Leisure
The poem "Leisure" has been composed by an American poet William Davies in 1911. He was a wandering poet and singer. He led a life of loneliness and his poetry is marked with truth and simplicity in idea as well as language. As the title of the poem suggests, it is about the availability of time for enjoying various delights of life. These may range from the most ordinary every day pleasure to the extraordinary events. The poet is lamenting over the rush and hurried manner in which we spend our lives. We deprive ourselves of the richness and diversity of life
The structure of “Leisure” is very simplistic. The poem consists of only seven couplets. Even the words Davies uses throughout the poem are simple. One could argue that Davies uses simple words in order to broaden his audience. A more complex interpretation of Davies choice of simplicity relates to the naturalistic theme of the poem. Like the structure of the poem, the interactions with nature demonstrated in the poem such as watching “squirrels hide their nuts in grass” (6) are unsophisticated. By using a simplistic structure and a simplistic word choice Davies reinforces the human necessity to appreciate the simple beauties in nature.
The repetition of the phrase “no time” (2) is used throughout the poem as indication of mankind’s dilemma. Davies realized mankind’s technology obsessed world back in 1911. One can only imagine what Davies would think of the world today. By stating that man has no time anymore to “stand and stare” (14), Davies is stating that humans “care” (13) to much about becoming prosperous in wealth. Davies, in a sense, is using satire to make nonsense of the way humans live as if they are most important beings in the world. Davies realizes how insignificant we all are in the grand scheme of the universe, and his transcendent thought is an underlying theme of the poem that can