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 Britain. (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 kɾiːtʃə in kɾieiʃən stʌdiːiŋ ɪŋlɪʃ prənʌnsiˈeiʃən ai wil tiːtʃ juː in mai vɜːrs saʊndz laik kɔːps kɔː hɔːs ənd wɜːs ai wil kiːp juː suzi bizi meik jǝr hed wið hiːt ɡɾəʊ diziː tiə in ai jɔː dres jəl teə kwiə feə siə hiə mai preə prei kənsəʊl jǝr lʌviŋ pəʊət meik mai kəʊt lʊk njuːw diə səʊ it ʤʌst kəmpeə haːt biəd ənd hɜːd daiz ənd daiət lɔːd and wɜːd sɔːrd ənd swɔːrd ritein ənd britən maind ðə lætə haʊ it iz ritən meid həz nɒt ðə saʊnd əv bæd sei sed pei leid bʌt nɒt plæd naʊ ai ʃɔːli wil nɒt pleig ju wið sʌtʃ wɜːdz əz veig ənd eig bʌt biː keəfʊl haʊ ju spiːk sei gʌʃ bʊʃ steik striːk breik bliːk priːviəs preʃəs fʊkʃiə vaiə resǝpi paip stʊnsei kwair wəʊvən ʌvən haʊ ənd ləʊ skript risiːts ʃuː pəʊim təʊ hiə miː sei divɔid əv trikəri dɔːtə laːftəˑr ǝn tepsikari taifɔid miːzəlz tɒpsəl ailz eksailz similiːz rivailz