“Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.”

— Edwin Markham

The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems (1899), The Man With the Hoe (1898)
Context: Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.
Who made him dead to rapture and despair,
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes.
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?
Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw?
Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow?
Whose breath blew out the light within this brain?

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 11, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages in his face, A…" by Edwin Markham?

Edwin Markham photo

Edwin Markham 26

American poet 1852–1940

Related quotes

“It is easy to tell the toiler
How best he can carry his pack
But no one can rate a burden's weight
Until it has been on his back”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American author and poet

“He knelt him down on the new-raised mound,
His face was bowed on the cold damp ground,
He raised his head, his tears were done,
The father had prayed o'er his only son!”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

The Soldier's Funeral from The London Literary Gazette (16th November 1822)
The Improvisatrice (1824)

“Cast thy burden on the Lord,
Only lean upon His word;
Thou wilt soon have cause to bless
His unchanging faithfulness.”

Rowland Hill (preacher) (1744–1833) British preacher

P. 600.

“He bore the burden of a pioneer and the weight made him strong. If one can be certain of anything in baseball, it is that we shall not look upon his like again.”

Roger Kahn (1927–2020) American baseball writer

Source: The Boys Of Summer, Lines On The Transpontine Madness, p. xix (See also: Jackie Robinson)

“His bow, a light burden for glad shoulders, the boy Hylas bears.”
Tela puer facilesque umeris gaudentibus arcus gestat Hylas.

Gaius Valerius Flaccus book Argonautica

Source: Argonautica, Book I, Lines 109–110

“… to gaze into the face of another is to gaze into the depth and entirety of his life.”

John O'Donohue (1956–2008) Irish writer, priest and philosopher

Source: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

“He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells; and he is frittering away his age in trying to draw them up again.”

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman

Vol. I, ch. 9
Lady Holland's Memoir (1855)

“Something brushed his leg, and he gazed down into the face of Pippi Tucker. The theme from Jaws raced through his head.”

Susan Elizabeth Phillips (1948) American writer

Source: Match Me If You Can

“He would not, with a peremptory tone,
Assert the nose upon his face his own.”

William Cowper (1731–1800) (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

Source: Conversation (1782), Line 121.

“His gaze travelled down me, then zipped back to my face. "Sorry."
"Focus, Rafe."
"I am. Just on the wrong thing.”

Kelley Armstrong (1968) Canadian writer

Source: The Calling

Related topics