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The Clothes-Line
Charlotte Druitt Cole
Hand in hand they dance in a raw,
Hither and thither, and to and fro,
Flip! Flap! Flop! and away they go---
Flutt'ring creatures as white as snow.
Like restive horses they caper and prance;
Like fairy-tale witches they wildly dance;
Rounded in front, but hollow behind,
They shiver and skip in the merry March wind.
One I saw dancing excitedly,
Struggling so wildly till she was free,
Then, leaving pegs and clothes-line behind her,
She flew like a bird, and no one can find her,
I saw her gleam, like a sail, in the sun,
Flipping and flapping and flopping for fun.
Nobody knows where she now can be,
Hid in a ditch, or drowned in the sea.
She was my handkerchief not long ago,
But she'll never come back to my pocket, I know.
Available Answers
- 1.
'Hand in hand they dance in a row, ... Flutt'ring creatures as white as snow.'
- Who are 'they' in these lines?
- What does the poet want to show by using the words 'Flip! Flap! Flop!'?
- Why does the poet describe them 'as white as snow'?
- 2.
'One I saw dancing excitedly. / Struggling so wildly till she was free,'
- What does 'one' refer to in the first line?
- Why did she appear to be struggling?
- What did she want to be free of?
- 3.
Underline the words in the poem that show the movement of the clothes on the clothes line.
- 4.
Which of these images come to your mind while reading the poem?
- Clothes drying out in a hot summer afternoon.
- Clothes with water dripping from them.
- Clothes drying out on a windy day.
- Clothes moving wildly in a washing machine.