by Coleridge · Cluster: Satire of Society · Epigram · Satire
Abstract
A satirical epigram on the fashion for premature talent and child prodigies, punning on a ‘petty Pitt’; satire of contemporary taste and celebrity.
Connections
Themes & Concepts: Satire of Society, Artist and Society, Maturation and Growth, Disillusionment Forms & Genres: Epigram
Testo integrale / Full text
Some whim or fancy pleases every eye;
For talents premature ‘tis now the rage:
In Music how great Handel would have smil’d
T’ have seen what crowds are raptur’d with a child!
A Garrick we have had in little Betty —
And now we’re told we have a Pitt in Petty!
All must allow, since thus it is decreed,
He is a very petty Pitt indeed!
? 1806.
First printed (from an autograph MS.) by Mr. Bertram Dobell in the
Athenæum, Jan. 9, 1904. Now collected for the first time.