From a letter from STC to Wordsworth after writing The Nightingale:
In stale blank verse a subject stale
I send per post my Nightingale;
And like an honest bard, dear Wordsworth,
You’ll tell me what you think, my Bird’s worth.
My own opinion’s briefly this–
His bill he opens not amiss;
And when he has sung a stave or so,
His breast, & some small space below,
So throbs & swells, that you might swear
No vulgar music’s working there.
So far, so good; but then, ‘od rot him!
There’s something falls off at his bottom.
Yet, sure, no wonder it should breed,
That my Bird’s Tail’s a tail indeed
And makes it’s own inglorious harmony
?olio crepit?, non carmine.
(Samuel Coleridge)
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Based on Topics: Letters Poems, Honesty & Integrity Poems, Writing PoemsBased on Keywords: working, subject, bard, bill, space, swear, blank, verse, bottom, bird, post