In offering this fourth example of the New Poetry to his readers, _Mr.
Punch_ wishes it to be distinctly understood, that he is in no way
responsible, personally, for the curious mixture of divinities and
semi-divinities who figure in it. It is one of the distinguishing
marks of this particular sort of New Poetry to pile up a confusion of
more or less mythological names in a series of swinging and resonant
lines. In one line the reader may imagine himself to be embarked in
the River Cocytus. In the next, he will be surprised to find himself
in Eden. Blood, battle, bumptiousness, and an aggressive violence, are
special characteristics of this style of writing. Some of the lines
apparently mean nothing at all, others are calculated to make timid
people tremble; and the effect of the whole is generally picturesque,
lurid, and uncomfortable.
One of the great advantages of a poem like this, is that it may be
used for all kinds of purposes. For example, if it was originally
written as an invective against an opponent, it may afterwards, with
the utmost ease, be made to serve as a threnody. Here then without
further preface is:--