If you love parodies. . .

The lover of parodies, convinced that an expert aping of someone else's distinctive style conveys not only a chortle or belly laugh at that poet's expense but a deep respect for that writer as well, may cite J. K. Stephen's sonnet on Wordsworth as exhibit A. -- DL

A Sonnet

Two voices are there: one is of the deep;
It learns the storm-cloud's thunderous melody,
Now roars, now murmurs with the changing sea,
Now bird-like pipes, now closes soft in sleep:
And one is of an old half-witted sheep
Which bleats articulate monotony,
And indicates that two and one are three,
That grass is green, lakes damp, and mountains steep:
And, Wordsworth, both are thine: at certain times                                       
Forth from the heart of thy melodious rhymes,
The form and pressure of high thoughts will burst:
At other times--good Lord! I'd rather be
Quite unacquainted with the ABC
Than write such hopeless rubbish as thy worst.

-- J. K. Stephen (1859-1892)

Comments

[Laura Orem]

J.K. Stephen trivia: He was Virginia Woolf's cousin; he got bonked on the head and went mad, developing such a violent obsession with Virginia's half-sister Stella that he had to be banned from the house; he died raving in an insane asylum; he is often on the list of suspects as Jack the Ripper.

Fun facts for your Literary Fun Fact File. I keep mine in the place other people keep math skills.

[Terence Winch]

"...grass is green, lakes damp, and mountains steep": I love Wordsworth, but I guess he has it coming. Very funny poem. (And as for Laura's comment---I wonder if JKS is the only poet on the Jack the Ripper short list?)