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My start, to begin with, isn't hers. Moving on,
It sounds like the sound of the name of a con.
And as for my ending? Well, it's quite the tale.
Those who hear it are certainly floored, without fail.
Throughout me, I'm studied. I'm hated. I'm cleared.
I'm forgotten, remembered, despised, and revered.
Just what I contain, none totally know,
But I contain everything! Every joy, every woe.
I'm ever expanding, becoming more than I was,

My start, to begin with, isn't hers. Moving on,
It sounds like the sound of the name of a con.
And as for my ending? Well, it's quite the tale.
Those who hear it are certainly floored, without fail.
Throughout me, I'm studied. I'm hated. I'm cleared.
I'm forgotten, remembered, despised, and revered.
Just what I contain, none totally know,
But I contain everything! Every joy, every woe.
I'm ever expanding, becoming more than I was,

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  • $\begingroup$ Is the rhyme repeated twice on purpose? $\endgroup$
    – Mariia Mykhailova
    May 31, 2019 at 18:58
  • $\begingroup$ @MariiaMykhailova I'm fairly certain it is. $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    May 31, 2019 at 19:13

1 Answer 1

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The final answer is

"history".

And the poem is typed twice because

of the saying "history repeats itself" - very clever!

and the last line of the poem does not rhyme because

History has yet to end, as does this poem.

"My start isn't hers" was the initial giveaway for me:

It's his, as in HIStory

But I contain everything! Every joy, every woe.

I'm ever expanding, becoming more than I was.

History never ends, and continues on, becoming larger and larger. It is a catalogue of every event that has taken place - joys and woes included.

Throughout me, I'm studied. I'm hated. I'm cleared.

I'm forgotten, remembered, despised, and revered.

Just what I contain, none totally know.

As there is little to no wordplay here, I think it's obvious that replacing the "I"s and "me"s with "history (and correctly conjugating the words) results in true statements.

And as for my ending? Well, it's quite the tale.

Those who hear it are certainly floored, without fail.

A tale, as in a story - on the end of "history," making "hiSTORY."

Moving on, it sounds like the sound of the name of a con.

Credit to @JonMarkPerry - con=conservative. Politically, a tory is a conservative, hence "hisTORY." Intended answer: HIStory, as in a con might be called a snake, which makes a HISsing noise.

The lines of the poem are in the order by which I realized their significance

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  • $\begingroup$ conservative=tory $\endgroup$
    – JMP
    May 31, 2019 at 19:19
  • $\begingroup$ @JonMarkPerry thank 'ee. Edited. $\endgroup$
    – Brandon_J
    May 31, 2019 at 19:21
  • $\begingroup$ This is the the right answer, and you have the logic correct for most of the clues. Some straggling thoughts: 1. The "con" line is fairly weak in retrospect. I was going for (rot13) uvff, fvapr n pba pbhyq or pnyyrq n fanxr. 2. The usage of "floored" was meant to hint at the same word as the previous line. 3. The final line doesn't rhyme for a specific reason, which I'm sure isn't too hard to derive given the answer $\endgroup$
    – Belgabad
    May 31, 2019 at 19:31

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