Familiarity
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Familiarity some claim
Can breed contempt,
So from it let it be your aim
To be exempt.
Let no one exercise his brawn
To slap your back,
Lest he forget your name is John,
And call you Jack.
To those who crash your private pew
Be sour as krout;
Don't let them see the real 'you,'
And bawl you out.
Don't call your Cousin William--Bill,
But formal be.
Have care! Beware and shun famil--
Iarity.
I'm quite polite. My hat I doff
But little say.
I give the crowd the big brush-off,
And go my way.
To common folk I do not freeze,
I am no snob:
But though my name is Robert, please
Don't call me BOB.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 131 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABXCXC DEDEFXFB GHGHIJIJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 697 |
Words | 121 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
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"Familiarity" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/32112/familiarity>.
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