Vain Words



Humble, surely, mine ambition;
It is merely to construct
Some occasion or condition
When I may say "usufruct."

Ernest am I and assiduous;
Yet I'm certain that I shan't amount
To a lot till I use "viduous,"
"Indiscerptible," and "tantamount."

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

13 sec read
195

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CDCD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 248
Words 46
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4

Franklin P. Adams

Franklin Pierce Adams was an American columnist known as Franklin P. Adams and by his initials F. P. A.. Famed for his wit, he is best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please. A prolific writer of light verse, he was a member of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s. more…

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    "Vain Words" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Dec. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/14189/vain-words>.

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