Nursery rhyme

In Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis, Wendy Cope carries off a great deal of humour with technical dexterity.  This last quality is perhaps most on display in two nursery rhyme parodies; the first is Baa, Baa Black Sheep as it might have been written by Wordsworth, and the second is Hickory Dickory Dock by no less a master than T S Eliot.  So here is A Nursery Rhyme - as it might have been written by T S Eliot, by Wendy Cope.

Because time will not run backwards
Because time
Because time will not run
                                                Hickory dickory

In the last minute of the first hour
I saw the mouse ascend the ancient timepiece,
Claws whispering like wind in dry hyacinths.

One o'clock,
The street lamp said,
'Remark the mouse that races toward the carpet.'

And the unstilled wheel still turning
                                                               Hickory dickory
                                                                 Hickory dickory
dock

__________________________

And, in case you don't have time to read Eliot's Waste Land, here are his 440 lines reduced to a mere 25 in Cope's Waste Land Limericks!

In April one seldom feels cheerful;
Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful;
Clairvoyants distress me,
Commuters depress me - 
Met Stetson and gave him an earful.

She sat on a mighty fine chair,
Sparks flew as she tidied her hair;
She asks many questions,
I make few suggestions - 
Bad as Albert and Lil - what a pair!

The Thames runs, bones rattle, rats creep;
Tiresias fancies a peep -
A typist is laid,
A record is played - 
Wei la la.  After this it gets deep.

A Phoenician called Phlebas forgot
About birds and his business - the lot.
Which is no surprise,
Since he met his demise
And was left in the ocean to rot.

No water.  Dry rocks and dry throats.
Then thunder, a shower of quotes!
From The Sanskrit to Dante.
Da. Damyata.  Shantih.
I hope you'll make sense of the notes.

And if you want to look up more Wendy Cope - I recommend the Strugnell poems, of which there is a great variety, this is where to look.  Enjoy!
 

Comments

[glo]

It is indeed worth reading these poems based on daily life as they appear to be rather original in comparison with the poetry we are used to since our school years. Thank you for letting us discover something new!

[Harriet]

Wonderful! Wendy Cope is brilliant. Thanks for this.

[Susan]

I have a copy of this book by my bed and dip into it right before going to sleep. I love this book and the poems are so fun! Deceptively simple, engaging, and sly. thanks so much for reviewing it!