Foreword
The Press may pass my Verses byWith sentiments of indignation,And say, like Greeks of old, that ICorrupt the Youthful Generation;I am unmoved by taunts like these--(And so, I think, was Socrates).
Howe'er the Critics may revile,I pick no journalistic quarrels,Quite realising that my StyleMakes up for any lack of Morals;For which I feel no shred of shame--(And Byron would have felt the same).
I don't intend a Child to readThese lines, which are not for the Young;For, if I did, I should indeedFeel fully worthy to be hung.(Is 'hanged' the perfect tense of 'hang'?Correct me, Mr. Andrew Lang!)
O Young of Heart, tho' in your prime,By you these verses may be seen!Accept the Moral with the Rhyme,And try to gather what I mean.But, if you can't, it won't hurt me!(And Browning would, I know, agree.)
Be reassured, I have not gotThe style of Stephen Phillips' heroes,Nor Henry Jones's pow'r of Plot,Nor wit like Arthur Wing Pinero's!(If so, I should not waste my timeIn writing you this sort of rhyme.)
I strive to paint things as they Are,Of Realism the true Apostle;All flow'ry metaphors I bar,Nor call the homely thrush a 'throstle.'Such synonyms would make me smile.(And so they would have made Carlyle.)
My Style may be, at times, I own,A trifle cryptic or abstruse;In this I do not stand alone,And need but mention, in excuse,A thousand world-familiar names,From Meredith to Henry James.
From these my fruitless fancy roamsTo Aesop's or La Fontaine's Fable,From Doyle's or Hemans' 'Stately Ho(l)mes,'To t'other of The Breakfast Table;Like Galahad, I wish (in vain)'My wit were as the wit of Twain!
Had I but Whitman's rugged skill,(And managed to escape the Censor),The Accuracy of a Mill,The Reason of a Herbert Spencer,The literary talents evenOf Sidney Lee or Leslie Stephen,
The pow'r of Patmore's placid pen,Or Watson's gift of execration,The sugar of Le Gallienne,Or Algernon's alliteration,One post there is I'd not be lost in,--Tho' I might find it most ex-Austin'!
Some day, if I but study hard,The public, vanquished by my pen, 'llAcclaim me as a Minor Bard,Like Norman Gale or Mrs. Meynell;And listen to my lyre a-ripplingImperial banjo-spasms like Kipling.
Were I, like him, a syndicate,Which publishers would put their trust in;A Walter Pater up-to-date,Or flippant scholar like Augustine;With pen as light as lark or squirrel,I'd love to kipple, pate and birrell.
So don't ignore me. If you should,'Twill touch me to the very heart oh!To be as much misunderstoodAs once was Andrea del Sarto;Unrecognised, to toil away,Like Millet,--(not, of course, Millais).
And, pray, for Morals do not lookIn this unique agglomeration,--This unpretentious little bookOf Infelicitous Quotation.I deem you foolish if you do,(And Mr. Arnold thinks so, too).
Words in this poem 21
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- journalistic a.
- Pertaining to journals or to journalists; contained in, or characteristic of, the public journals; as journalistic literature or enterprise.
- intend v. t.
- To stretch' to extend; to distend. [OE. entenden to be attentive, F. entendre, fr. L. intendre, intentum, and intensum, to intend, attend, stretch out, extend; pref. in- in + tendere to stretch, s]
- homely a.
- Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [From Home, n.]
- cryptic a.
- Hidden; secret; occult.
- abstruse a.
- Concealed or hidden out of the way. [L. abstrusus, p. p. of abstrudere to thrust away, conceal; ab, abs + trudere to thrust; cf. F. abstrus. See Threat.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- censor n.
- One of two magistrates of Rome who took a register of the number and property of citizens, and who also exercised the office of inspector of morals and conduct. [L. censor, fr. censere to value, tax.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- acclaim v. i.
- To shout applause.
- banjo n.
- A stringed musical instrument having a head and neck like the guitar, and its body like a tambourine. It has five strings, and is played with the fingers and hands.
- syndicate v. t.
- To judge; to censure. [LL. syndicatus, p.p. of syndicare to censure.]
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
- flippant a.
- Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative. [Prov. E. flip to move nimbly; cf. W. llipa soft, limber, pliant, or Icel. fleipa to babble, prattle. Cf. Flip, Fillip, Flap, Flipper.]
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- ignore v. t.
- To be ignorant of or not acquainted with. [L. ignorare; pref. in- not + the root of gnarus knowing, noscere to become acquainted with. See Know, and cf. Narrate.]
- unique a.
- Being without a like or equal; unmatched; unequaled; unparalleled; single in kind or excellence; sole. [F. unique; cf. It. unico; from L. unicus, from unus one. See One.]
- agglomeration n.
- The act or process of collecting in a mass; a heaping together. [Cf. F. agglomération.]
- quotation n.
- The act of quoting or citing. [From Quote.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Foreword 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, Foreword, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/foreword.html, id L23291.
Form and metre
Foreword is 84 lines in 14 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 7 of its 14 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 ABABCC byA · indignationB · iA · generationB · theseC · socratesC
- 2 ABABCC revileA · quarrelsB · styleA · moralsB · shameC · sameC
- 3 ABABCC readA · youngB · indeedA · hungB · hangC · langC
- 4 ABABCC primeA · seenB · rhymeA · meanB · meC · agreeC
- 5 A-A-BB gotA · heroes · plotA · pinero's · timeB · rhymeB
- 6 ABABCC areA · apostleB · barA · throstleB · smileC · carlyleC
- 7 ABABCC ownA · abstruseB · aloneA · excuseB · namesC · jamesC
- 8 -A-ABB roams · fableA · l)mes · tableA · vainB · twainB
- 9 ABAB-- skillA · censorB · millA · spencerB · even · stephen
- 10 AAAAAA penA · execrationA · gallienneA · alliterationA · inA · austinA
- 11 A-A-BB hardA · — · bardA · meynell · ripplingB · kiplingB
- 12 ABAB-- syndicateA · inB · dateA · augustineB · squirrel · birrell
- 13 A-A-BB shouldA · oh · misunderstoodA · sarto · awayB · millaisB
- 14 ABABCC lookA · agglomerationB · bookA · quotationB · doC · tooC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Press may pass my Verses by | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With sentiments of indignation, | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| And say, like Greeks of old, that I | 8 | ········ |
| Corrupt the Youthful Generation; | 9 | ˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| I am unmoved by taunts like these-- | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| (And so, I think, was Socrates). | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Howe'er the Critics may revile, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I pick no journalistic quarrels, | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Quite realising that my Style | 7 | ·/·˘··· |
| Makes up for any lack of Morals; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| For which I feel no shred of shame-- | 8 | ········ |
| (And Byron would have felt the same). | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I don't intend a Child to read | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| These lines, which are not for the Young; | 8 | ········ |
| For, if I did, I should indeed | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Feel fully worthy to be hung. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| (Is 'hanged' the perfect tense of 'hang'? | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Correct me, Mr. Andrew Lang!) | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| O Young of Heart, tho' in your prime, | 8 | ········ |
| By you these verses may be seen! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Accept the Moral with the Rhyme, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And try to gather what I mean. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But, if you can't, it won't hurt me! | 8 | ········ |
| (And Browning would, I know, agree.) | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Be reassured, I have not got | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The style of Stephen Phillips' heroes, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Nor Henry Jones's pow'r of Plot, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Nor wit like Arthur Wing Pinero's! | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| (If so, I should not waste my time | 8 | ········ |
| In writing you this sort of rhyme.) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I strive to paint things as they Are, | 8 | ········ |
| Of Realism the true Apostle; | 9 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| All flow'ry metaphors I bar, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Nor call the homely thrush a 'throstle.' | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Such synonyms would make me smile. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| (And so they would have made Carlyle.) | 8 | ······/· |
| My Style may be, at times, I own, | 8 | ········ |
| A trifle cryptic or abstruse; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| In this I do not stand alone, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And need but mention, in excuse, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A thousand world-familiar names, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| From Meredith to Henry James. | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| From these my fruitless fancy roams | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To Aesop's or La Fontaine's Fable, | 9 | ·/···˘//˘ |
| From Doyle's or Hemans' 'Stately Ho(l)mes,' | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To t'other of The Breakfast Table; | 10 | ·˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Like Galahad, I wish (in vain) | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'My wit were as the wit of Twain! | 8 | ········ |
| Had I but Whitman's rugged skill, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| (And managed to escape the Censor), | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| The Accuracy of a Mill, | 8 | ·/˘˘˘··· |
| The Reason of a Herbert Spencer, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The literary talents even | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Of Sidney Lee or Leslie Stephen, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| The pow'r of Patmore's placid pen, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Or Watson's gift of execration, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The sugar of Le Gallienne, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| Or Algernon's alliteration, | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/˘·˘ |
| One post there is I'd not be lost in, | 9 | ········· |
| --Tho' I might find it most ex-Austin'! | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Some day, if I but study hard, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The public, vanquished by my pen, 'll | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Acclaim me as a Minor Bard, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Like Norman Gale or Mrs. Meynell; | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| And listen to my lyre a-rippling | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Imperial banjo-spasms like Kipling. | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘·/˘ |
| Were I, like him, a syndicate, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which publishers would put their trust in; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A Walter Pater up-to-date, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Or flippant scholar like Augustine; | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| With pen as light as lark or squirrel, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I'd love to kipple, pate and birrell. | 9 | ········· |
| So don't ignore me. If you should, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| 'Twill touch me to the very heart oh! | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| To be as much misunderstood | 8 | ·····˘˘/ |
| As once was Andrea del Sarto; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Unrecognised, to toil away, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Like Millet,--(not, of course, Millais). | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And, pray, for Morals do not look | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In this unique agglomeration, | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| --This unpretentious little book | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Of Infelicitous Quotation. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| I deem you foolish if you do, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| (And Mr. Arnold thinks so, too). | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.