To Mr. Murray (for Oxford and for Waldegrave)
To Mr. Murray (for Oxford and for Waldegrave) - meaning Summary
Petulant Claim for Fairness
A brief, comic address to Byron’s publisher John Murray. The speaker mock-complains that Murray paid others (Oxford and Waldegrave) more than him, arguing jocularly about literary and social worth—comparing live versus dead reputations and verse versus prose sales—and ends with a playful threat to be shameless or damn the publisher. The tone is light-hearted and teasing rather than genuinely angry, a humorous plea for fair treatment.
Read Complete AnalysesFor Oxford and for Waldegrave You give much more than me you gave; Which is not fairly to behave, My Murray. Because if a live dog, ’tis said, Be worth a lion fairly sped, A live lord must be worth two dead, My Murray. And if, as the opinion goes, Verse hath a better sale than prose– Certes, I should have more than those, My Murray. But now this sheet is nearly cramm’d, So, if you will, I shan’t be shamm’d, And if you won’t, you may be damn’d, My Murray.
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