{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/opusculum",
 "title": "Opusculum",
 "ordinal": "XII",
 "subtitle": "For a Very Small Album",
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 12,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "verses-on-various-occasions.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 30,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 30,
  "max_indent": 3
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Fair Cousin, thy page",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "is small to encage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the thoughts which engage",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the mind of a sage,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "such as I am;",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twere in teaspoon to take",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the whole Genevese lake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "or a lap-dog to make",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the white Elephant sac-",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "-red in Siam.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet inadequate though",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to the terms strange and so-",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "-lemn that figure in po-",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "-lysyllabical row",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in a treatise;",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Still, true words and plain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the heart, not the brain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in affectionate strain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "this book to contain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "very meet is.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "So I promise to be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "a good Cousin to thee,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and to keep safe the se-",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "-cret I heard, although e-",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "-v’ry one know it;",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "With a lyrical air",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "my kind thoughts I would dare,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and offer whate’er",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "beseems the news, were",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I a poet.",
    "indent": 3
   }
  ]
 ]
}