Also verse-monger. [f. as prec. + MONGER.] A versifier, esp. one who writes poor or indifferent verse; a poetaster.
1634. Bp. Hall, Contempl., N. T., IV. xii. Which of those verse-mongers ever durst write a ballad, without imploring of some deity?
1768. Baretti, Acc. Mann. & Cust. Italy, I. 254. Some few verse-mongers of Rome.
1866. Blackie, Homer & Iliad, I. 120. A set of inferior versemongers.
1902. W. L. Mathieson, Politics & Relig. Scot., I. x. 338. His [Neil Campbell’s] virtues—and his alone—were cordially recognised even by the scurrilous verse-mongers of the day.
Hence Versemongering vbl. sb., Versemongery.
1836. Fraser’s Mag., XIV. 488. Earning his bread by scribblement and verse-mongery.
1875. Lowell, Spenser, Prose Wks. 1890, IV. 268. There is little to distinguish it from the contemporary verse-mongering south of the Tweed.
