Poetry Pleases: A Satirical Look At Adjectives
In this poem David Bennett has a thoughtful look at the way we use adjectives.
Keep it simple, that’s the rule.
Don’t let adjectives play the fool
With words that never dim with age,
So keep embellishment off the page.
My Dad worked down the pit,
You know, a pit, a hole with coal,
But was it dark and dreadful,
Damp and dangerous?
No! It was just a pit,
A place where men spit out their lungs,
Sweated and died for our benefit.
But that’s what pits are
So what’s the point of saying it?
Take Ellie, that lovely child,
Sorry! That child, with eyes so bright
She turns the darkness into light.
With hair as golden as the sun
So all the phantoms of the night
Are gone, and vanish from her sight.
But no! Her eyes are eyes, that’s it.
They’re in her head, where they seem to fit.
And her hair. The loveliest you have ever seen?
Rubbish! Her hair lacks pigment. Melanin deficient.
Keratin bound strands of protein.
What beauty is there in that?
Just call it hair and be done with it.
The dark, dreamy light of evening,
Made golden by the sleepy sun,
Enfolds the rose-tipped clouds
As they drift along the greying sky.
It’s no good. I feel a sickness coming on.
Let’s choke this maudlin’ prate,
Get off ’t’ Club and have some fun.
It’s only dusk, for heaven’s sake.
