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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHAT'S IN A NAME? by RICHARD KENDALL MUNKITTRICK

First Line: IN LETTERS LARGE UPON THE FRAME
Last Line: "V. STUYVESANT DE VERE!"
Subject(s): ART & ARTISTS; CYNICISM; LETTERS; NAMES; PAINTINGS AND PAINTERS;

IN letters large upon the frame,
That visitors might see,
The painter placed his humble name:
@3O'Callaghan McGee.@1

And from Beersheba unto Dan,
The critics with a nod
Exclaimed: "This painting Irishman
Adores his native sod.

"His stout heart's patriotic flame
There's naught on earth can quell;
He takes no wild romantic name
To make his pictures sell!"

Then poets praise in sonnets neat
His stroke so bold and free;
No parlour wall was thought complete
That hadn't a McGee.

All patriots before McGee
Threw lavishly their gold;
His works in the Academy
Were very quickly sold.

His "Digging Clams at Barnegat,"
His "When the Morning smiled,"
His "Seven Miles from Ararat,"
His "Portrait of a Child,"

Were purchased in a single day
And lauded as divine. --
. . . . . .
That night as in his @3atelier@1
The artist sipped his wine,

And looked upon his gilded frames,
He grinned from ear to ear: --
"They little think my @3real@1 name's
V. Stuyvesant De Vere!"



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