"We came here to enjoy ourselves. Bravo,
Then! Are we not?" Courageous folk beneath
The brows of Michael Angelo's Moses dance
A Cakewalk in the dim Renascence Court.
Three people in the silent Reading-room
Regard us darkly as we enter: three
Come in with us, stare vacantly about,
Look from the window and withdraw at once.
A drama; a balloon; a Beauty Show: —
People have seen them doubtless; but none of those
Deluded myriads walking up and down
The north nave and the south nave anxiously —
And aimlessly, so silent and so sad.
The day wears; twilight ends; the night comes down.
A ruddy targelike moon in a purple sky,
And the crowd waiting on the fireworks. Come:
Enough of Mob for one while. This way out —
Past Linacre and Chatham, the second Charles,
Venus and Victory — and Sir William Jones
In placid contemplation of a State! —
Down the long corridor to the district train.
[Extract]
This are the final lines of Davidson's scathing poem about the Crystal Palace and its entertainment "attractions".
The Crystal Palace burned down in 1936, having been erected originally in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851.
The area of South London which became its new home in 1854, was renamed Crystal Palace.