Judge, 1928-07-14 · page 17 of 36
Judge — July 14, 1928 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the commercialization of poetry through a fake "instant success" guide. The upper cartoon shows tiny roadsters circling a judge's gavel—likely mocking frivolous automobiles and litigation culture of the era. The main satire is "Any One of You Can Be a Poet!"—a mock instructional piece by "Prof. A. R. 'Cal' Perkins, Licensed Poet." It ridicules get-rich-quick schemes by claiming anyone can write profitable poetry if they simply use rhyming words. The joke targets both: 1. **Aspiring poets** tempted by promises of easy money from verse-writing 2. **Commercial poetry culture** that reduced art to formulaic rhyme-making for profit The contrast between the struggling poet (unable to rhyme difficult words like "gargle" and "silver") and the successful one (writing "a thousand profitable poems a day") satirizes how shallow, mechanistic versification replaces genuine literary craft. The absurd "$10,000" reward for finding rhymes mocks dubious literary contests and schemes common in early 20th-century magazines.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
=a) aN sf Ownxrn—The nice thing about these little rocdsters—you can slip in and out of Any One of You Can Be a Poet! A Helpful Guide to Instant Literary Success Pror. A. R. (¢ AL”) Perkins Licensed Poet The poetry it is often j ting big; profit beginni ns, literally millions, éan be made out of poctry. ‘That is, provided it is the ri sort of poetry. The right sort of poetry is poetry that hymes—and right here is w the majority ill down and miss the big money that right- fully should be their They get to working on a poem and suddenly come to ax fi racket or game, as Hed, is get- r, better, e every day. People x to realize that mill and more of pocts which there is no rhyme ave te on that poem y rifice of hundreds and hun- dreds of dollars profit. It is to remedy this condition that the authors of this treatise-dictionary have become the authors of this treatise-dictior The purpos gling pocts that there is not a word in any language for which a rhyme can not be found! Think of it! You can write your pocms id to show strug- ny words you choose ways find rhymes for then traffic so easily. iar—T'm going that you'll fall for me, To prove that this is no idle boast, five words have been selected—the five English words that are the hardest to find rhymes for and that have caused the downfall of more incipient poets, than any other five words in any other five la ces. These words Q Silver, Pantry, and Spectacle — wor F Gargle, Market, that should be in every poem but to the layman seem ter ribly hard to rhyme, By following’ the new. system, vou will find these words, and al/ others, remarkably easy to rhyme. The words that rhyme with these five given on this page and also are completely illustrated Correct’ rhymes for any other words will be supplied promptly of charge on receipt of 0,000, Poet Workin r the Old System. Note His Ditlculty in Locating Rhymes. me Poet Working the He Finds Rhymes. for at Will and Writes pusand — Profitable Poems a Day. w : —To Swat Flies on an Old Male Lion. comicbooks.com