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Group Writing: Wherein I Add to My Volume of Nonsense Here
As we sit and lament two thousand twenty
Disease, riots, crackpots a-plenty
You might have avoided this verse in the long run
Had the days of July not been thirty-one
That should take care of the doggerel. So now let’s turn to Tweedledum and Tweedledee for some better “nonsense.”
The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —
Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —
And whether pigs have wings.But wait a bit,’ the Oysters cried,
Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!’
No hurry!’ said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.
While I’d thought of posting all 18 stanzas of The Walrus and the Carpenter, I opted for my two favorites, stanzas eleven and twelve, for brevity–and in case anyone feels sorry for the oysters. Lewis Carroll is also well-known for Jabberwocky, but I prefer this poem, in chapter four of Through the Looking Glass, for its narrative nature. Although many prefer limericks as their “nonsense verse” of choice, the rhyming in these stanzas is a worthy example of the genre.
Much has been written about what the Walrus and the Carpenter represent. Great Britain and the U.S.? Buddha and Jesus Christ? But I prefer to see them as . . . a walrus and a carpenter. It makes less sense.
Published in Group Writing
Hoyacon,
You had me, even before this.
A great way to close out the month. This post is part of our July Group Writing theme: “The Doggerel Days of Summer.” Stop by today and sign up for our August theme: “Reeling in the Summer.”
Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.
There once was a bulldog named Hoyacon,
Who played good chess and could deploy a pawn.
But his paws slipped on the board,
His opponent got gored,
And he from then on was called “Paranoia John.”
Alas. Reversion to the mean.
C’mon! I found two rhymes for Hoyacon! Give me some credit.
I always think of that as a perfect distillation of elite intellectual thought. What is not trivial is obviously wrong or nonsensical. Cabbages and kings, ships and sealing wax have the same importance.
Reversion nearly to the mean.
I love Edward Lear’s stuff, if only for giving us the runcible spoon.