A poem in praise of adjectives
And what made England’s mountains ‘green’ or April showers ‘sweet’?
The adjective! It crowns the noun and renders it complete!
How dull Limpopo’s banks would seem had Kipling not been keen
To turn the ‘greasy’, make them ‘great’ and colour them ‘grey-green’.
A ‘pea-green’ boat, as Lear made clear, is more than just a boat
And any note, to be of note, should be a ‘five-pound’ note.
Nursery rhymes, for children, serve as adjective providers
With ‘silver’ nutmegs, ‘pretty’ maids and ‘incy wincy’ spiders.
To Wordsworth for single word the world is now beholden,
His daffodils dance all the more for being painted ‘golden’,
There’s Swift (whose name’s an adjective) with ever ‘smaller’ fleas
And Shelley’s wondrous ‘wild west’ wind and Masefield’s ‘lonely’ seas.
Our blessed isle is ‘scepter’d’ thanks to Shakespeare’s wit and will
In crafting clever adjectives which aptly fit the bill.
None should frown upon the noun though never can it live
Without that polished, priceless, peerless, perfect adjective.
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