CLERIHEWS ON THE ROMANTIC-PERIOD WOMEN POETS
 by Nan Sweet



     In homage to that great practitioner of the literary
     clerihew, W.H. Auden (Homage to Clio, Academic Graffiti).



Charlotte Smith
Was no maker of myth.
She meant everything she said
While walking round Beachy Head.


Jane Taylor
Was no sailor.
She only got so far
As to wish upon a star.


Hannah More
Knew the score:
Slavery was a sin,
But humility was in.


Felicia Hemans
Was no Samuel Clemens.
Any small boys who acted like bores
She turned into Spaniards and Moors.


Although she posed for Gainsborough,
Who was so painfully thorough,
Mary Robinson told no tales
About the Prince of Wales.


Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Packed a quixotic cargo:
She put morals in Coleridge's "Rime"
And bubbles in her own "Washing-Time."


Mary Tighe
Was often quite high.
She was equally happy as "Psyche"
Or dancing around in one Nike.


It doesn't take a Yalie
To figure out Joanna Baillie.
She had her own Theory of the Passions
Which she dispensed in ladylike rations.


Copyright 1996 Nanora Sweet