Lyric Poem · Life
Leisure
by W. H. Davies · 1911
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Leisure” by W. H. Davies — quilloak.com/poems/leisure
Quick facts
- Poem
- Leisure
- Poet
- W. H. Davies
- Published
- 1911
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Couplet
- Themes
- Life, Peace
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · 7 couplets
- End rhyme
- AA in 71% of the stanzas — a rhyming couplet. The remaining stanzas vary, often through slant rhyme.
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
- Refrain
- “We have no time to stand and stare.”Repeated lines act as the poem's hinge or drumbeat.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- W. H. Davies1871–1940
- Source record
- WikisourceLeisure by w-h-davies, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1911
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 5c5b0bc5b67e68e5…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.