To say the reverse in verse--Rev. Xmos (b. 1804)
Is to go to bed with a wet gnome,
It adds such beauty, such beauty!
And makes it as meaningful as this poem.
This deeply symbolic poem contains much depth that is not readily understandable by ordinary uneducated scum. The first line of the this poem is metonomy. When Rev. Xmos says "To say the reverse in verse" he is referring to irony. More about that later. There is a metaphor between this irony and "going to bed with a wet gnome." The wet gnome is, of course, imagery, but it is also allusion. It is alluding to "Pixies and Prostitutes" by Rev. Hexmos (1649) in which gnomes are short, fat, ugly, bald, and wet customers of prostitutes. The metaphor, then, compares poets to prostitutes and irony to undesirable customers. "As meaningful as this poem" is, of course simile. "Such beauty! Such beauty" is repetition to emphasize the crowning triumph of this poem: its irony. As stated before, "to say the reverse in verse" is referring to irony. "It adds such beauty! Such beauty!" is obviously irony about irony! The last line is also clearly ironic: about the meaning of the poem. Which, so far has been irony about irony. So this poem has irony about irony about irony! Rev. Xmos is clearly a high caliber poet in the ranks of Shakespeare, Keatts, Shelly, and Seuss.