in their bunks.
But you never hear
her do a growl or whine,
For she's made of
flint and roses, very odd;
And I've got to
cut my meaning rather fine,
Or I'd blubber,
for I'm made of greens and sod:
So p'r'haps we are
in Hell for all that I can tell,
And lost and
damn'd and served up hot to God.
I ain't
blaspheming, Mr. Silver-tongue;
I’m saying things
a bit beyond your art:
Of all the rummy
starts you ever sprung,
Thirty bob a
week's the rummiest start!
With your science
and your books and your the'ries about spooks,
Did you ever hear
of looking in your heart?
I didn't mean your
pocket, Mr., no:
I mean that having
children and a wife,
With thirty bob on
which to come and go,
Isn't dancing to
the tabor and the fife:
When it doesn't
make you drink, by Heaven! it makes you think,
And notice curious
items about life.
I step into my
heart and there I meet
A god-almighty
devil singing small,
Who would like to
shout and whistle in the street,
And squelch the
passers flat against the wall;
If the whole world
was a cake he had the power to take,
He would take it,
ask for more, and eat them all.
And I meet a sort
of simpleton beside,
The kind that life
is always giving beans;
With thirty bob a
week to keep a bride
He fell in love
and married in his teens:
At thirty bob he
stuck; but he knows it isn't luck:
He knows the seas
are deeper than tureens.
And the
god-almighty devil and the fool
That meet me in
the High Street on the strike,
When I walk about
my heart a-gathering wool,
Are my good and
evil angels if you like.
And both of them
together in every kind of weather
Ride me like a
double-seated bike.
That's rough a bit
and needs its meaning curled.
But I have a high
old hot un in my mind --
A most engrugious
notion of the world,
That leaves your
lightning 'rithmetic behind:
I give it at a
glance when I say 'There ain't no chance,
Nor nothing of the
lucky-lottery kind.'
And it's this way
that I make it out to be:
No fathers,
mothers, countries, climates -- none;
Not Adam was
responsible for me,
Nor society, nor
systems, nary one:
A little sleeping
seed, I woke -- I did, indeed --
A million years
before the blooming sun.
I woke because I
thought the time had come;
Beyond my will
there was no other cause;
And everywhere I
found myself at home,
Because I chose to
be the thing I was;
And in whatever
shape of mollusc or of ape
I always went
according to the laws.
I was the love that
chose my mother out;
I joined two lives
and from the union burst;
My weakness and my
strength without a doubt
Are mine alone for
ever from the first:
It's just the very
same with a difference in the name
As 'Thy will be
done.' You say it if you durst!
They say it daily
up and down the land
As easy as you
take a drink, it's true;
But the
difficultest go to understand,
And the
difficultest job a man can do,
Is to come it
brave and meek with thirty bob a week,
And feel that
that's the proper thing for you.
It's a naked child
against a hungry wolf;
It's playing bowls
upon a splitting wreck;
It's walking on a
string across a gulf
With millstones
fore-and-aft about your neck;
But the thing is
daily done by many and many a one;
And we fall, face
forward, fighting, on the deck.
Notes
See Andrew
Turnbull's edition (pp. 63-65) for Davidson's minor changes from the first Yellow
Book text.
touch a stop: presumably idiomatic but not found (a stop can be a hole in an instrument, blown to start a shift for workers?)
touch a stop: presumably idiomatic but not found (a stop can be a hole in an instrument, blown to start a shift for workers?)
a skeleton gold key: one that opens all doors and that is thus 'golden,' a money maker.
leek: onion.
thirty bob: thirty shillings, or one and a half pounds sterling.
a toss: a
toss-up, a flip of a coin.
starred and crossed: star-crossed, fated for disaster (an allusion to the prologue of
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.)
bally: intensifying adjective, like 'bloody.'
face the music: do not run away from adverse circumstances.
underground: public subway train system in London .
Pillar'd Halls: ironically, for his lodging.
Suburbean: suburban, with a pun on "beans"? (see 50)
Suburbean: suburban, with a pun on "beans"? (see 50)
come: make.
i.e. how to stretch ten shillings into twenty
(that is, a pound)
misses: Mrs., wife.
hunks: bad-tempered, miserly person.
hunks: bad-tempered, miserly person.
to let: he
must rent out half his lodgings to others.
rather fine: laconically, without emotion.
greens and sod: vegetables and earth.
rummy
starts: bad things to happen.
spooks: ghosts, spirits, souls.
the tabor and the fife: small drum and pipe, usually played by the same
person.
tureens: deep
covered serving dishes.
on the strike: looking to make money.
a-gathering wool: day-dreaming.
hot un: really interesting one.
engrugious: malapropism (mutated word intended for a true word) for "egregious."
nary one: never a one.
mollusc: in general, shellfish, snails, clams, etc.
'Thy will be done!': from the Lord's Prayer (Luke
11.2): "When ye pray, say, Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done, as in heaven, so in earth."
go: thing
gone through, task.
‘Thirty Bob a Week’ is a
monologue of a poor clerk struggling to make both ends meet on a meager salary.
T. S. Eliot – a celebrated critic and poet of modern times – said later how
this poem had a ‘terrific impact’ on him in his formative years. The word ‘bob’
means former British coin – the Shilling.
The poem deals with the story of wretched life of a poor clerk whose
earning is thirty bob a week.
The clerk doesn’t believe in
luck. He says that there is no such thing as starred and crossed. He says that it
is just the power of some to be a boss. He further adds that it is the fate of
others to be bossed. He makes his journey in the dark like a mole. He comes to
the office daily but feels that it is the daily dull official round. He comes
to home at night with his pipe all alight. His house is often very cold and
very wet. It has three rooms of the size of traveling trunks. His noisy little
kids sleep in their bunk beds.
In spite of all these constraints
his wife never growls or whines. She is such nice woman made of flints and
roses, which is very odd to compare. He opines that perhaps they are in the
Hell. That is what he can tell all the time. When he cannot afford a drink that
is the only thing left is to think. He questions if we have ever heard of looking
into our hearts, with all our science, our books and our theories of
spooks. He finds God in his heart but he
has no good opinion even about the almighty. He thinks if the whole world was a
cake and if he had the power to take, he would take it, ask for more and eat it
all.
He fell in love and married in
teens. He felt that both his good and evil angels ride him like a double seated
bike in every kind of weather. He has no belief in chance or lucky lottery. He
says no fathers, mothers, countries, climates – none was responsible for him.
Even Adam was not responsible for him. No society, no systems, nor any one was
responsible for him. Thus, he clarifies his stand. Everywhere found himself at home, because he chose
to be the thing he was. He always went according to the laws. He has the love
that chose his mother out. He joined two lives and from the union he burst. He
admits that his weakness and his strength are his alone for ever from the first
without any doubt. The difficultiest job a man can do is to live with thirty
bob a week and to feel that that is the proper thing for him. It is like a
naked child against a hungry wolf. It is playing bowls upon a splitting wreck.
It is walking on a string across a gulf. Lastly, he says ‘we fall, face forward,
fighting on the deck’.
****