A dolphin for the Dutch; or, is there any verse culture without occasional poems?

This dolphin-torn, this gong-tormented sea.

Last week I listened to a podcast which contained a very scathing, almost vituperous attack upon a piece of occasional verse, written for specific (named) addressees and not published until after the author’s death (in other words, never published by the author).¹ I was very struck by the absolute disdain that was expressed for the competent occasional p…