I changed my search words to "English metaphor longeur" and found a site where a pair of
exquisite aesthets were indulging in mutual admiration about the long poems of one of them.

"I'm sure you're right that once or twice I've lingered a little too long over the etymological
marrow in the bone. I think of a poem like "Cows" where the speaker makes much of the
etymology of the word "boreen". What I was hoping might come across is that I'm very
conscious of this being a longeur, of it being downright boring, but I'm not sure
if I've signaled that sufficiently, if I've given a reader enough evidence for the ironised tone. "

And what in hell does "boreen" mean? If he didn't know, why in hell did he use it, except to
mischievously mystify?

Edit: having guessed it might be Gaelic, I found it:
boreen [borin]
n. Irish. a country lane or narrow road. [from Irish Gaelic boithrin,
diminutive of bothar road]