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The Rolling English Road
by G.K. Chesterton
Before the Roman came to Rye or out to Severn strode,
The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road.
A reeling road, a rolling road, that rambles round the shire,
And after him the parson ran, the sexton and the squire;
A merry road, a mazy road, and such as we did tread
The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head.
I knew no harm of Bonaparte and plenty of the Squire,
And for to fight the Frenchman I did not much desire;
But I did bash their baggonets because they came arrayed
To straighten out the crooked road an English drunkard made,
Where you and I went down the lane with ale-mugs in our hands,
The night we went to Glastonbury by way of Goodwin Sands.
His sins they were forgiven him; or why do flowers run
Behind him; and the hedges all strengthening in the sun?
The wild thing went from left to right and knew not which was which
But the wild rose was above him when they found him in the ditch.
God pardon us, nor harden us; we did not see so clear
The night we went to Bannockburn by way of Brighton Pier.
My friends, we will not go again or ape an ancient rage,
Or stretch the folly of our youth to be the shame of age,
But walk with clearer eyes and ears this path that wandereth,
And see undrugged in evening light the decent inn of death;
For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen,
Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green.
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The Rolling English Road is a 24 line poem, divided into four 6-line stanzas, and without a perfectly consistent meter. The meter, however, is usually very near to 14 syllables per line. It is one of the best-known poems by G.K. Chesterton and was published originally under the title, “A Song of Temperance Reform.” The poem makes use of several poetic techniques, particularly alliteration.
The piece is a little difficult to understand without some familiarity of English geography and history. Chesterton, in the poem, gives a brief history of England while also linking together somewhat far-flung English geography, in a whimsical way, using the metaphor of the road and the implication that it was made drunkenly, during its youth.
The poem is on one level a protest against the possible introduction of Prohibition in England. Chesterton viewed that as a step beyond where government authority should be allowed to dictate moral behavior. Chesterton makes the point that most of the history of England was good and that it occurred to a people who were allowed a merry drink from time to time.
On another level, the poem describes an individual life. As with the nation, the individual life began with a drink in hand. Chesterton is not an advocate for drunkenness, however, he also does not wish to deny one the opportunity to make individual choices. Chesterton prefers that individuals grow in wisdom as they grow in experience, just as – presumably – the nation did. We see in the piece, as the metaphor takes us to a “decent inn” in the final stanza, that Chesterton is a fan of temperance and the acquisition of wisdom through age and experience. As his metaphor reaches the “decent inn” of death, in the final stanza, his belief is that people arrive there – of their own volition – with clear eyes. He overtly describes intoxication as a folly of youth and a “shame of age” if still present at the end of one’s life.
The poem is written in such a way that it matches up well with its metaphor. The 14 syllables-ish per line meter, with the regular use of repetition, alliteration, and enjambment, as well as the move from comedy to a more serious message, gives the piece the feel of a rolling and winding walk on a pathway.
Chesterton was an extraordinarily talented writer and also a wise man. I really enjoy the poem.
