The Novelist

HIS first attempt, reviewers say,
Shows evidence that any day
He may bring to the printed page
The foremost novel of his age.
HIS second try, when it’s complete,
Is hailed with blurbs far more
discreet
In which he’s urged to shun the herd
And, incidentally, write a third.
His third, as you correctly reckoned,
Falls short of both the first and
second.
Embittered, battered, shaken, bluer,
He then becomes a book reviewer.