Home
Poets
William Makepeace Thackeray
Sorrows of Werther
by William Makepeace Thackeray English
Copy link
Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Werther,
And, for all the wealth of Indies,
Would do nothing for to hurt her.
So he sighed and pined and ogled,
And his passion boiled and bubbled,
Till he blew his silly brains out,
And no more was by it troubled.
Charlotte, having seen his body
Borne before her on a shutter,
Like a well-conducted person,
Went on cutting bread and butter.
Read more in print
As an Amazon Associate, PoemLake earns from qualifying purchases. All our books
More poems by William Makepeace Thackeray
Werther had a love for Charlotte
Such as words could never utter;
Would you know how first he met her? …
Beside the old hall-fire—upon my nurse’s knee,
Of happy fairy days—what tales were told to me!
I thought the world was once—all peopled with princesses, …
Although I enter not,
Yet round about the spot
Ofttimes I hover; …
There were three sailors of Bristol City
Who took a boat and went to sea,
But first with beef and captain’s biscuits …
All poems by William Makepeace Thackeray →