Classic and Contemporary Poetry
BALLAD. TO THE TUNE OF 'SALLY IN OUR ALLEY', by GEORGE GORDON BYRON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Of all the twice ten thousand bards Last Line: Is rowing of my gally. Alternate Author Name(s): Byron, Lord; Byron, 6th Baron Subject(s): Poetry & Poets | ||||||||
OF all the twice ten thousand bards That ever penn'd a canto, Whom Pudding or whom Praise rewards For lining a portmanteau; Of all the poets ever known, From Grub-street to Fop's Alley, The Muse may boast -- the World must own There's none like pretty Gally! He writes as well as any Miss, Has publish'd many a poem; The shame is yours, the gain is his, In case you should not know 'em: He has ten thousand pounds a year -- I do not mean to vally -- His songs at sixpence would be dear, So give them gratis, Gally! And if this statement should seem queer, Or set down in a hurry, Go, ask (if he will be sincere) His bookseller -- John Murray. Come, say, how many have been sold, And don't stand shilly-shally, Of bound and letter'd, red and gold, Well printed works of Gally. For Astley's circus Upton writes, And also for the Surry (sic); Fitzgerald weekly still recites, Though grinning Critics worry: Miss Holford's Peg, and Sotheby's Saul, In fame exactly tally; From Stationer's Hall to Grocer's Stall They go -- and so does Gally. He rode upon a Camel's hump Through Araby the sandy, Which surely must have hurt the rump Of this poetic dandy. His rhymes are of the costive kind, And barren as each valley In deserts which he left behind Has been the Muse of Gally. He has a Seat in Parliament, Is fat and passing wealthy; And surely he should be content With these and being healthy: But Great Ambition will misrule Men at all risks to sally, -- Now makes a poet -- now a fool, And we know which -- of Gally. Some in the playhouse like to row, Some with the Watch to battle, Exchanging many a midnight blow To Music of the Rattle. Some folks like rowing on the Thames, Some rowing in an Alley, But all the Row my fancy claims Is rowing of my Gally. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ENVY OF OTHER PEOPLE'S POEMS by ROBERT HASS THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AS A SONG by ROBERT HASS THE FATALIST: TIME IS FILLED by LYN HEJINIAN OXOTA: A SHORT RUSSIAN NOVEL: CHAPTER 192 by LYN HEJINIAN LET ME TELL YOU WHAT A POEM BRINGS by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA JUNE JOURNALS 6/25/88 by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA FOLLOW ROZEWICZ by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA HAVING INTENDED TO MERELY PICK ON AN OIL COMPANY, THE POEM GOES AWRY by HICOK. BOB ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |
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