ABSTRACT
B. then writes the lines, and adds: ‘I need not tell you I have begun writing poetry again, & shall send Miss Power her portion this very day.’ This ‘portion’ was Study of a Hand, by Lionardo: see p. 701, and see also headnote to May and Death, p. 361. B. seems to have wanted to let Isa Blagden know, however jokingly, that he was getting over the depression induced by the poor reception of M & W two years before. This context helps to explain the reference to Jonah, the reluctant prophet compelled by God to fulfil his mission (he is swallowed by a ‘great fish’, popularly a whale), and whose name became a synonym for an unlucky man. B.’s impromptu verse often involves grotesque or contrived rhyme.
