On a Wife
by Francis Grose
My dame and I, full twenty year
Liv'd man and wife together;
I could no longer keep her here,
She's gone the Lord knows whither.
Of tongue she was exceeding free,
I purpose not to flatter;
Of all the wives that e'er I see,
None e'er like her could chatter;
Her body is disposed well,
A comely grave doth hide her;
And sure her soul is not in hell;
The devil could never abide her;
Which makes me think she is aloft;
For in the last great thunder
Methought I heard her well-known voice
Rending the clouds asunder.
“On a Wife” has a light-hearted tone compared to many of the other poems. This poem is a husband’s remembrance of his wife where he comments about how much she talked, which to him was too much, and how not even the devil would be able to stand her. His tone seems to be jocose but it also shows of the difficulties they had in their relationship.
