Poems
Amy Margaret’s Five Year Old
Amy Margaret’s five years old,
Amy Margaret’s hair is gold,
Dearer twenty-thousand-fold
Than gold, is Amy Margaret.
“Amy” is friend, is “Margaret”
The pearl for crown or carkanet?
Or peeping daisy, summer’s pet?
Which are you, Amy Margaret?
A friend, a daisy, and a pearl,
A kindly, simple, precious girl, —
Such, howsoe’er the world may twirl,
Be ever, — Amy Margaret!
Amy Margaret’s hair is gold,
Dearer twenty-thousand-fold
Than gold, is Amy Margaret.
“Amy” is friend, is “Margaret”
The pearl for crown or carkanet?
Or peeping daisy, summer’s pet?
Which are you, Amy Margaret?
A friend, a daisy, and a pearl,
A kindly, simple, precious girl, —
Such, howsoe’er the world may twirl,
Be ever, — Amy Margaret!
Analysis (ai): The poem centers on a child’s innocence and intrinsic worth, framing her as both emotionally valuable and symbolically rich. It maintains a tender, almost reverent tone, contrasting material wealth with personal affection.
- Imagery and Symbolism: Gold, pearls, and daisies serve as layered metaphors for the child’s beauty, purity, and simplicity. The daisy links her to nature and humility, while jewels elevate her to a rare, admired status.
- Form and Language: Written in quatrains with a regular rhyme scheme and singsong rhythm, the poem reflects 19th-century lyrical conventions. Its accessibility suggests influence from nursery rhymes and ballad tradition.
- Historical Context: Unlike Victorian poems that moralize childhood or lament its passing, this piece resists sentimentality and instead affirms presence and identity. It aligns with Romantic-era ideals of cherishing youth but avoids melancholy.
- Comparison to Author’s Oeuvre: Less political and folk-driven than Allingham’s Irish-themed works, this poem showcases a domestic gentleness absent in his ballads of rural hardship. It stands apart in its personal dedication and lyrical intimacy.
- Contemporary Relevance: Though pre-modernist, its direct address and focus on individual identity anticipate 20th-century interests in subjectivity and personal voice, albeit without formal disruption.
- Uncommon Perspective: Rather than portraying the child as a blank slate or emblem of future promise, the poem treats Amy Margaret as fully realized in her current state—a subject of admiration now, not potential.
William Allingham (19 March 1824 – 18 November 1889) was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem “The Faeries” was much anthologised. But he is better known for his posthumously published Diary, in which he records his lively encounters with Tennyson, Carlyle and other writers and artists. His wife, Helen Allingham, was a well-known artist, watercolourist and illustrator.
