'Enough Is as Good as a Feast'
What is Enough? An idle dream!One cannot have enough, I swear,Of Ices or Meringues-and-Cream,Nougat or Chocolate Eclairs,Of Oysters or of Caviar,Of Prawns or Pate de Foie Grar!
Who would not willingly forsakeKindred and Home, without a fuss,For Icing from a Birthday Cake,Or juicy fat Asparagus,And journey over countless seasFor New Potatoes and Green Peas?
They say that a Contented MindIs a Continual Feast;--but whereThe mental frame, and how to find,Which can with Turtle Soup compare?No mind, however full of Ease,Could be Continual Toasted Cheese.
For dinner have a sole to eat(Some Perrier Jouet, '92),An Entree then (and, with the meat,A bottle of Lafitte will do),A quail, a glass of port (just one),Liqueurs and coffee, and you've done.
Your tastes may be of simpler type;--A homely pint of 'half-and-half,'An onion and a dish of tripe,Or headpiece of the kindly calf.(Cruel perhaps, but then, you know,''Faut tout souffrir pour etre veau!')
'Tis a mistake to eat too muchOf any dishes but the best;And you, of course, should never touchA thing you know you can't digest;For instance, lobster:--if you do,Well,--I'm amayonnaised at you!
Let this be your heraldic crest:A bottle (charge) of Champagne,A chicken (gorged) with salad (dress'd),Below, this motto to explain--'Enough is Very Good, may be;Too Much is Good Enough for Me!'
Words in this poem
- nougat n.
- A cake, sweetmeat, or confectión made with almonds or other nuts. [F.]
- caviar n.
- The roes of the sturgeon, prepared and salted; -- used as a relish, esp. in Russia. [F. caviar, fr. It. caviale, fr. Turk. Havi\'ber.]
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- willingly adv.
- In a willing manner; with free will; without reluctance; cheerfully.
- fuss n.
- A tumult; a bustle; unnecessary or annoying ado about trifles. [Cf. Fusome.]
- icing n.
- A coating or covering resembling ice, as of sugar and milk or white of egg; frosting.
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- perrier n.
- A short mortar used formerly for throwing stone shot. Hakluyt. [OF. perriere, perrier, F. perrier. Cf. Pederero.]
- entree n.
- A coming in, or entrance; hence, freedom of access; permission or right to enter; as, to have the entrée of a house. [F. See Entry.]
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- tout v. t.
- To act as a tout. See 2d Tout. [Cant. Eng.] [See 1st Toot.]
- champagne n.
- A light wine, of several kinds, originally made in the province of Champagne, in France. [F. See Champaign.]
- gorged a.
- Having a gorge or throat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
'Enough Is as Good as a Feast' is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, 'Enough Is as Good as a Feast', in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/enough-is-as-good-as-a-feast.html, id L23335.
Form and metre
'Enough Is as Good as a Feast' is 42 lines in 7 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 5 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A-BB dreamA · swear · creamA · eclairs · caviarB · grarB
- 2 ABABCC forsakeA · fussB · cakeA · asparagusB · seasC · peasC
- 3 ABABCC mindA · whereB · findA · compareB · easeC · cheeseC
- 4 A-A-BB eatA · — · meatA · do · oneB · doneB
- 5 ABABCC typeA · halfB · tripeA · calfB · knowC · veauC
- 6 ABABCC muchA · bestB · touchA · digestB · doC · youC
- 7 ABABCC crestA · champagneB · dress'dA · explainB · beC · meC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What is Enough? An idle dream! | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| One cannot have enough, I swear, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Of Ices or Meringues-and-Cream, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Nougat or Chocolate Eclairs, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Of Oysters or of Caviar, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of Prawns or Pate de Foie Grar! | 7 | ······· |
| Who would not willingly forsake | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Kindred and Home, without a fuss, | 8 | /˘······ |
| For Icing from a Birthday Cake, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Or juicy fat Asparagus, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| And journey over countless seas | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For New Potatoes and Green Peas? | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| They say that a Contented Mind | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Is a Continual Feast;--but where | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| The mental frame, and how to find, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which can with Turtle Soup compare? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| No mind, however full of Ease, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Could be Continual Toasted Cheese. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| For dinner have a sole to eat | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| (Some Perrier Jouet, '92), | 5 | ··˘/· |
| An Entree then (and, with the meat, | 8 | ·/······ |
| A bottle of Lafitte will do), | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| A quail, a glass of port (just one), | 8 | ········ |
| Liqueurs and coffee, and you've done. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Your tastes may be of simpler type;-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A homely pint of 'half-and-half,' | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An onion and a dish of tripe, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Or headpiece of the kindly calf. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| (Cruel perhaps, but then, you know, | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| ''Faut tout souffrir pour etre veau!') | 7 | ······· |
| 'Tis a mistake to eat too much | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of any dishes but the best; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And you, of course, should never touch | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A thing you know you can't digest; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For instance, lobster:--if you do, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Well,--I'm amayonnaised at you! | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| Let this be your heraldic crest: | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A bottle (charge) of Champagne, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| A chicken (gorged) with salad (dress'd), | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Below, this motto to explain-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| 'Enough is Very Good, may be; | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Too Much is Good Enough for Me!' | 8 | ····˘/·· |
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