We Bee and I Live by the Quaffing
poem 230
We Bee and I Live by the Quaffing - meaning Summary
Joyful Microcosm of Drinking
The poem presents a playful speaker who shares a life of convivial drinking with a bee. Using domestic and marital imagery, the speaker frames their revels as a shared, lighthearted ritual rather than reckless excess. Nature and wine metaphors mingle with comic touches—the bee’s companion, tiny flagons, and a punning death scene "found dead of Nectar / By a humming Coroner in a By-Thyme"—underscoring wit, intimacy, and mortality lightly acknowledged.
Read Complete AnalysesWe Bee and I live by the quaffing ‘Tisn’t all Hock with us Life has its Ale But it’s many a lay of the Dim Burgundy We chant for cheer when the Wines fail Do we get drunk? Ask the jolly Clovers! Do we beat our Wife? I never wed Bee pledges his in minute flagons Dainty as the trees on our deft Head While runs the Rhine He and I revel First at the vat and latest at the Vine Noon our last Cup Found dead of Nectar By a humming Coroner In a By-Thyme!
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