The Chaos of English Pronunciation

The Chaos, a poem that highlights the madness of English pronunciation and spelling, was written by Dutch writer, traveller, and teacher Gerard Nolst Trenité at the turn of the 20th century. It includes about 800 examples of irregular spelling.

Try to read it aloud. The meaning is not important, it’s all about the sound. You can use the rhyme pattern to help you. Here is the first verse:

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

For the complete poem, follow this link: http://www.i18nguy.com/chaos.html

And to find out how it should sound, you can watch this video: