Poem
Dearest creature in
creation
Studying English
pronunciation,
I will teach you in my
verse
Sounds like corpse,
corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Susy,
busy,
Make your head with
heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye your dress
you'll tear,
So shall I! Oh, hear
my prayer,
Pray, console your
loving poet,
Make my coat look new,
dear, sew it!
Just compare heart,
beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord
and word,
Sword and sward,
retain and
(Mind the latter, how
it is written).
Made has not the sound
of bade,
Say said, pay-paid,
laid, but plaid.
Now I surely will not
plague you
With such words as
vague and ague,
But be careful how you
speak,
Say break, steak, but
bleak and streak.
Previous, precious,
fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe
and choir,
Woven, oven, how and
low,
Script, receipts,
shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of
trickery:
Daughter, laughter and
Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles,
topsails, aisles
Exiles, similes, reviles.
Transcription
/dɪəɾəst
kɾɪtʃə ɪn kɾieiʃən
stʌdɪŋ ɪŋlɪʃ
prənʌnsɪˈeɪʃən,
aɪ wil tiʧ juː in mai vɜːrs
saʊndz laik koːps korps hoːs ǝn woːrs.
ai wil kiːp juː sǝzi bizi
meik joːr hed wið hiːt ɡɾəʊ dizi;
tiə in ai joːr dres jul tɪə;
kwiǝr feǝ siː hia mai preɪǝ.
prei kǝnsǝl joːr lʌviŋ poet.
meik mai koʊt luːk nɪʊ dia siʊ it!/
/ʤʌst kǝmpeǝ hǝrt bǝrd ǝn hɜːd
daiz ǝn daɪet, loːd ǝn woːd,
soːd ǝn swɑːd, ritein ǝn britǝn
maind ðə lætə haʊ it iz ritən;
meid həz not ðə saʊnd əv bæd,
sei sed
naʊ ai ʃʊǝrli wil not pleɪg jʊ
wið sʌtʃ woːdz ǝz veig ən eig,
bʌt bi
kǝrfʊl hǝʊ jʊ spiːk,
sei gǝʃ bʊʃ stiːk striːk breɪk
bliːk,
previoʊz preʃǝs fʊʃia vǝiǝ,
resipiː paip stǝdnsɜl ʃoir,
wəʊvən ʌvən haʊ ənd ləʊ,
skript risiːps ʃuː poem təʊ.
hiə mi sei divɔid əv trikəri,
dotǝ
lǝfǝ ǝn terpsikori
tifɔid miːzəlz tɒpsəl ailz
eksǝilz simil iːz rivǝilz.