Elegy for Alfred Hubbard

The poem Elegy for Alfred Hubbard is about a person who is eulogizing an old plumber.  He starts out by praising him for his abilities as a plumber but then quickly starts to point out his faults.  When he states “that his rule of thumb, which were often wrong”, he starts to show the plumbers flaws.  The poet goes on to say that he heard a lot of gossip and knew the streets well but didn’t know much about plumbing.  There is a lot of irony throughout the poem where the poet shifts from reverence to sarcasm.  He presents many sarcastic references to his wrong doing, such as in the lines “for much he never got round to doing, but meant to, when weather bucked up, or worsened, or when his pipe was drawing, or when he’d finished his cup.  I thought time, he forgot so often had forgotten him”.  (Lines 25-30)  The poem was actually funny in its irony because this was a person who was supposed to be saying nice things about this dead plumber.  In the end the poet talks of the plumber’s wife, waiting by a gate that he promised to mend. The last line "and the housewife banging his front-door knocker is not surprised to find him gone,and runs for Thwaite, who's a better worker" could be a great standup comic routine.   In the end the reader realizes that Hubbard is a human being with many flaws just like a lot of us.