Nineteenth Century Doggerel Poetry  

Bursts of creative poetry can appear in the strangest of places.A "poet" wrote the following two rhymes in a daybook (a book of handwritten daily business transactions) that dates mid-nineteenth century and is probably from Pennsylvania. The poet should have stopped with the first line of the first poem:  

I never lik[e] the task of writing

In a book for public eye

But a Friend that I delight in

Evry [sic] way to Please I'll try.  

To Miss [blank] When thou are home midst pleasure of

I would have the[e] some times to think of me

And may I cause to live

whenever I forget to think of thee.    

The second poem reads:  

Love Love is a feeling none can well [illegible word that ends "cain"]

Tho it prevails in evry [sic] action of our Life

Love is a passion we defy in vain

As it will come despit[e] of evry strife.  

Love is a passion then in some

as pure As the fresh tears it causes apt to flow

Love is a malady that naught can cure

It is an ill that comes to high and low.  

The poet was probably too embarrassed to sign his name, but he ended "Springville, July 7, 1841."  

Nicky Pickert