Judge, 1918-12-07 · page 5 of 32
Judge — December 7, 1918 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis: "How to Write a Christmas Poem—In One Lesson" This is a humorous instructional article by Harry Irving Shumway teaching readers to compose Christmas verse. The piece satirizes sentimental holiday poetry by providing a formula using predictable rhyming words: "folly," "holly," "Yuletide," "bloke," and "mistletoe." The satire lies in Shumway's tongue-in-cheek approach—he acknowledges these are clichéd devices while demonstrating their inevitable effectiveness. The example poem ("Oh, darling love, accept this folly") exemplifies overwrought sentimentality Judge's readers would recognize in contemporary Christmas verse. The illustration showing various social classes reading the poem—from wealthy gentlemen to working families—suggests such verses appealed across society despite their formulaic nature. This is gentle social satire about mass-produced sentiment and holiday commercialism.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
G How to Write a Christmas Poem—In One Lesson By Harry OULD you like to give your wife an original poem for her Christmas present? Or, if you are a wife, would you not love to present your husband with a bit of your own hand-m verse? It will show your thoughtfulne: strate that you have the artistic temperament cost you nothi You say you cannot wri Oh, ves you can. The following easy and method will teach you in one lesson. the first essential is words that rhyme. So let us garner a few choice words with a Christmas flavor. Holly, Yuletide, snow, merry, mistletoe, evergreen, present, diamond ring, set of furs, check, broke. There are others, of course, but these will do for an experiment. They are all words applicable to the holiday—especially the last one. Let us suppose that you are a wife and you want to give your husband a nice verse for his Christmas gift. We start: Oh, darling love, accept this folly, You see the cleverness of using the word “folly.” It gives you a chance to bring in its rhyme “holly.” Also it shows you are not conceited about your work. The first three words play up the heart interest. Now the second line Bedecked with Yuletide’s pretty holly, What could be sweeter than that? Now we have two delightful lines, showing sentiment, color and the spirit of the time. For the third line let us be a little more practical. If furs you see, my darling bloke, demon- and ¢ verse: complete Drown by Axovs MacDoxats Reapinc From Lert to Ricut—Tue Orpver or Tueir Importance Irvinc Suumway sme of you will object to the word “bloke but this is poetic license. You can call your hus- band a bloke in a poem, when you might not get away with itat any other time. ‘The word is neces- sary to the last lir I hope it is before you're broke And there is your little verse complete. This ou to be productive of good results. Now, if you ar man and wish to send your wife a verse, proceed in the same manner. We commence: Merry Christmas, my scveetest pet, If that does not get her, then she is indeed stony- hearted. A little Yuletide salve like this will go a long way toward making her fall for the rest. Be careful, dear, and don’t get wet, This line shows your thoughtfulness about her. It may take her mind off the furs she is thinking about, although that is doubttul. The two lines read together are very sweet and tender. If you should die, I'd sob and blubber, Showing graphically how fond you are of her. If you can get her to shed a few tears here, it will make the last line go great. So wear these boots of para rubber. Of course, there are other ways of writing Christma poems. You can put holly berries in cocktails instead of cherries, and drink enough of them to write some highly spirited verse. But most of us poets use the above method. Don’t attempt the highbrow thing; you may bust yourlyre. Be natural, even if you don’t know a strophe froma razor-strop. ‘Try it out on your think tank and a Merry Christmas to you it a comicbooks.com