The Song of the Beggar
The Song of the Beggar - meaning Summary
Voices Behind the Beggar
A wandering speaker describes going door to door as a beggar whose own voice feels alien. He questions whether the cries belong to him or to another, admitting his plea is for a small survival payment while poets demand larger things. In the poem's closing image he hides his face and eyes in his hands, signalling shame, fatigue, and a need to appear as though he still has a place to rest.
Read Complete AnalysesI am always going from door to door, whether in rain or heat, and sometimes I will lay my right ear in the palm of my right hand. And as I speak my voice seems strange as if it were alien to me, for I'm not certain whose voice is crying: mine or someone else's. I cry for a pittance to sustain me. The poets cry for more. In the end I conceal my entire face and cover both my eyes; there it lies in my hands with all its weight and looks as if at rest, so no one may think I had no place where- upon to lay my head.
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