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The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger by J

12/3/2008 2:59:03 AM
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James Kenneth Stephen James Kenneth Stephen
(1859 - 1892)
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21 poems of James Kenneth Stephen

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The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger
 
  I am not ambitious at all:
I am not a poet, I know
(Though I do love to see a mere scrawl
To order and symmetry grow).
My muse is uncertain and slow,
I am not expert with my tools,
I lack the poetic argot:
But I hope I have kept to the rules.

When your brain is undoubtedly small,
'Tis hard, sir, to write in a row,
Some five or six rhymes to Nepaul,
And more than a dozen to Joe:
The metre is easier though,
Three rhymes are sufficient for 'ghouls,'
My lines are deficient in go,
But I hope I have kept to the rules.

Unable to fly let me crawl,
Your patronage kindly bestow:
I am not the author of Saul,
I am not Voltaire or Rousseau:
I am not desirous, oh no!
To rise from the ranks of the fools,
To shine with Gosse, Dobson and Co.:
But I hope I have kept to the rules.

Dear Sir, though my language is low,
Let me dip in Pierian pools:
My verses are only so so,
But I hope I have kept to the rules.

James Kenneth Stephen


Read poems about / on: hope, rose

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12/3/2008 2:59:03 AM. You Are Here: The Ballade of the Incompetent Ballade-Monger by James Kenneth Stephen

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