We wind up the humour theme with a look at some poets who tweaked words to hilarious effect. We have seen Seuss use this skill. Now, we glance at Hilaire Belloc. On Writer Rites, Carroll and Kipling were featured too. However, we shall leave their verse for another day as they were not, primarily, poets.
We hope to do features on those two, too. As well as ones on Edward Lear and Ogden Nash.
I came across Belloc in school and then he faded out of sight. Perhaps precisely because he was taught in class? That is guaranteed to make most avoid an author.
It is not that worthy works should not be included in syllabus. It is because the teaching of such works usually beggars them.
What can be taught is the enjoyment of the work. Those who set a syllabus are rarely of a caliber to handle great works. All it requires is a teacher who has had pleasure in reading the work and who can convey that to students. Nothing else needs be done, to say the truth. Nothing else ought to be done, such as activities and other abhorrent abominations.
The Belloc I learned at school was his Tarantella:
We, however, will focus on his humorous verse such as:
Read Most of Hilaire's Best on the Net
Hilaire Belloc, like most other good writers, was prolific and tried his hands at both prose and poetry. He was also an essayist of repute.
As in the case of Seuss and others, so too with Belloc - media has its say. The point of this exercise here is to exorcise the effect of the mudslinging - Itiuvacha hopes to dust some of that detritus off select authors and poets and to instruct readers to be more tolerant towards creative genius.
Voices from the past can provide much information about that time. Such writings will, perforce, breathe the prejudices of those bygone days. Unless we all learn how it was, we can only limp forwards on the feeble backs of contemporary talent.
Finger wagging apart, the time has come to bid farewell to humour in writing and to proceed to our next theme: crime.
Tomorrow, read about ten Dutch authors of the genre, including one who has a most fascinating and exotic detective series.
We hope to do features on those two, too. As well as ones on Edward Lear and Ogden Nash.
I came across Belloc in school and then he faded out of sight. Perhaps precisely because he was taught in class? That is guaranteed to make most avoid an author.
It is not that worthy works should not be included in syllabus. It is because the teaching of such works usually beggars them.
What can be taught is the enjoyment of the work. Those who set a syllabus are rarely of a caliber to handle great works. All it requires is a teacher who has had pleasure in reading the work and who can convey that to students. Nothing else needs be done, to say the truth. Nothing else ought to be done, such as activities and other abhorrent abominations.
The Belloc I learned at school was his Tarantella:
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
And the tedding and the spreading
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark veranda)?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
Who hadn’t got a penny,
And who weren’t paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the din?
And the hip! hop! hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the swirl and the twirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of the clapper to the spin
Out and in —
And the ting, tong, tang of the guitar!
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
We, however, will focus on his humorous verse such as:
MATILDA
(who told such dreadful lies.)
Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes;
Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth,
Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
Attempted to believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her,
And would have done so, had not she
Discovered this Infirmity.
Read the rest here: monologues.co.uk
Read Most of Hilaire's Best on the Net
Cautionary Tales for Children
Browse
As in the case of Seuss and others, so too with Belloc - media has its say. The point of this exercise here is to exorcise the effect of the mudslinging - Itiuvacha hopes to dust some of that detritus off select authors and poets and to instruct readers to be more tolerant towards creative genius.
Voices from the past can provide much information about that time. Such writings will, perforce, breathe the prejudices of those bygone days. Unless we all learn how it was, we can only limp forwards on the feeble backs of contemporary talent.
Finger wagging apart, the time has come to bid farewell to humour in writing and to proceed to our next theme: crime.
Tomorrow, read about ten Dutch authors of the genre, including one who has a most fascinating and exotic detective series.
