Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)
The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne
I
1WAKE! For the Hack can scatter into flight
2Shakespere and Dante in a single Night!
3 The Penny-a-liner is Abroad, and strikes
4Our Modern Literature with blithering Blight.
II
5Before Historical Romances died,
6Methought a Voice from Art's Olympus cried,
7 "When all Dumas and Scott is still for Sale,
8Why nod o'er drowsy Tales, by Tyros tried?"
III
9A cock-sure Crew with Names ne'er heard before
10Greedily shouted -- "Open then the Door!
11 You know how little Stuff is going to live,
12But where it came from there is plenty More."
IV
13Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
14The Artist poor to Calendars aspires,
15 But of the Stuff the Publisher puts out
16Most in the Paper Basket soon suspires.
V
17Harum indeed is gone, and Lady Rose,
18And Janice Meredith, where no one knows;
19 But still the Author gushes overtime,
20And many a Poet babbles on in Prose.
VI
21Aldrich's lips are lock'd; but people buy
22High-piping Authoresses, boomed shy-high.
23 "How fine!" -- the Publisher cries to the Mob,
24That monumental Cheek to justify.
VII
25Come, fill the Purse, to Publishers, this Spring,
26Your Manuscripts of paltry Passion bring:
27 The New York Times has oft a little Way
28Of praising -- let The Times your praises sing.
VIII
29Whether by Century or Doubleday,
30Whether Macmillan or the Harpers pay,
31 The Publisher prints new books every Year;
32The Critics will keep Busy, anyway!
IX
33Each Morn a thousand Volumes brings, you say;
34Yes, but who reads the Books of Yesterday?
35 And this first Autumn List that brings the New
36Shall take The Pit and Mrs. Wiggs away.
X
37Well, let it take them! What, are we not through
38With Richard Calmady and Emmy Lou?
39 Let Ade and Dooley guy us as they will,
40Or Ella Wheeler Wilcox -- heed not you.
XI
41With me despise this kind of Fiction rude
42That just divides the Rotten from the Good,
43 Where names of Poe and Dickens are forgot --
44And Peace to Thackeray with his giant Brood!
XII
45A Book of Limericks -- Nonsense, anyhow --
46Alice in Wonderland, the Purpose Cow
47 Beside me singing on Fifth Avenue --
48Ah, this were Modern Literature enow!
XIII
49Some for the stories of The World; and some
50Sigh for the Boston Transcript till it come;
51 Ah, take The Sun, and let The Herald go,
52Nor heed the Yellow Journalistic scum!
XIV
53Look to the blowing Advertiser -- "Lo,
54Booming's the way," he says, "to make Books go!
55 I advertise until I've drained my Purse,
56And huge Editions on the Market throw."
XV
57And those who made a Mint off Miss MacLane,
58And those who shuddered at her Jests profane,
59 Alike consigned her to Oblivion,
60And buried once, would not dig up again.
XVI
61Anthony Hope men set their hearts upon --
62Like Conan Doyle he prospered; and anon,
63 Remained unopened on the dusty Shelf,
64Delighting us an Hour -- and then was gone.
XVII
65Think, in this gaudy monthly Magazine
66Whose Covers are Soapette and Breakfastine,
67 How Author after Author with his Tale
68Fills his fool Pages, and no more is seen.
XVIII
69They say that now Miss Myra Kelly reaps
70Rewards that Howells used to have for Keeps:
71 And Seton, that great Hunter of Wild Beasts
72Has Coin ahead; Cash comes to him in Heaps!
XIX
73I sometimes think that never Prose is read
74So good as that by Advertising bred,
75 And every Verse Sapolian poet sing
76Brings laurel wreaths once twin'd for Spenser's head.
XX
77And this audacious Author, young and green
78In Smart Set -- surely you know whom I mean --
79 Ah, look upon him lightly! for who knows
80But once in Lippincott's he wrote unseen!
XXI
81Ah, my Belovèd, write the Book that clears
82TO-DAY of dreary Debt and sad Arrears;
83 To-morrow! -- Why, To-morrow I may see
84My Nonsense popular as Edward Lear's.
XXII
85For some we've read, the month's Six Selling Best
86The Bookman scored with elephantine Jest,
87 Have sold a half a Million in a Year,
88Yet no one ever heard of them, out West!
XXIII
89And we, that now within the Editor's Room
90Make merry while we have our little Boom,
91 Ourselves must we give way to next month's Set --
92Girls with Three Names, who know not Who from Whom!
XXIV
93Ah, make the most of what we yet may do,
94Before our Royalties have vanish'd, too,
95 Book after Book, and under Book to lie,
96Sans Page, sans Cover, Reader -- or Review!
XXV
97Alike for those who for TO-DAY have Shame,
98And those who strive for some TO-MORROW's Fame,
99 A Critic from anonymous Darkness cries,
100"Fools, your Reward will fool you, just the Same!"
XXVI
101Why, e'en Marie Corelli, who discuss'd
102Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, is thrust
103 Like Elbert Hubbard forth; her Words to Scorn
104Are scatter'd, and her Books by Critics cussed.
XXVII
105Myself when young did eagerly peruse
106James, Meredith and Hardy -- but to lose
107 My Reason, trying to make Head or Tail;
108The more I read, the more did they confuse.
XXVIII
109With them the Germs of Madness did I sow,
110And with "Two Magics" sought to make it grow;
111 Yet this was all the Answer that I found --
112"What it is all about, I do not know!"
XXIX
113Into the Library, and Why not knowing,
114Nor What I Want, I find myself a-going;
115 And out of it, with Nothing fit to Read --
116Such is the Catalogue's anæmic Showing.
XXX
117What, without asking, to be hypotized
118Into a Sale of Stevenson disguised?
119 Oh, many a page of Bernard Shaw's last Play
120Must drown the thought of Novels Dramatized!
XXXI
121Up from the Country, into gay Broadway
122I came, and bought a Scribner's, yesterday,
123 And many a Tale I read and understood,
124But not the master-tale of Kipling's "They."
XXXII
125There was a Plot to which I found no Key;
126And Others seem to be as Dull as Me;
127 Some little talk there was of Ghosts, and Such,
128Then Mrs. Bathurst left me more at Sea!
XXXIII
129Kim could not answer -- Sherlock Holmes would fail --
130The most enlightened Browningite turn pale
131 In futile Wonder and in blank Dismay;
132Say, is there ANY Meaning to that Tale?
XXXIV
133Then of the Critic, he who works behind
134The Author's back, I tried the Clue to find;
135 But he, too, was in Darkness; and I heard
136A Literary Agent say -- "THEY ALL ARE BLIND!"
XXXV
137Then, from the lips of Editor, I learn,
138"This Story is the Kind for which I Yearn;
139 Its Advertising brought us such Renown,
140We jumped Three Hundred Thousand, on that Turn!"
XXXVI
141I think the man exaggerated some
142His increased Circulation, -- but, I vum!
143 If I could get Two Thousand for one Tale,
144I'd write him Something that would simply Hum!
XXXVII
145For I remember, shopping by the way,
146I saw a Novel writ by Bertha Clay;
147 And there was scrawled across its Title-Page,
148"This is the Stuff that Sells -- so People say!"
XXXVIII
149Listen -- a moment listen! -- Of the same
150Wood-pulp on which is printed Hewlett's Name,
151 The "Duchess" Books are made -- in fifty years
152They both will rot asunder -- who's to Blame?"
XXXIX
153And not a Book that from our Shelves we throw
154To the Salvation Army, but shall go
155 To vitiate the Taste of some poor Soul
156Who can get nothing else to read -- go Slow!
XL
157As then the Poet for his morning Sup
158Fills with a Metaphor his mental Cup,
159 Do you devoutly read your Manuscripts
160That Someone may, before you burn them up!
XLI
161Perplex'd no more with editorial "Nay"
162To-morrow's Reputation cast away,
163 And lose your College Education in
164The flippant, foolish Fiction of To-day.
XLII
165And if the Bosh you write, the Trash you read,
166End in the Garbage Barrel -- take no Heed;
167 Think that you are no worse than other Scribes,
168Who scribble Stuff to meet the Public Need.
XLIII
169So, when WHO'S-WHO records your silly Name,
170You'll think that you have found the Road to Fame;
171 And though ten thousand other Names are there,
172You'll fancy you're a Genius, just the Same!
XLIV
173Why, if an Author can fling Art aside,
174And in a Book of Balderdash take Pride,
175 Wer't not a Shame -- wer't not a Shame for him
176A Conscientious Novel to have tried?
XLV
177Writing's a Trade where Newspapers pay best;
178LeGallienne this Verity confess'd;
179 So join the Union, like the rest of us --
180Who strikes for Art is looked at as a Jest.
XLVI
181And fear not, if the Editor refuse
182Your work, he has no more from which to choose;
183 The Literary Microbe shall bring forth
184Millions of Manuscripts too bad to use.
XLVII
185When Fitch's Comedies have all gone past,
186Oh, the long Time Pinero's plays shall last,
187 Which of Belasco's little Triumphs heed
188As Frohman's Self should heed a Bowery Cast!
XLVIII
189A Moment's Halt -- Pray see this charming, chaste
190Ladies' Home Journal -- "On the New Skirt Waist" --
191 "Advice to Girls," and so forth -- here is reach'd
192The Nothing women yearn for, undebased!
XLIX
193Would you a hurried Lunch Hour wish to spend
194About THE SECRET -- hearken to me, Friend!
195 The Editors themselves must guess their Way --
196And on their Wives' and Sisters' Hints depend!
L
197A Hair perhaps divides the Good from Bad;
198And Bok himself a Lot of Trouble had
199 Before he found Stenographers were Wise --
200Then, as they laughed or wept, his Soul was glad.
LI
201The Woman's Touch runs through our Magazines;
202For her the Home-and-Mother Tale, and Scenes
203 Of Love-and-Action, Happy at the End --
204The same old Plots, the same old Ways and Means.
LII
205The Theme once guess'd, the Tale's as good as told,
206Though Dialect and Local Color mould;
207 This Style will last throughout Eternity,
208While Women buy our Books -- if Books are sold.
LIII
209But if, in spite of this, you build a Plot
210Which these immortal Elements has not,
211 You gaze TO-DAY upon a Slip, which reads:
212"The Editor Regrets" -- and such-like Rot.
LIV
213Waste not your Ink, and don't attempt to use
214That Subtle Touch which Editors refuse;
215 Better be jocund at two cents a word
216Than, starving, court an ill-requited Muse!
LV
217You know, my Friends, I've done with Purple Cows,
218And long to sober Fiction paid my Vows;
219 Spontaneous Glee is mighty hard to Sell --
220'Twas Carolyn Wells that shot across my Bows.
LVI
221For Stuff and Nonsense being in my Line,
222As Nonsense modern Fiction I define;
223 But of the sort that one would care for, I
224Can find but Little -- and that Little's mine!
LVII
225Ah, but this wholesale Satire, you may say,
226Makes me pretend to be a Critic -- Nay!
227 Rather be roasted than to roast, say I;
228And I have been well roasted, by the way!
LVIII
229And lately, in a Studio, a Miss
230Sat smiling o'er a Book -- and it was this:
231 "The Pipes of Pan" -- she showed it me, and read,
232Bidding me pay attention -- it was Bliss!
LIX
233Bliss Carman, who with genius absolute,
234My poor satiric Logic can confute;
235 The only Poet who, in modern Days,
236His Poems can to clinking Gold transmute!
LX
237The vagrant Singer, how does he, good Lord,
238Compete with such a money-making Horde
239 Of tinsel rhymesters that infest the Shops?
240They say he makes enough to pay his Board!
LXI
241Why, be our Talent truly Art, how dare
242Refuse our Lucubrations everywhere?
243 And if it's Rot, as our Rejections hint,
244God knows the things they print are Rot, for Fair!
LXII
245I must abjure Dramatic Force, I must
246Take the Sub-Editor's decree on Trust,
247 Or, lured by hope of selling something Good,
248Write out my Heart -- then burn it in Disgust!
LXIII
249Oh, threats of Failure, hopes of Royalties!
250One thing at least I've sold -- these Parodies;
251 One thing is certain, Satire always sells;
252The Roast is read, no matter where it is.
LXIV
253Strange, is it not? that of the Authors who
254Publish in England, such a mighty Few
255 Make a Success, though here they score a Hit?
256The British Public knows a Thing or Two!
LXV
257By Revelations of the Past we've learn'd
258The Yankee Author usually is burn'd;
259 All of our Story Writers say the Same;
260The London Critic all their Books have spurn'd.
LXVI
261I sent my Agent where the Buyers dwell,
262Some clever Stories of my own to sell:
263 And by and by the Agent said to me,
264"One thing I sold -- that's doing Mighty Well!"
LXVII
265So Heaven seems tame indeed when I behold
266Editions of Five Hundred Thousand sold;
267 When Clippings show how Critics scorch me, then
268Hell's Roasting seems comparatively Cold!
LXVIII
269We are no other than a passing Show
270Of clumsy Mountebanks that come and go
271 To please the General Public; now, who gave
272To IT the right to judge, I'd like to know?
LXIX
273Impotent Writers bound to feed ITS taste
274For Literature and Poetry debased;
275 Hither and thither pandering we strive,
276And one by one our Talents are disgraced.
LXX
277The Scribe no question makes of Verse or Prose,
278But what the Editor demands he shows;
279 And he who buys three thousand words of Drule,
280He knows what People want -- you Bet He knows!
LXXI
281The facile Scribbler writes; and, having writ,
282No Rules of Rhetoric bother him a Bit,
283 Or lure him back to cancel half a Line,
284Nor Grammar's protests change a Word of it.
LXXII
285And though you wring your Hands and wonder Why
286Such slipshod Work the Magazines will buy,
287 Don't grumble at the Editor, for he
288Must serve the Public, e'en as You and I.
LXXIII
289With Puck's first joke, they did the last Life feed,
290And there of Judge's Stories sowed the Seed:
291 And the first jokelet that Joe Miller wrote
292The Sunday Comic-Section readers read.
LXXIV
293YESTERDAY This Day's popular Song supplants;
294TO-MORROW'S will be even worse, perchance:
295 Drink! For the latest Coon-Song's floating by:
296Drink! Now the music is an Indian Dance!
LXXV
297I tell you this -- When, started from the Goal,
298The first Plantation Ditty 'gan to roll
299 Through Minstrel Troupes and Negro Baritones
300In its predestined race from Pole to Pole,
LXXVI
301The Song had caught a Rag-Time girls could shout
302And Piano-Organs make a Din about;
303 But syncopated Melodies at last
304Will pass away, and more shall come, no doubt.
LXXVII
305And this I know: though Vaudeville delight,
306Musical Comedy can bore me quite;
307 One act of Ibsen from the Gallery caught,
308Better than Daly for a festal Night!
LXXVIII
309What! out of senseless Show-Girls to evoke
310A Drama? Surely, I resent the Joke!
311 For me, it is not Pleasure, but a Pain --
312An Everlasting Bore for decent Folk.
LXXIX
313What, must the Theatre Manager be paid --
314Our Gold for what his Carpenter has made --
315 Must we pay Stars we never did Contract,
316And cannot hiss at? -- Oh, the sorry trade!
LXXX
317Oh Thou, who dost with cool sarcastic Grin
318Scorn the poor Magazine my Story's in,
319 Though Thou impute to ignorance my Work,
320I know how bad 't will be, ere I begin!
LXXXI
321Oh Thou, whose Taste demandeth silly Tales,
322Damning the Author when he Tries and Fails,
323 Let us toss up to see which one is Worse --
324Thy Fault or mine -- Which is it, Heads or Tails?
* * * * *
LXXXII
325As, for his Luncheon Hour, away had slipp'd
326The Editor, his Office-Boy I tipp'd,
327 And once again before the Sacred Desk
328I stood, surrounded by much Manuscript.
LXXXIII
329Manuscripts of all Sizes, great and small,
330Upon that Desk, in Numbers to appall!
331 And Some looked very interesting; some
332I saw no Sign of Merit in, at all.
LXXXIV
333Said one among them -- "Surely not in vain
334My Author has exhausted all his Brain
335 In writing me, to be rejected here --
336I'd hate to have to be sent back again!"
LXXXV
337Then said a Second -- "Ne'er a Girl or Boy
338Such Stuff as I am really could enjoy:
339 Yet He who wrote me, when I am return'd,
340Will me with Curse and bitter Wrath destroy!"
LXXXVI
341After a literary Silence spake
342A Manuscript of Henry James's make;
343 "They sneer at me for being so occult:
344But Kipling's found such Stuff is going to Take!"
LXXXVII
345Whereat some one of the typewritten Lot --
346I think it was Cy Brady's -- waxing hot --
347 "All this of Shop and Patter -- Tell me then,
348Who buys -- Who reads -- the Stuff that boils my Pot?"
LXXXVIII
349"Why," said another, "Some there are who tell
350Of one who threatens he will toss to Hell
351 The luckless Tales he marr'd in making -- Pish!
352He's a blamed Fool, Any Old Thing will sell!"
LXXXIX
353"Well," murmur'd one, "Let whoso write or buy,
354My words with long Oblivion are gone dry:
355 But bind me new, let Christy illustrate,
356Methinks I'd sell at Christmas time; I'll try!"
XC
357So while the Manuscripts were wisely speaking,
358The Editor came in whom I was seeking:
359 And then they signall'd to me, "Brother! Brother!
360Yours is rejected! You had best be sneaking!"
* * * * *
XCI
361Though Carnegie for Literature provide,
362He tombs a Body whence the Life has died,
363 And no one seems to turn a single leaf
364Upon the unfrequented Classic side,
XCII
365Unless to see some First Edition rare,
366Or curious styles of Binding to compare;
367 Art's True believers know their Aldus well,
368But of the Authur bound, are unaware!
XCIII
369Indeed, Rare Books that they have yearn'd for long
370Have done their Literary Taste much wrong:
371 Reprints of Burton will not sell to-day
372(I mean the stupid Burton) for a Song!
XCIV
373Indeed, such First Editions oft before
374I envied, but they proved to be a Bore.
375 Why, are not Tenth Editions still more rare?
376Mine are! Why are they not worth even more?
XCV
377And much as Art has play'd the Infidel
378And robb'd me of my Royalties -- Ah, well,
379 I often wonder what the Women read
380One half as clever as the Stuff I sell!
XCVI
381Yet Ah, that Spring should come to bring our Woes!
382That Christmas Season's Sales should ever close!
383 The Book whose praises loud the Critic sang,
384Is not the one that sells the most, God knows!
XCVII
385Would but these Book Reviewers ever yield
386One glimpse -- if dimly, yet indeed, reveal'd
387 Of what the fainting Traveller can read
388Worth reading -- but the Critic's eyes are seal'd.
XCVIII
389Would but some wingèd Angel bring the News
390Of Critic who reads Books that he Reviews!
391 And make the stern Reviewer do as well
392Himself, before he Meed of Praise refuse!
XCIX
393Ah, Love! could you and I perchance succeed
394In boiling down the Million Books we read
395 Into One Book, and edit that a Bit --
396There'd be a WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE, indeed!
* * * * *
C
397Oh, rising Author, read Me once again
398Before my Memory gradually wane!
399 How oft hereafter you may look for me
400In this same Library -- and look in vain!
CI
401And when, dear Reader, you shall chance to spend
402A night within The Hall of Fame -- attend!
403 If, in that blissful call, you find the Spot
404Where I broke in -- don't turn me down, my friend!
Notes
1] Title: after Edward Fitzgerald's "Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám" (1859).
Cayenne: pungent pepper.
Hack: paid writer, a literary drudge named after the hackney, a run-down horse for hire.
2] Shakespere: an old spelling of Shakespeare's name.
3] Penny-a-liner: a writer paid one cent for every line produced.
7] Dumas: Alexandre Dumas (1803-70), well-known still for a multitude of historical fictions such as Les Trois Mousquetaires and Comte de Monte-Cristo.
Scott: Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), better known for historical novels like Rob Roy (1817), The Heart of Midlothian (1818), and Ivanhoe (1819) than for his poems.
8] Tyros: beginners (Latin).
14] Calendars: illustrated almanacs or yearbooks.
17] Harum: Edward Noyes Westcott's novel, David Harum: A Story of American Life (1898), a story of a country banker and his folk wisdom in Homeville, New York.
Lady Rose: perhaps the popular English novel, Lady Rose's Daughter (1903), by Mrs. Humphrey Ward (1851-1920).
18] Janice Meredith: A Story of the American Revolution (1899), a novel by Paul Leicester Ford (1865-1902).
21] Aldrich: Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907), former editor of Atlantic Monthly from 1881 to 1890 and freelance author of short stories and popular novels like The Story of a Bad Boy (1870).
36] The Pit: a novel by Frank Norris (1870-1902) about a wealthy trader in futures and his neglected wife.
Mrs. Wiggs: Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1902), a children's novel by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice (1870-1942) about a district in her native Louisville, Kentucky. All these novels were runaway successes.
38] The History of Sir Richard Calmady: A Romance (1901) by Lucas Malet, the nom-de-plume of Mary St. Leger Kingsley Harrison (1852-1931), whose hero was physically handicapped, ugly, and sexually popular.
Emmy Lou: Emmy Lou: Her Book and Heart (1902), a children's book by George Madden Martin.
39] Ade: George Ade (1866-1944), co-author with John T. McCutcheon of a popular daily column in the Chicago Record, "Stories of the Streets and of the Town."
Dooley: a fictional Irish saloon keeper in Chicago, made famous by Peter Dunne (1867-1936), as a journalist for the Chicago Journal, and in Mr. Dooley in Peace and War (1898) and other novels.
guy: mock, make fun of.
40] Ella Wheeler Wilcox: popular American poet.
43] Poe: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), American short story writer and poet. Dickens: Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist and occasional poet.
44] Thackeray: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-63), English novelist most famous for his Vanity Fair (1847-48).
47] North-south New York City thoroughfare.
49] The World: a London journal that began in 1753, edited by Robert Dodsley.
50] Boston Transcript: a nineteenth-century journal, The Boston Evening Transcript, better known for its impact on American life than from T. S. Eliot's poem of the same name. See Joseph Edgar Chamberlin's The Boston Transcript: A History of its First Hundred Years (1930).
51] Not identified, although different candidate newspapers will suggest themselves.
52] Yellow Journalistic scum: "Applied to newspapers (or writers of newspaper articles) of a recklessly or unscrupulously sensational character. A use derived from the appearance in 1895 of a number of the New York World in which a child in a yellow dress (`The Yellow Kid') was the central figure of the cartoon, this being an experiment in colour-printing designed to attract purchasers" (OED "yellow" a. 3).
54] Booming: puffing relentlessly (OED "boom" v. 3).
57] The Story of Mary MacLane, by Herself (1902), a personal chronicle of the miseries of the upbringing of the author (1881-1929) in Butte, Montana.
61] Anthony Hope (1863-1933), novelist, well known for such adventure romances as The Prisoner of Zenda (1894).
62] Conan Doyle: Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), inventor of Sherlock Holmes, a character whose fame has lasted much longer than Burgess predicts here.
66] Soapette and Breakfastine: evidently neologisms of Burgess's making.
68] fool Pages: punning on "foolscap," long folio pages for writing.
69] Miss Myra Kelly: author (1876-1910) of Little Citizens: The Humors of School Life (1904).
70] Howells: William Dean Howells (1837-1920), erstwhile editor of Harper's and Atlantic Monthly, prolific author of criticism, novels, plays, poems, short stories, and travel literature.
71] Seton: Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946), Canadian writer of animal stories who used a pseudonym, Black Wolf, and founder of the Boy Scouts.
75] Sapolian: an allusion to Sappho?
76] Spenser: Edmund Spenser, English Renaissance poet of The Faerie Queene.
78] Smart Set: Smart Set: A Magazine of Cleverness. Burgess may be alluding to himself here. (1900-30).
80] Lippincott's: Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (Philadelphia, 1868-1916).
84] Edward Lear: the English Victorian poet (1812-88) who invented nonsense verse.
86] The Bookman: a London journal (1891-1934) edited by W.R. Nicoll.
92] Who from Whom: the nominative from the accusative cases.
101] Marie Corelli: pseudonym for Mary "Minnie" MacKay (1855-1924), prolific novelist reputed to have been the best-selling author in the world for three decades, thanks to melodramatic subjects depicted in overblown purple prose.
103] Elbert Hubbard: essayist and novelist (1856-1915), founder of the Roycroft Press, and one destined to die on The Lusitania in World War I.
106] Three novelists, the American Henry James (1843-1916), who had just brought out his last great novels, The Wings of the Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903), and The Golden Bowl (1904); and the English novelists and poets George Meredith and Thomas Hardy.
110] James' The Turn of the Screw was originally published in a collection entitled The Two Magics (1898).
118] Stevenson: perhaps Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94).
119] Bernard Shaw: George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Anglo-Irish playwright and critic.
122] Scribner's: a publisher of fine fiction.
124] Kipling's "They": Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) published his short stories "They" (about a father's grief for his dead child) and "Mrs. Bathurst" (about a New Zealand pub-keeper and her relations with a naval officer) in Traffics and Discoveries (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1904).
129] Kipling's Kim (1901), his most popular novel, of a young man who serves as a British spy in India.
130] Browningite: someone devoted to the poems of the English poet, Robert Browning (1812-89).
142] vum: "vow," swear.
146] Bertha Clay: nom-de-plume of Frederic (Merrill) Van Rensselaer Dey (1865-1922), creator of the American detective Nick Carter stories.
150] Hewlett: perhaps Maurice Hewlett (1861-1923), well known for romantic and historical novels set in the Middle Ages, including The Forest Lovers (1898).
151] "Duchess" books: unidentified.
178] Richard Le Gallienne (1866-1947).
185] Fitch: William Clyde Fitch (1865-1909), very popular American playwright, writing or adapting more than 55 plays in his career.
186] Pinero: Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934), whose best-known plays include The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1893) and Trelawny of the Wells (1898).
187] Belasco: David Belasco (1853-1931), one of the greatest figures of the American stage, actor, director, playwright, producer. Puccini adapted his play, Madame Butterfly (1900), into the famous opera of the same name in 1904.
188] Frohman: New York theatre impresario.
198] Bok: Edward W. Bok (1863-1930), editor of the Ladies' Home Journal
220] Carolyn Wells: writer of children's books, editor and poet of nonsense verse (1869?-1942), who brought out A Nonsense Anthology in five volumes from Scribner's in New York City from 1902 to 1907.
231] A Canadian poet from the maritimes, Bliss Carman brought out The Pipes of Pan in five volumes from 1902 to 1905.
242] Lucubrations: over-elaborated literary work, associated with night-time labours.
279] Drule: drivel, spittle.
281] Cf. "Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám," line 201.
289] Puck: the merry prankster of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream .
290] Judge's Stories: not identified.
291] Joe Miller (1684-1750), of Joe Miller's Jests, or, The Wit's Vade-mecum.
295] Coon-Song: conventional negro-song popularized by black-face showmen such as the Christy Minstrels (OED "coon" n. 4b).
307] Ibsen: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), the great Norwegian dramatist whose A Doll's House (1879) jump-started modern drama.
308] Daly: Carroll John Daly (1889-1958), who created the Race Williams detective stories and was a well-known American theatre owner.
346] Cy Brady: unidentified.
348] I.e., the "potboilers" he publishes.
355] Christy: unidentified.
361] Carnegie: Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919), American industrialist and philantropist.
367] Aldus: Aldus Manutius (1449-1515), Venetian printer who founded the Aldine Press, from which came the first editions of many classical Greek authors.
371] Burton: perhaps Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-90), translator of the Arabian Nights.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Gelett Burgess, The Rubaiyat of Omar Cayenne (New York: Frederick A Stokes, 1904).
First publication date:
December
1904
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2003
Recent editing: 1:2003/7/5*1:2003/7/5
Rhyme: aaba
Other poems by Gelett Burgess
