An Appreciative Audience

Ringgold Wilmer Lardner 1885 (Niles, Michigan) – 1933 (East Hampton, New York)



My son, I wish that it were half
As easy to extract a laugh
From grown-ups as from thee.
Then I'd go on the stage, my boy,
While Richard Carle and Eddie Foy
Burned up with jealousy.
  
I wouldn't have to rack my brain
Or lie awake all night in vain
Pursuit of brand new jokes;
Nor fear my lines were heard with groans
Of pain and sympathetic moans
From sympathetic folks.
  
I'd merely have to make a face,
Just twist a feature out of place,
And be the soul of wit;
Or bark, and then pretend to bite,
And, from the screams of wild delight,
Be sure I'd made a hit.
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Submitted on August 03, 2020

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
8

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB DDEFFE GGHIIH
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 546
Words 114
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6

Ringgold Wilmer Lardner

Ringgold Wilmer "Ring" Lardner (March 5, 1885 – September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical writings on sports, marriage, and the theatre. His contemporaries Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all professed strong admiration for his writing.  more…

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