Fortunatus' Song

By Alfred Austin · Running time 00:16:33 · Multi-version (Weekly and Fortnightly poetry)

Audio streams directly from the Internet Archive. Recording by LibriVox volunteers (public domain). The text is in the public domain in the USA; please check the copyright laws of your country.

About this book

Not all of the English poets laureate have been the greatest masters of verse. Alfred Austin, who assumed this post after Alfred Lord Tennyson, was one of the less distinguished - if more prolific - late Victorian poets. In modern times, his verse has become celebrated not for its smooth earnestness, but rather for the occasional howlers it contains. A notable example is this song from his pastoral epic Fortunatus the Pessimist, the final couplet of which is a popular favourite in anthologies of bad verse. - Summary by Algy Pug

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