Author THIS text is not what it should be. There are some strange mistakes I see I must have missed. For who, right witted, Would dream of putting 'filled' for 'fitted'? Or 'light' for 'tight'? Or 'sleep' for 'steep'? -- Such things would make the angels weep. Publisher That is so. Still they do occur To the most proved artificer. You must have failed to cross your 't's': GENIUS is prone to that disease! Author True. (And sometimes, by accident, The blunder betters what was meant!) But tell me. What is my position? Correction? In a new edition? -- Those 'new editions' have a knack, Unluckily, of holding back... Publisher That is because men take more pains To feed their bodies than their brains; Or else because they really care For little save the lighter fare; And then -- though this is poor relief -- The life of modern books is brief. -- We'll paste in an 'Errata' slip... Author Which none will look at but to skip. No; the misfortune must be gulped, Until the masterpiece is ... pulped! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOTHER EARTH by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE SHELL TO THE PEARL by LOUIS UNTERMEYER HIRAM POWERS' GREEK SLAVE by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING TO ANTHEA [WHO MAY COMMAND HIM ANYTHING] by ROBERT HERRICK IN HONOR OF TAFFY TOPAZ by CHRISTOPHER DARLINGTON MORLEY |