Famous Single Poems
there that they differ so radically from "A Visit from St. Nicholas," which, very evidently, was not composed carefully and correctly at all, but bubbled up in high spirits from the inspiration of the moment.
Only one other poem in the book bears any discoverable resemblance to "A Visit from St. Nicholas." That is an effusion called "The Pig and the Rooster," and a sub-title states that "the following piece of fun was occasioned by a subject for composition given to the boys of a grammar school attended by one of my sons—viz.: 'Which are to be preferred, the pleasures of a pig or a chicken?'" It starts off as follows:
On a warm sunny day, in the midst of July,
A lazy young pig lay stretched out in his sty,
Like some of his betters, most solemnly thinking
That the best things on earth are good eating and drinking.
These four lines are the best in the poem, which, as a whole, is vastly inferior to "A Visit from St. Nicholas," and entirely lacking in the spontaneity and sprightly fancy which make the latter so delightful. But it at least proves that Dr. Moore could, when he wished, write very passable anapæsts—a meter which he would naturally not employ for the didactic poems to which he was generally addicted.
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