The Literary Experts Say Poem by Francis Duggan

The literary experts say poetry is for the educated
And as for rhyme well that is doggerel
And they ought to know for they are the literary critics
And for their book reviews they do get paid quite well.

They dismiss rhyme as something that is dated
That had it's place back in a long gone time
The twenty first century poets are literary educated
Only the poetasters resort to rhyme.

But show us one nowadays who could compare with Burns
Or mangan or John Masefield or John Clare
Or Robert Service who penned stirring ballads
With literary history's best these great rhyme poets compare.

Nowadays rhymers for big literary prizes are never short listed
With the help of college dons they've stolen poetry away
From the people and given it to the literary elite
And they've made rhymers the poetasters of today.