London Types: Mounted Police
July 6, 2023London Types: Drum-Major
July 6, 2023London Types: Flower-Girl
There’s never a delicate nurseling of the year
But our huge London hails it, and delights
To wear it on her breast or at her ear,
Her days to colour and make sweet her nights.
Crocus and daffodil and violet,
Pink, primrose, valley-lily, close-carnation,
Red rose and white rose, wall-flower, mignonette,
The daisies all–these be her recreation,
Her gaudies these! And forth from Drury Lane,
Trapesing in any of her whirl of weathers,
Her flower-girls foot it, honest and hoarse and vain,
All boot and little shawl and wilted feathers:
Of populous corners right advantage taking,
And, where they squat, endlessly posy-making.
William Ernest Henley
William Ernest Henley (1849-1903) was an English poet, critic and editor, best known for his poem "Invictus." Henley's poetry often dealt with themes of struggle and adversity, drawing on his own experiences of illness and disability. He was a major figure in the English literary scene of the late 19th century, and his most famous works include "The Song of the Sword" and "London Types."