Poetical Ingenuities and Eccentricities Part 24

Search narrowly the lines!--they hold a treasure Divine--a talisman--an amulet That must be worn _at heart_. Search well the measure-- The words--the syllables! Do not forget The trivialest point, or you may lose your labour!

And yet there is in this no Gordian knot Which one might not undo without a sabre, If one could merely comprehend the plot.

Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering Eye's scintillating soul, there lie _perdus_ Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing Of poets by poets--as the name is a poet's, too, Its letters, although naturally lying Like the Knight Pinto--Mendez Ferdinando-- Still form a synonym for Truth. Cease trying!

You will not read the riddle, though you do the best you _can_ do!"

_ALLITERATIVE AND ALPHABETIC VERSE._

There are some clever lines which ill.u.s.trate this style on the Bunker Hill Monument celebration:

"Americans arrayed and armed attend Beside battalions bold, bright beauties blend, Chiefs, clergy, citizens, conglomerate,-- Detesting despots,--daring deeds debate; Each eye emblazoned ensigns entertain,-- Flouris.h.i.+ng from far, fan freedom's flame.

Guards greeting guards grown gray,--guest greeting guest.

High-minded heroes. .h.i.ther homeward haste, Ingenuous juniors join in jubilee, Kith kenning kin, kind knowing kindred key.

Lo, lengthened lines lend Liberty liege love, Mixed ma.s.ses, marshalled, Monumentward move.

Note n.o.ble navies near--no novel notion Oft our oppressors overawed old Ocean; Presumptuous princes pristine patriots paled, Queen's quarrel questing quotas, quondam quailed.

Rebellion roused, revolting ramparts rose.

Stout spirits, smiting servile soldiers, strove.

These thrilling themes, to thousands truly told, Usurpers' unjust usages unfold.

Victorious va.s.sals, vauntings vainly veiled, Where, whilesince, Webster warlike Warren wailed.

'Xcuse 'xpletives, 'xtra queer 'xpressed, Yielding Yankee yeomen Zest."

PRINCE CHARLES AFTER CULLODEN.

"All ardent acts affright an age abased By brutal broils, by braggart bravery braced.

Craft's cankered courage changed Culloden's cry; 'Deal deep' deposed 'deal death'--'decoy'--'defy!'

Enough. Ere envy enters England's eyes, Fancy's false future fades, for Fortune flies.

Gaunt, gloomy, guarded, grappling giant griefs, Here hunted hard, his hara.s.sed heart he heaves; In impious ire incessant ills invests, Judging Jove's jealous judgments, jaundiced jests!

Kneel kirtled knight! keep keener kingcraft known, Let larger lore life's levelling lesson's loan; Marauders must meet malefactors' meeds.

No nation noisy nonconformists needs.

O, oracles of old! our orb ordain Peace's possession--Plenty's palmy plain!

Quiet Quixotic quests; quell quarrelling; Rebuke red riot's resonant rifle ring.

Slumber seems strangely sweet since silence smote The threatening thunders throbbing through their throat.

Usurper! under uniform unwont Vail valour's vaguest venture, vainest vaunt.

Well wot we which were wise. War's wildfire won Ximenes, Xerxes, Xavier, Xenophon: Yet you, ye yearning youth, your young years yield Zuinglius' zealous zest--Zinzendorf Zion-zealed."

AN ANIMAL ALPHABET.

"Alligator, beetle, porcupine, whale, Bobolink, panther, dragon-fly, snail, Crocodile, monkey, buffalo, hare, Dromedary, leopard, mud-turtle, bear, Elephant, badger, pelican, ox, Flying-fish, reindeer, anaconda, fox, Guinea-pig, dolphin, antelope, goose, Humming-bird, weasel, pickerel, moose, Ibex, rhinoceros, owl, kangaroo, Jackal, opossum, toad, c.o.c.katoo, Kingfisher, peac.o.c.k, anteater, bat, Lizard, ichneumon, honey-bee, rat, Mocking-bird, camel, gra.s.shopper, mouse, Nightingale, spider, cuttle-fish, grouse, Ocelot, pheasant, wolverine, auk, Periwininkle, ermine, katydid, hawk, Quail, hippopotamus, armadillo, moth, Rattlesnake, lion, woodp.e.c.k.e.r, sloth, Salamander, goldfinch, angleworm, dog, Tiger, flamingo, scorpion, frog, Unicorn, ostrich, nautilus, mole, Viper, gorilla, basilisk, sole, Whippoorwill, beaver, centipede, fawn, Xantho, canary, polliwog, swan, Yellowhammer, eagle, hyena, lark, Zebra, chameleon, b.u.t.terfly, shark."

Of affected alliteration as used by modern poets, there is a very good imitation of Swinburne's style in Bayard Taylor's "Diversions of the Echo Club,"[9] where Galahad chants "in rare and rhythmic redundancy, the viciousness of virtue:"

THE LAY OF MACARONI.

"As a wave that steals when the winds are stormy From creek to cove of the curving sh.o.r.e, Buffeted, blown, and broken before me, Scattered and spread to its sunlit core.

As a dove that dips in the dark of maples, To sip the sweetness of shelter and shade, I kneel in thy nimbus, O noon of Naples, I bathe in thine beauty, by thee embayed.

What is it ails me that I should sing of her?

The queen of the flashes and flames that were!

Yea, I have felt the shuddering sting of her, The flower-sweet throat and the hands of her!

I have swayed and sung to the sound of her psalters, I have danced her dances of dizzy delight, I have hallowed mine hair to the horns of her altars, Between the nightingale's song and the night!

What is it, Queen, that now I should do for thee?

What is it now I should ask at thine hands?

Blow of the trumpets thine children once blew for thee Break from thine feet and thine bosom the bands?

Nay, as sweet as the songs of Leone Leoni, And gay as her garments of gem-sprinkled gold, She gives me mellifluous, mild macaroni, The choice of her children when cheeses are old!

And over me hover, as if by the wings of it, Frayed in the furnace by flame that is fleet, The curious coils and the strenuous strings of it, Dropping, diminis.h.i.+ng down, as I eat; Lo! and the beautiful Queen, as she brings of it, Lifts me the links of the limitless chain, Bidding mine mouth chant the splendidest things of it, Out of the wealth of my wonderful brain!

Behold! I have done it; my stomach is smitten With sweets of the surfeit her hands have enrolled.

Italia, mine cheeks with thine kisses are bitten: I am broken with beauty, stabbed, slaughtered, and sold!

No man of thy millions is more macaronied, Save mighty Mazzini, than musical Me: The souls of the Ages shall stand as astonied, And faint in the flame I am fanning for thee!"

The above reminds of the anecdote told of Mrs. Crawford, who is said to have written one line of her "Kathleen Mavourneen," on purpose to confound the c.o.c.kney warblers, who would sing it--

"The 'orn of the 'unter is 'eard on the 'ill;"

and again, in Moore's "Ballad Stanzas":

"If there's peace to be found in the world, A 'eart that was 'umble might 'ope for it 'ere!"

Or--

"Ha helephant heasily heats hat his hease Hunder humbrageous humbrella trees!"

In the number of "Society" for April 23, 1881, there appeared several excellent specimens of alliterative verse, in compliance with a compet.i.tion inst.i.tuted by that paper for certain prizes--the selected verses all begin with the letter _b_:

"Bloom, beauteous blossoms, budding bowers beneath!

Behold, Boreas' bitter blast by brief Bright beams becalmed; balmy breezes breathe, Banis.h.i.+ng blight, bring bliss beyond belief.

Build, bonny birds! By bending birchen bough, By bush, by beech, by b.u.t.tressed branches bare, By bluebell-brightened bramble-brake; bestow Bespeckled broods; but bold bad boys beware!

Babble, blithe brooklet! Barren borders breach, Bathe broomy banks, bright b.u.t.tercups bedew, Briskly by bridge, by beetling bluff, by beach, Beckoned by bravely bounding billows blue!"

--_Sir Patrick Fells._

"Br.i.m.m.i.n.g brooklets bubble, Buoyant breezes blow, Baby-billows breaking Bashfully below.

Blossom-burdened branches, Briared banks betide, Bright bewitching bluebells Blooming bend beside.

But beyond be breakers, Bare blasts brooding black, Bitterly bemoaning Broken barks borne back."

--_A. M. Morgan._

"Beverage by bibbers blest, Balmy beer--bewitching bane, British brewings, boasted best, Blunting Bacchus' brandied brain.

Bonny b.u.mpers brimmed by beads, Barley-born, bring blind relief, Bubbling Ba.s.s-brewed Burton breed Bland beguilement, bright but brief.

Bar-bought beer--bah! bitter brine-- Barrel-broaching braves, beware!

Bid Bavaria, benign, Better brews bold Britons bear."

--_W. H. Evans._