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Showing posts from November 10, 2019

A Sonnet to Tobias Smollett

[Smollett] Contradict me and I’ll try to understand Sir, who depict us as contrariwise, Fixed with one view of those we apprise But to find that view we oft countermand. The lord is an oaf, the lady feigns sad, Nurse Jill can translate, the scholar’s a cad, The beggar’s a saint, the parson’s gone mad, The thief turns out good, Jack’s gone to the bad. How I wish to join your latest journey Sir, to share in company straight and gay Arguing types (and terms, alas!), making hay, Your servant, The Twenty-First Century. Postscript: Surely there’s something called the norm If imitation’s the sincerest form.