Poetry: Dismal England: Gen

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Title: Dismal England
Length: 93
Poetic form: as Small Hobbit is fond of saying 'it rhymes'
Rating: Gen
Notes: Inspired by this book called Dismal England. It is apparently authored by the same person that wrote Merrie England and that made me laugh. For the November prompt: the way they were and weren't.

Dismal England of old. Rife with strife hundred-fold.
Adverts promise fools’ gold. Plots like clots, bloody, bold;
greed’s misdeed; honour sold; foul trickery foretold.
Life in death’s cargo hold; filthy, grim, fog-dim, cold.

Merrie England of ages past. Notions like buttons holding fast
to a Dickens Yuletide repast. Tra-la-la’s ring unsurpassed.
to puzzles solved, resolved at last. To quips and wit and intrigue vast.
To bright futures unharassed. To good’s triumph, woes outcast.

Whether ‘twas dismal or merrie matters not, you see.
I pen what drops the shillings in the purse o’ me.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

This is lovely - I like all the little references to the Holmes' cases - and approve of the sentiment.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And thank you for the rec of The Dolls' House on Watson's Woes.

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

[mafief.livejournal.com]

Nice, I like this one a lot. :)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

A clever look at both sides ^__^

My favourite lines:

Plots like clots, bloody, bold;

Notions like buttons holding fast/ to a Dickens Yuletide repast. Tra-la-la’s ring unsurpassed./ to puzzles solved, resolved at last.

And of course, the concluding couplet ^_^

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I do like the notions/buttons pun. I used to have to go to the fabric store with my aunt and the sign said 'notions' which I always thought was funny.

And I decided to put poems which for whatever reason wouldn't be Inky's cup of tea in a new poetry-only collection here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12669048/chapters/28879188

[debriswoman]

Really well done:-)

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee. But of course - the first rule of minstrelsy is you play and sing what the audience wants, not what you want!

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

Once in a while, I use that rule for ficcing too. *cough, cough, shameless Omegaverse pandering, cough, cough*