Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PARADISE OF LECTURERS, by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY Poet's Biography First Line: When you might be a name for the world to acclaim, and when opulence dawns on Last Line: All the gold of klondike isn't anything like to the sums that are made in the states! Alternate Author Name(s): Godley, A. D. Subject(s): Literature; Teaching & Teachers; Educators; Professors | ||||||||
WHEN you might be a name for the world to acclaim, and when Opulence dawns on the view, Why slave like a Turk at Collegiate work for a wholly inadequate screw? Why grind at the trade -- insufficiently paid -- of instructing for Mods. and for Greats, When fortunes immense are diurnally made by a lecturing tour in the States? Do you know that in scores they will pay at the doors -- these millions in darkness who grope -- For a glimpse of Mark Twain or a word from Hall Caine or a reading from Anthony Hope? We are ignorant here of the glorious career which conspicuous talent awaits: Not a master of style but is making his pile by the lectures he gives in the States! With amazement I hear of the chances they lose -- of the simply incredible sums Which a Barrie might have (if he did not refuse) for reciting A Window in Thrums: Of the prospects of gain which are offered in vain as a sop to the Laureate's pride: Of the price which I learn Mr. Bradshaw might earn by declaiming his excellent Guide. Columbia! desist from soliciting those who your bribes and petitions contemn: Though plutocrats scorn the rewards you propose, there are others superior to them: Why burden the proud with superfluous pelf, who wealth in abundance possess, When indigent Worth (I allude to myself) would go for substantially less? For Europe, I know, to oblivion may doom the fruits of my talented brain, But they're perfectly sure of creating a boom in the wilds of Kentucky and Maine: They'll appreciate there my illustrious work on the way to make Pindar to scan, And Culture will hum in the State of New York when I read it my essay on An! I've a scheme, which is this: I will start for the West as a Limited Lecturing Co., And the public invite in the same to invest to the tune of a million or so: They will all be recouped for initial expense by receiving their share of the 'gates', Which I venture to think will be truly immense when I lecture on Prose in the States. Thus Merit will not be permitted to rot -- as it does -- on Obscurity's shelf: Thus the national hoard shall with profit be stored (with a trifle of course for myself): For lectures are dear in that fortunate sphere, and are paid for at fabulous rates, -- All the gold of Klondike isn't anything like to the sums that are made in the States! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CORRESPONDENCE-SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR SAYS GOODBYE TO HIS POETRY STUDENTS by GALWAY KINNELL GRATITUDE TO OLD TEACHERS by ROBERT BLY TWO RAMAGES FOR OLD MASTERS by ROBERT BLY ON FLUNKING A NICE BOY OUT OF SCHOOL by JOHN CIARDI HER MONOLOGUE OF DARK CREPE WITH EDGES OF LIGHT by NORMAN DUBIE OF POLITICS, & ART by NORMAN DUBIE SEVERAL MEASURES FOR THE LITTLE LOST by NORMAN DUBIE A DIALOGUE ON ETHICS by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A HANDBOOK TO HOMER by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY A NEW DIALOGUE OF THE DEAD; ODYSSEUS AND ARISTOTLE by ALFRED DENNIS GODLEY |
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