author's note: In this poem I tried to imitate the style of Edward Lear, which is childish with a deeper meaning. It is about a some what forbidden love between two animals that just don't go together. In some ways I feel that I took this too literally when we were supposed to imitate this author's writing but overall I think I did a pretty good job.
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are."
Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?"
Said the Piggy, "I will"
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are, you are, you are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are."
Pussy said to the Owl "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing.
O let us be married, too long we have tarried;
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose, his nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling your ring?"
Said the Piggy, "I will"
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon.
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand.
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon, the moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
The dove and the tiger walked over land
Carrying a beautiful wagon in their hand
Carrying a beautiful wagon in their hand
They took some clothes covered with a few holes
Wrapped in a red polka dot bandana
The dove gazed up to the sky above
And sang to a quiet chirp
"Oh beautiful tiger, Oh tiger my love,
What a gorgeous tiger you are, you are
What a gorgeous tiger you are."
Tiger said to the Dove, "You graceful bird,
How enchanting you chirp."
And the dove replied
"Oh let us be wed, for too much time we have wasted;
They went hand in hand, to the edge of the land
And frolicked under the rays of the sun, the sun,
They frolicked under the rays of the sun.
Since closed form is especially challenging, this is a poem that demands compliance. Yours leans towards Lear, but he uses a really melodic tone, using sounds of words for affect so that even when he makes up a nonsense word, it sounds so pleasant that the reader embraces it as if it had meaning. There is also a playfulness that Lear uses that I'm not sure you did so much. You have, in real life, a great sense of humor, and can be more relaxed than this poem lets on.
ReplyDeleteWell, I liked it, and I thought it was good. It flowed together really well.
ReplyDeleteSince in the original poem it had quotations from speaking and you had to include it in there, I think you did a really good job with that. I know that's a skill that I don't have and can't do, so congrats for that. I think what you could do is have a title for the poem though, and also add the original poem in this post also.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good emulation of Lear. I liked that you picked to do a dove and tiger.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a really good emulation. You did a good job of bringing your style and ideas to this poem but still making sure to use some of Lear's unique style as well.
ReplyDelete