Arthur Hugh Clough

In the Great Metropolis

Each for himself is still the rule
We learn it when we go to school

Schoolyard Latin

"Devil take the hindmost" translates the Latin phrase *Occupet extremum scabies*, a proverb about competitive games. Clough turns childhood cruelty into adult economics.

The devil take the hindmost, O!
And when the schoolboys grow to men,
In life they learn it o’er again
The devil take the hindmost, O!

Schoolyard Latin

"Devil take the hindmost" translates the Latin phrase *Occupet extremum scabies*, a proverb about competitive games. Clough turns childhood cruelty into adult economics.

Professional spaces

**'Change** is the Royal Exchange, London's stock market. He's listing Victorian career paths—law, finance, politics, religion—where the same ruthless logic applies.

For in the church, and at the bar,
On ’Change, at court, where’er they are,
The devil takes the hindmost, O!
Husband for husband, wife for wife,

Domestic competition

Even marriage becomes strategic: each spouse protects their own interests. The refrain's "devil" shifts from metaphor to real moral consequence.

Are careful that in married life
The devil takes the hindmost, O!
From youth to age, whate’er the game,
The unvarying practice is the same

Schoolyard Latin

"Devil take the hindmost" translates the Latin phrase *Occupet extremum scabies*, a proverb about competitive games. Clough turns childhood cruelty into adult economics.

The devil take the hindmost, O!
And after death, we do not know,
But scarce can doubt, where’er we go,
The devil takes the hindmost, O!
Ti rol de rol, ti rol de ro,

Music hall ending

**Ti rol de rol** is nonsense syllables from popular songs. He ends a moral critique with the sound of cheerful entertainment—the same crowd that lives by these rules.

Schoolyard Latin

"Devil take the hindmost" translates the Latin phrase *Occupet extremum scabies*, a proverb about competitive games. Clough turns childhood cruelty into adult economics.

The devil take the hindmost, O!
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Clough's Victorian Capitalism

CONTEXT Clough wrote this around 1850, during Britain's industrial boom. He'd resigned his Oxford fellowship in 1848 over religious doubts, then watched his friends compete for positions in church, law, and government while he struggled financially. This isn't abstract social commentary—it's his lived experience of Victorian meritocracy.

The poem maps competitive individualism across every life stage and social institution. Notice the chronological structure: school → professional life → marriage → death → afterlife. There's no escape route. The refrain "The devil take the hindmost, O!" comes from a children's game (like tag), but Clough shows the same rule governing the stock exchange, the church, even marital bedrooms. The "O!" makes it sound almost cheerful, which is the poem's nastiest trick.

"Each for himself is still the rule"—that word "still" matters. It suggests this has always been true, will always be true. Clough isn't calling for revolution; he's documenting a system so total it survives death. The final stanza's "we do not know, / But scarce can doubt" applies market logic to theology: probably even heaven runs on competition.

The Music Hall Refrain

The poem's form is a music hall song, the Victorian equivalent of pop music. The bouncy rhythm and repetitive refrain would've been instantly recognizable as entertainment for the masses. This is crucial: Clough isn't writing a sermon or philosophical treatise. He's using the form that working-class Victorians heard in pubs and theaters.

That final "Ti rol de rol, ti rol de ro" is pure music hall filler—meaningless syllables singers used between verses. By ending with nonsense sounds, Clough suggests the whole society is singing along to its own exploitation without noticing the words. The form becomes the message: we've turned ruthless competition into catchy entertainment.

Compare this to Clough's other work, especially *Dipsychus*, where he agonizes over moral compromise in long dramatic debates. Here he abandons argument for repetition—the same refrain 7 times. That's the point: in a system this total, analysis is useless. All you can do is sing along.