Tribute to William Soutar 1898-1943
A Perthshire Lad William Soutar
William S* showed a poetic voice
the quatrain form,his choice
he named a whigmaleerie
became a lasting legacy
Wiliam Soutar famed for his 119 American cinquains(which he labelled epigrams) also wrote whigmaleeries for children .
In dialect and lyric William’s
poetry soon found fame.
Whims and fanciful notions
these whigmaleerie were known.
Less popular yet, equally unique
verse in English, oh so terse. This
genre , American cinquain consolidated
a reputation,once again.
Grew to manhood on the river Tay,
Writing poems ,most every day;
Cinquains,epigrams, whigmaleerie-
& His diary of a dying man,left
Telling observations, for all to see.
A Perthshire Lad
Grew to manhood on the river Tay,
Writing poems ,most every day;
Cinquains,epigrams,whigmaleerie-
His diary of a dying man,left
Telling observations, for all to see.
Tribute to William Soutar
NOTE:AMERICAN CINQUAIN (an imagist stressed version)WAS DEVISED BY ADELAIDE CRAPSEY (William Soutar Epigrams are a similar wordplay form)
Tribute to William Soutar
Grew to manhood on the river Tay,
Writing poems ,most every day;
Cinquains,epigrams,whigmaleerie-
His diary of a dying man,left
Telling observations, for all to see.
A cinquain in Soutar style
Desire
welled within-
words became a promise
so sublime,to love now and for
all time.
William.Soutar 'WHIGMALEERIE'
))
))
(f f f f f )
( o o o o o )
( o o o o o )
( t t t t t )
( l l l l l)
(e e e e e)
(...........)
William had a whinging wife.
William was a fool.
When she begged him for some water,
For too wet her whistle.
William tossed her in the pool.
William’s wife Wilma,
Looked at life quite starkly.
She whimpered and she whined.
While William was the whimsical kind;
Full of whigmaleerie and malarkey.
William had the wherewithal,
Which made them quite wealthy.
Wilma was no whiffler,
And didn’t merely whinny.
She whinged about her William and his methodology.
I have a strange malady
curiously effecting me
for I am very susceptible
to words of a variety
Words like cushlamachree
or hobbledehoy
give me such joy...
that my brain begins burbling
at a fantastic rate
things like bamboozle, bumfuzzle
blatteroon, and bombinate!
Bogged down in boondoggled
bedraggled, beware
I'm not making sense
and I really don't care!
Gushing galoot, galumph, galore
something inside crying
more, More, MORE!!!
I'm an insatiable verbavore!
Flippantly tripping through
flibbertigibbet, flumadiddle
filipendulous to the stupendous
sounds of mellifluous eutony
I am getting so tongue-tied here
my mouth is in mutiny!
But, oh my Dearie-
there's whigmaleerie
wifty, whimsical...
mugwump, moppet
words keep wheeling through my head
'though silly, I can't stop it!
For there's slubberdegullion
mollycoddle, hobgoblin
and gumption, too!
With all the splendiferous words about...
what's a logoleptic to do?
William S* showed a poetic voice
the quatrain form,his choice
he named a whigmaleerie
became a lasting legacy
* William Souter ,also famed along with Adelaide Crapsey for the popularity of the American Cinquain
A SOUTAR EKPHRASIS
In dialect and lyric William’s
poetry soon found fame.
Whims and fanciful notions
these whigmaleerie were known.
Less popular yet, equally unique
verse in English, oh so terse. This
genre , American cinquain consolidated
a reputation,once again.
Tribute to William Soutar 1898-1943
Listen to this ekphrasis recited on youtube under my pen name ichthyschiro on youtube
Grew to manhood on the river Tay,
Writing poems ,most every day;
Cinquains,epigrams,whigmaleerie-
His diary of a dying man,left
Telling observations, for all to see.
Tribute to William Soutar
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.