To an Ungentle Critic
The great sun sinks behind the townThrough a red mist of Volnay wine....But what's the use of setting downThat glorious blaze behind the town?You'll only skip the page, you'll lookFor newer pictures in this book;You've read of sunsets rich as mine.
A fresh wind fills the evening airWith horrid crying of night birds....But what reads new or curious thereWhen cold winds fly across the air?You'll only frown; you'll turn the page,But find no glimpse of your "New AgeOf Poetry" in my worn-out words.
Must winds that cut like blades of steelAnd sunsets swimming in Volnay,The holiest, cruellest pains I feel,Die stillborn, because old men squealFor something new: "Write something new:We've read this poem--that one too,And twelve more like 'em yesterday"?
No, no! my chicken, I shall scrawlJust what I fancy as I strike it,Fairies and Fusiliers, and allOld broken knock-kneed thought will crawlAcross my verse in the classic way.And, sir, be careful what you say;There are old-fashioned folk still like it.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- stillborn a.
- Dead at the birth; as, a stillborn child.
- squeal v. i.
- To cry with a sharp, shrill, prolonged sound, as certain animals do, indicating want, displeasure, or pain. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Sw. sqväla, Norw. skvella. Cf. Squeak, Squall.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- scrawl v. t.
- To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter. [Probably corrupted from scrabble.]
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- classic a.
- Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. clas]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To an Ungentle Critic is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fairies and Fusiliers, Project Gutenberg ebook #10122; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Graves, To an Ungentle Critic, in Fairies and Fusiliers (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #10122, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graves-fairies/to-an-ungentle-critic.html, id L02410.
Form and metre
To an Ungentle Critic is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAACCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 39% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABAACCB townA · wineB · downA · townA · lookC · bookC · mineB
- 2 ABAACCB airA · birdsB · thereA · airA · pageC · ageC · wordsB
- 3 ABAACCB steelA · volnayB · feelA · squealA · newC · tooC · yesterdayB
- 4 ABAACCB scrawlA · itB · allA · crawlA · wayC · sayC · itB
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 great sun sinks behind the town | 8 | ········ |
| Through a red mist of Volnay wine.... | 8 | ········ |
| But what's the use of setting down | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That glorious blaze behind the town? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You'll only skip the page, you'll look | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For newer pictures in this book; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| You've read of sunsets rich as mine. | 8 | ···/···· |
| A fresh wind fills the evening air | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With horrid crying of night birds.... | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| But what reads new or curious there | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When cold winds fly across the air? | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| You'll only frown; you'll turn the page, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But find no glimpse of your "New Age | 8 | ········ |
| Of Poetry" in my worn-out words. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Must winds that cut like blades of steel | 8 | ········ |
| And sunsets swimming in Volnay, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| The holiest, cruellest pains I feel, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Die stillborn, because old men squeal | 8 | ·//····· |
| For something new: "Write something new: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| We've read this poem--that one too, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And twelve more like 'em yesterday"? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No, no! my chicken, I shall scrawl | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Just what I fancy as I strike it, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Fairies and Fusiliers, and all | 8 | /˘······ |
| Old broken knock-kneed thought will crawl | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Across my verse in the classic way. | 9 | ˘/····/˘· |
| And, sir, be careful what you say; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There are old-fashioned folk still like it. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
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.