To treat the same theme in metre and rhyme will be a much more
difficult matter. The great thing will be to avoid getting _mud_ at
the end of a line, for the reasons already given. We had better have
long ten-syllable lines, and we had better have four of them in each
verse. GRAY wrote an elegy in that metre which has given general
satisfaction. We will begin:--

As I came down through Chintonbury Hole
The tide rolled out from Wurzel to the sea.

In a serious poem of this kind it is essential to establish a locality
atmosphere at once; therefore one mentions a few places by name to
show that one has been there. If the reader has been there too he will
like the poem, and if he hasn't no harm is done. The only thing is
that locally Chintonbury is probably pronounced Chun'bury, in which
case it will not scan. One cannot be too careful about that sort of
thing. However, as an illustration Chintonbury will serve.

It is now necessary to show somehow in this verse that the poem is
about mud; it is also necessary to organise a rhyme for 'Hole' and a
rhyme for 'sea,' and of the two this is the more important. I shall do
it like this:--

And like the unclothed levels of my soul
The yellow mud lay mourning nakedly.

There is a good deal to be said against these two lines. For one thing
I am not sure that the mud ought to be yellow; it will remind people
of Covent Garden Tube Station, and no one wants to be reminded of
that. However, it does suggest the inexpressible biliousness of the
theme.

I think "levels" is a little weak. It is a good poetical word and
doesn't mean anything in particular; but we have too many words of
that kind in this verse. "Deserts" would do, except that deserts and
mud don't go very well together. However, that sort of point must be
left to the individual writer.

At first sight the student may think that "naked_ly_" is not a good
rhyme for "sea." Nor is it. If you do that kind of thing in comic
poetry no editor will give you money. But in serious poetry it is
quite legitimate; in fact it is rather encouraged. That is why serious
poetry is so much easier than comic poetry. In my next lecture I shall
deal with comic poetry.

I don't think I shall finish this poem now. The fact is, I am not
feeling so inspired as I was. It is very hot. Besides, I have got
hay-fever and keep on sneezing. Constant sneezing knocks all the
inspiration out of a man. At the same time a tendency to hay-fe