John Ormond wrote "Cathedral Builders" around 1963, after being inspired by a visit to Italy where he saw men singing while building a new cathedral; the poem was published in the journal Poetry Wales in 1965, and later collected in Ormond's book Cathedral Builders and Other Poems (1987). In this poem, the speaker follows a group of cathedral builders over generations of hard work on a single magnificent cathedral. The poem's intimate peek at the builders' ordinary personal lives reminds readers that sublime works emerge from humble, everyday labor.

• Read the full text of “Cathedral Builders”

• “Cathedral Builders” Summary

• “Cathedral Builders” Themes

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    The Value and Honor of Ordinary Work

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Cathedral Builders”

  • Lines 1-4

    They climbed on ...
    ... to meet him,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    And came down ...
    ... happy, or unhappy,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    And every day ...
    ... a fine evening,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    Saw naves sprout ...
    ... give it up,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    To leave the ...
    ... bloody did that."

    

    

    

    

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• “Cathedral Builders” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-12
    • Lines 10-11
    • Lines 11-12
    • Line 13
    • Line 14
    • Lines 17-19

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “They climbed on sketchy ladders towards God, / with winch and pulley hoisted hewn rock into heaven,”
    • Line 6: “lay with their smelly wives”
    • Line 11: “grew greyer, shakier”
    • Line 13: “Saw naves sprout arches, clerestories soar,”
    • Lines 17-18: “stood in the crowd / Well back from the vestments at the consecration,”
    • Line 20: “Cocked a squint eye aloft”

  • Metonymy

    

    

    

    

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    Where metonymy appears in the poem:

    • Line 18: “Well back from the vestments at the consecration,”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “Deified stone”
    • Line 13: “Saw naves sprout arches, clerestories soar,”
    • Line 17: “To leave the spire to others;”

• “Cathedral Builders” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Pulley
  • Winch
  • Deified
  • Small beer
  • Cuffed
  • Naves
  • Clerestories
  • Glaziers
  • Rheumatism
  • Vestments
  • Consecration
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “with winch and pulley hoisted hewn rock into heaven”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Cathedral Builders”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Cathedral Builders” Speaker

• “Cathedral Builders” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Cathedral Builders”

• More “Cathedral Builders” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about John Ormond.

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

    • Cathedral Building — Read a short explanation of how cathedrals were built. As this poem observes, a cathedral was a titanic project that might take several generations to complete!

    • Ormond in a Welsh Context — Read a summary of John Ormond's contributions to Welsh culture.

    • Video Review of Ormond's Collected Poems — Watch a brief review by Ashley Owen of John Ormond: Collected Poems (produced by the New Welsh Review multimedia program).

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