Poems by John Gay
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Authors
Gay, John
Issue Date
1925
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Abstract
This is an unspectacular little book of Gay's poems. A beginning T of C on xiii lays out the sections: "Rural Sports"; "The Fan"; "The Shepherd's Week"; "Trivia"; Fables"; "Eclogues": and "Ballads, Songs and Miscellaneous Verses." One surprise is that a alphabetical index follows the 30 or so pages of "Trivia." Several things have caught my eye. First, in the biographical note facing Page 1, we read "His life was one of small incident." Wow! Perhaps I write too many letters of recommendation, but I find that statement about any public figure surprising! At the other end of the book, I notice "My Own Epitaph": "Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once; but now I know it" (242). I also notice, a page earlier, "Ay and No: A Fable." I find it a clever bit of interaction that ends with "No" saying "Ay" for the first time, the two parting with kisses, and fighting "e'er since for pay like Swisses"! The ornaments here are generally just that, with perhaps the good exception being the skeleton supporting that closing epitaph.
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Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd.
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12171 (Access ID)