Question

Read the given extract and write a poetic appreciation of the poem with the help of the following points.

When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I dared Not speak to let this false world know. Much have I thought of life, and seen How poor men's hearts are ever light; And how their wives do hum like bees About their work from morn till night. So, when I hear these poor ones laugh, And see the rich ones coldly frown Poor men, think I, need not go up So much as rich men should come down. When I had money, money, O! My many friends proved all untrue; But now I have no money, O! My friends are real, though very few.

• About the poet and the title
• The theme
• Language/poetic devices used in the poem
• Inspirational message, values, morals reflected in the poem.
• Special features
• Your opinion about the poem

Read the extract and write the appreciation of the poem:

When I had money, money, O! I knew no joy till I went poor; For many a false man as a friend Came knocking all day at my door. Then felt I like a child that holds A trumpet that he must not blow Because a man is dead; I dared Not speak to let this false world know. Much have I thought of life, and seen How poor men's hearts are ever light; And how their wives do hum like bees About their work from morn till night. So, when I hear these poor ones laugh, And see the rich ones coldly frown Poor men, think I, need not go up So much as rich men should come down.

Answer 1

The poem 'Money' is written by William H. Davies. It is a reflective poem that deals with the poet’s status as both, a rich and a poor man. Based on his own narrative, the poet has depicted a connection between money and personal happiness. The theme of the poem is the inverse relation between money and happiness since the poet had many false friends during his times of richness and much fewer but real friends when he had become poor. The poet has beautified the poem by employing numerous figures of speech such as alliteration, antithesis, consonance, exclamation, inversion, onomatopoeia, metaphor, metonymy, simile, and repetition. Among the special features of the poem, imagery and enjambment are more prominent. The poet follows a simple, narrative style to convey his thoughts. Through this poem, the poet is trying to spread the message that wealth is not required to be truly happy. I feel happiness lies in having genuine people in life, which makes the poor man truly wealthy; as he might not have monetary wealth or a lot of people in his life, but the ones he does have are true to him, thus making him wealthy in the true sense. The poet has made use of five four lined stanzas with the uniform rhyme scheme of  'a b c d' throughout the poem. He repeats the word 'money' to stress the fact that money is unnecessarily given undue importance by man. He wants to suggest that money cannot bring happiness.