Beauty Undecked
The
grass
mid
sheen
when
wat'ry
beäds
O'
dew
do
glitter
on
the
meäds,
An'
thorns
be
bright
when
quiv'rèn
studs
O'
raïn
do
hang
upon
their
buds--
As
jewels
be
a-meäde
by
art
To
zet
the
plaïnest
vo'k
off
smart.
But
sheäkèn
ivy
on
its
tree,
An'
low-bough'd
laurel
at
our
knee,
Be
bright
all
daÿ,
without
the
gleäre,
O'
drops
that
duller
leäves
mid
weär--
As
Jeäne
is
feäir
to
look
upon
In
plaïnest
gear
that
she
can
don.
William Barnes
William Barnes, (born Feb. 22, 1801, Bagber, near Sturminster Newton, Dorsetshire, Eng.—died Oct. 7, 1886, Winterbourne Came, Dorsetshire), English dialect poet whose work gives a vivid picture of the life and labour of rural southwestern England and includes some moving expressions of loss and grief, such as “The Wife A-Lost” and “Woak Hill.” He was also a gifted philologist, and his linguistic theories as well as his poetry influenced two major writers, Thomas Hardy and Gerard Manley Hopkins.