‘The Chaos’
by Gerard Nolst Treni
1) Dearest creature in creation,
2) Study English pronunciation.
3) I will teach you in my verse
4) Sounds like corpse, corps, horse,
and worse.
5) I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
6) Make your head with heat grow
dizzy.
7) Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
8) So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
9) Just compare heart, beard, and
heard,
10) Dies and diet, lord and word,
11) Sword and sward, retain and
Britain.
12) (Mind the latter, how it's written.)
13) Now I surely will not plague you
14) With such words as plaque and
ague.
15) But be careful how you speak:
16) Say break and steak, but bleak
and streak;
17) Cloven, oven, how and low,
18) Script, receipt, show, poem, and
toe.
19) Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
20) Daughter, laughter, and
Terpsichore,
21) Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
‘The Chaos’
by Gerard Nolst Trenité by Gerard Nolst Trenité
1) Dearest creature in creation,
2) Study English pronunciation.
3) I will teach you in my verse
4) Sounds like corpse, corps,
horse, and worse.
5) I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
6) Make your head with heat grow
dizzy.
7) Tear in eye, your dress will
tear.
8) So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
9) Just compare heart, beard, and
heard,
10) Dies and diet, lord and word,
11) Sword and sward, retain and
Britain.
12) (Mind the latter, how it's
written.)
13) Now I surely will not plague
you
14) With such words as plaque and
ague.
15) But be careful how you speak:
16) Say break and steak, but bleak
and streak;
17) Cloven, oven, how and low,
18) Script, receipt, show, poem,
and toe.
19) Hear me say, devoid of
trickery,
20) Daughter, laughter, and
Terpsichore,
21) Typhoid, measles, topsails,
aisles,
‘The Chaos’
1) Dearest creature in creation,
2) Study English pronunciation.
3) I will teach you in my verse
4) Sounds like corpse, corps,
horse, and worse.
5) I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
6) Make your head with heat grow
dizzy.
7) Tear in eye, your dress will
tear.
8) So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
9) Just compare heart, beard, and
heard,
10) Dies and diet, lord and word,
11) Sword and sward, retain and
Britain.
12) (Mind the latter, how it's
written.)
13) Now I surely will not plague
you
14) With such words as plaque and
ague.
15) But be careful how you speak:
16) Say break and steak, but bleak
and streak;
17) Cloven, oven, how and low,
18) Script, receipt, show, poem,
and toe.
19) Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
20) Daughter, laughter, and
Terpsichore,
21) Typhoid, measles, topsails,
aisles,
1
22) Exiles, similes, and reviles;
23) Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
24) Solar, mica, war and far;
25) One, anemone, Balmoral,
26) Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
27) Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
28) Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
29) Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
30) Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
31) Blood and flood are not like food,
32) Nor is mould like should and
would.
33) Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
34) Toward, to forward, to reward.
35) And your pronunciation's OK
36) When you correctly say croquet,
37) Rounded, wounded, grieve and
sieve,
38) Friend and fiend, alive and live.
39) Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
40) And enamour rhymes with
hammer.
41) River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
42) Doll and roll and some and home.
43) Stranger does not rhyme with
anger,
44) Neither does devour with clangour.
45) Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
46) Font, front, wont, want, grand,
and grant,
47) Shoes, goes, does. Now first say
22) Exiles, similes, and reviles;
23) Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
24) Solar, mica, war and far;
25) One, anemone, Balmoral,
26) Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
27) Gertrude, German, wind and
mind,
28) Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
29) Billet does not rhyme with
ballet,
30) Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
31) Blood and flood are not like
food,
32) Nor is mould like should and
would.
33) Viscous, viscount, load and
broad,
34) Toward, to forward, to reward.
35) And your pronunciation's OK
36) When you correctly say
croquet,
37) Rounded, wounded, grieve and
sieve,
38) Friend and fiend, alive and live.
39) Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
40) And enamour rhymes with
hammer.
41) River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
42) Doll and roll and some and
home.
43) Stranger does not rhyme with
anger,
44) Neither does devour with
clangour.
45) Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
46) Font, front, wont, want, grand,
and grant,
47) Shoes, goes, does. Now first
22) Exiles, similes, and reviles;
23) Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
24) Solar, mica, war and far;
25) One, anemone, Balmoral,
26) Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
27) Gertrude, German, wind and
mind,
28) Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
29) Billet does not rhyme with
ballet,
30) Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
31) Blood and flood are not like
food,
32) Nor is mould like should and
would.
33) Viscous, viscount, load and
broad,
34) Toward, to forward, to reward.
35) And your pronunciation's OK
36) When you correctly say
croquet,
37) Rounded, wounded, grieve and
sieve,
38) Friend and fiend, alive and live.
39) Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
40) And enamour rhymes with
hammer.
41) River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
42) Doll and roll and some and
home.
43) Stranger does not rhyme with
anger,
44) Neither does devour with
clangour.
45) Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
46) Font, front, wont, want, grand,
and grant,
47) Shoes, goes, does. Now first
2
 finger,
48) And then singer, ginger, linger,
49) Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge
and gauge,
50) Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
51) Query does not rhyme with very,
52) Nor does fury sound like bury.
53) Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth,
loth.
54) Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
55) Though the differences seem little,
56) We say actual but victual.
57) Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
58) Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
59) Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
60) Dull, bull, and George ate late.
61) Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
62) Science, conscience, scientific.
63) Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
64) Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
65) We say hallowed, but allowed,
66) People, leopard, towed, but
vowed.
67) Mark the differences, moreover,
68) Between mover, cover, clover;
69) Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
70) Chalice, but police and lice;
71) Camel, constable, unstable,
say finger,
48) And then singer, ginger, linger,
49) Real, zeal, mauve, gauze,
gouge and gauge,
50) Marriage, foliage, mirage, and
age.
51) Query does not rhyme with
very,
52) Nor does fury sound like bury.
53) Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth,
loth.
54) Job, nob, bosom, transom,
oath.
55) Though the differences seem
little,
56) We say actual but victual.
57) Refer does not rhyme with
deafer.
58) Foeffer does, and zephyr,
heifer.
59) Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
60) Dull, bull, and George ate late.
61) Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
62) Science, conscience, scientific.
63) Liberty, library, heave and
heaven,
64) Rachel, ache, moustache,
eleven.
65) We say hallowed, but allowed,
66) People, leopard, towed, but
vowed.
67) Mark the differences,
moreover,
68) Between mover, cover, clover;
69) Leeches, breeches, wise,
precise,
70) Chalice, but police and lice;
71) Camel, constable, unstable,
say finger,
48) And then singer, ginger, linger,
49) Real, zeal, mauve, gauze,
gouge and gauge,
50) Marriage, foliage, mirage, and
age.
51) Query does not rhyme with
very,
52) Nor does fury sound like bury.
53) Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth,
loth.
54) Job, nob, bosom, transom,
oath.
55) Though the differences seem
little,
56) We say actual but victual.
57) Refer does not rhyme with
deafer.
58) Foeffer does, and zephyr,
heifer.
59) Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
60) Dull, bull, and George ate late.
61) Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
62) Science, conscience, scientific.
63) Liberty, library, heave and
heaven,
64) Rachel, ache, moustache,
eleven.
65) We say hallowed, but allowed,
66) People, leopard, towed, but
vowed.
67) Mark the differences, moreover,
68) Between mover, cover, clover;
69) Leeches, breeches, wise,
precise,
70) Chalice, but police and lice;
71) Camel, constable, unstable,
3
72) Principle, disciple, label.
73) Petal, panel, and canal,
74) Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
75) Worm and storm, chaise, chaos,
chair,
76) Senator, spectator, mayor.
77) Tour, but our and succour, four.
78) Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
79) Sea, idea, Korea, area,
80) Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
81) Youth, south, southern, cleanse
and clean.
82) Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
83) Compare alien with Italian,
84) Dandelion and battalion.
85) Sally with ally, yea, ye,
86) Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
87) Say aver, but ever, fever,
88) Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
89) Heron, granary, canary.
90) Crevice and device and aerie.
91) Face, but preface, not efface.
92) Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass,
bass.
93) Large, but target, gin, give,
verging,
94) Ought, out, joust and scour,
scourging.
95) Ear, but earn and wear and tear
96) Do not rhyme with here but ere.
97) Seven is right, but so is even,
98) Hyphen, roughen, nephew
72) Principle, disciple, label.
73) Petal, panel, and canal,
74) Wait, surprise, plait, promise,
pal.
75) Worm and storm, chaise,
chaos, chair,
76) Senator, spectator, mayor.
77) Tour, but our and succour,
four.
78) Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
79) Sea, idea, Korea, area,
80) Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
81) Youth, south, southern, cleanse
and clean.
82) Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
83) Compare alien with Italian,
84) Dandelion and battalion.
85) Sally with ally, yea, ye,
86) Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
87) Say aver, but ever, fever,
88) Neither, leisure, skein,
deceiver.
89) Heron, granary, canary.
90) Crevice and device and aerie.
91) Face, but preface, not efface.
92) Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass,
bass.
93) Large, but target, gin, give,
verging,
94) Ought, out, joust and scour,
scourging.
95) Ear, but earn and wear and
tear
96) Do not rhyme with here but
ere.
97) Seven is right, but so is even,
98) Hyphen, roughen, nephew
72) Principle, disciple, label.
73) Petal, panel, and canal,
74) Wait, surprise, plait, promise,
pal.
75) Worm and storm, chaise,
chaos, chair,
76) Senator, spectator, mayor.
77) Tour, but our and succour,
four.
78) Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
79) Sea, idea, Korea, area,
80) Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
81) Youth, south, southern, cleanse
and clean.
82) Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
83) Compare alien with Italian,
84) Dandelion and battalion.
85) Sally with ally, yea, ye,
86) Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
87) Say aver, but ever, fever,
88) Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
89) Heron, granary, canary.
90) Crevice and device and aerie.
91) Face, but preface, not efface.
92) Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass,
bass.
93) Large, but target, gin, give,
verging,
94) Ought, out, joust and scour,
scourging.
95) Ear, but earn and wear and
tear
96) Do not rhyme with here but
ere.
97) Seven is right, but so is even,
98) Hyphen, roughen, nephew
4
 Stephen, Stephen, Stephen,
99) Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, 99) Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, 99) Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
100) Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork 100) Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork 100) Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork
and work. and work. and work.
101) Pronunciation -- think of 101) Pronunciation -- think of 101) Pronunciation -- think of
Psyche! Psyche! Psyche!
102) Is a paling stout and 102) Is a paling stout and
spikey? spikey? 102) Is a paling stout and spikey?
103) Won't it make you lose your 103) Won't it make you lose your 103) Won't it make you lose your
wits, wits, wits,
104) Writing groats and saying 104) Writing groats and saying 104) Writing groats and saying
grits? grits? grits?
105) It's a dark abyss or tunnel: 105) It's a dark abyss or tunnel: 105) It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
106) Strewn with stones, 106) Strewn with stones, stowed, 106) Strewn with stones, stowed,
stowed, solace, gunwale, solace, gunwale, solace, gunwale,
107) Islington and Isle of Wight, 107) Islington and Isle of Wight, 107) Islington and Isle of Wight,
108) Housewife, verdict and 108) Housewife, verdict and 108) Housewife, verdict and
indict. indict. indict.
109) Finally, which rhymes with 109) Finally, which rhymes with 109) Finally, which rhymes with
enough? enough? enough?
110) Though, through, plough, 110) Though, through, plough, 110) Though, through, plough, or
or dough, or cough? or dough, or cough? dough, or cough?
111) Hiccough has the sound of 111) Hiccough has the sound of 111) Hiccough has the sound of
cup. cup. cup.
112) My advice is give it up! 112) My advice is give it up! 112) My advice is give it up!