The Stuffed Owl

by WYNDHAM LEWIS, D.B.LEE, CHARLES

• ISBN13: 9781590170380
• ISBN10: 1590170385
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2003-04-30
• Publisher: NYRB Classics

Summary

The editors of this legendary and hilarious anthology write: "It would seem at a hasty glance that to make an anthology of Bad Verse is on the whole a simple matter . . . On the contrary . . . Bad Verse has its canons, like Good Verse. There is bad Bad Verse and good Bad Verse. It has been the constant preoccupation of the compilers to include in this book chiefiy good Bad Verse." Here indeed one finds the best of the worst of the greatest poets of the English language, masterpieces of the maladroit by Dryden, Wordsworth, and Keats, among many others, together with an index ("Maiden, feathered, uncontrolled appetites of, 59;. . . Manure, adjudged a fit subject for the Muse, 91") that is itself an inspired work of folly.

Author Biography

Dominic Bevan Wyndham Lewis (1894-1969) was born in Wales and educated at Oxford. Prior to serving in World War I, he intended to pursue the legal profession; but after, having suffered two bouts of shell shock and one of malaria, he set his sights on journalism. In 1919, he became a columnist for The London Daily Express under the pseudonym “Beach Comber.” These pieces and those that he later wrote for The London Daily Mail and The London News Chronicle capture Lewis’s legendary wit and savage, though eloquent, impatience with modern trends and are collected in the volumes At the Green Goose (1923), At the Sign of the Blue Moon (1924), At the Blue Moon Again (1925), and On Straw and Other Conceits (1929). He wrote several literary biographies, acclaimed for both their spirited subjectivity and their attention to historical detail, taking on subjects ranging from Rabelais and Molière to Boswell and Habsburg Emperor Charles V. Mid-career, he also coauthored the story on which Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much was based.

Charles Lee (1870-1956) was born in London to an artistic family who, throughout Lee’s life, heartily supported him in his evolution as an intellectual, fiction writer, poet, playwright, composer, and pianist. He received his BA from London University in 1889 and published his first novel, Widow Woman, in 1896. In poor health, he traveled to Cornwall in 1900 for a brief recuperative visit, staying on seven years, and discovering what would prove to be his most enduring subject: Cornish life, its manners, its landscapes, and its dogged resistance to modern times. In this vein, he wrote four other novels—Our Little Town, Paul Carah Cornishman, Dorinda’s Birthday, and Cynthia in the West—as well as a number of short stories (recently collected in Chasing Tales: The Lost Stories of Charles Lee); several plays, journals, and musical scores; and a guide book, The Vale of Lanherne. Later, after relocating to the London environs, he worked as the senior editor for J. M. Dent, where, owing to his talent for pruning and polishing prose, he came to be known as “the man with the green pen.”

Billy Collins is the author of five books of poetry, including Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems, The Art of Drowning, The Apple That Astonished Paris, and Questions About Angels. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, Harper’s, and The Atlantic Monthly, among other publications. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation, and is the winner of numerous awards. In 1992, he was chosen by the New York Public Library to serve as “Literary Lion,” and is currently serving as the 2001-2003 Poet Laureate of the United States. A Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College (CUNY), Collins lives with his wife, Diane, in northern Westchester County, New York

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Proem	p. xxi
Hors-d'CEuvre--I	p. 1
Hors-d'CEuvre--II	p. 14
An Archangel's Toilet	p. 25
Yoicks! Gone Away!	p. 25
The Body: A Fancy	p. 27
No Doubt	p. 28
From "Nature's Dessert"	p. 28
A Posset for Nature's Breakfast	p. 28
The Return of Charles II	p. 30
The English Fleet Goes Out	p. 31
The Faculty at Work	p. 32
To Account Rendered	p. 32
The Wonder	p. 33
Short Curse	p. 33
On His Mistress Drowned	p. 34
Heavy Going	p. 36
The Blue Pencil	p. 37
Ode upon the New Year	p. 38
The Chase of the Metaphor	p. 41
From the Psalms	p. 41
From the Book of Job	p. 41
The Crystal Palaces	p. 42
Possibilities	p. 42
Rosamond's Song	p. 45
King Henry's Song	p. 46
Mr. Gunston is Shown round Heaven	p. 48
A Polyglot in Paradise	p. 48
Mr. Mead, Mr. Bates, and Mr. Gouge	p. 49
Mrs. Warner Arrives Above	p. 49
On the Landing of William III	p. 49
From the New Year's Ode, 1731	p. 52
From the Birthday Ode, 1732	p. 53
From Another, 1743	p. 54
Salute to Property	p. 55
Ode to Miss Margaret Pulteney	p. 56
To the Right Hon. Robert Walpole, Esq.	p. 56
Nature Queries	p. 58
Rustic Interior	p. 61
Advice to the Stout	p. 61
The Gastric Muse	p. 62
On Washing	p. 62
On Feather Beds	p. 63
A Submarine Jaunt	p. 65
Seascape	p. 65
A Runcible Thought	p. 66
"Sting Her Up!"	p. 66
From the "Ode to the King"	p. 67
From "Ocean, an Ode"	p. 69
To a Solemn Musick	p. 72
Final Paean	p. 72
Ye Nations, Tremble! Parliament has Met	p. 73
With a Yo, Ho, Ho	p. 74
La Pudeur Francaise	p. 75
Pastoral	p. 76
The Insensible Hottentot	p. 77
The House Beautiful	p. 78
Leeds for Pleasure	p. 78
Home Industries First	p. 80
Goats and Botanists	p. 82
The Chase of Jessy	p. 82
Le Spleen	p. 85
Bryan and Pereene	p. 88
Crescendo	p. 90
The Shame of France	p. 90
Advice to Slave-Owners	p. 90
Call to the Muse	p. 91
Of George, and Property	p. 92
Il Latte	p. 95
Hops and Props	p. 97
The Nail in the Grass	p. 98
Entry of the Villagers	p. 99
Cause and Effect	p. 100
A Sombre Moment	p. 100
Females, Sacred and Profane	p. 102
Eliza at the Battle	p. 106
Fine Figure of a Nymph	p. 107
"Ae Fond Kiss, and Then	p. 108
The Maiden Truffle	p. 108
The Birth of KNO[subscript 2]	p. 108
Mr. Baker is Well	p. 109
Miss Hoyland is Coy	p. 110
Mr. Smith is Dead	p. 110
A Business Man's Lair	p. 111
The Baileys	p. 112
A Bright Morning	p. 113
Invitation to the Waltz	p. 113
Verses on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair	p. 114
Elegy Written after reading the "Sorrows of Werter"	p. 117
The Rush to the Lakes	p. 118
Some Terrify Lions	p. 118
The Poet is Piqued	p. 119
The Tiff	p. 119
Off Duty	p. 122
The Well-Aimed Tear	p. 122
Moods	p. 124
Notice to Tourists	p. 125
The Temple of Chastity	p. 127
The Vest of Myrtle	p. 127
Virtue Protests	p. 129
Ratiocinative	p. 130
The Affectionate Heart	p. 130
George III Enters Paradise	p. 131
Lovers' Exchange	p. 133
Domestic Chat	p. 133
"What with This and That--"	p. 134
Aphrodite Adiposa	p. 135
The Evening Stroll	p. 136
The Evening Sin	p. 137
Britannia Rejecta	p. 137
The Tear	p. 139
The Prisoner Scolds	p. 140
Caesar Sings	p. 141
Odd Case of Mr. Gill	p. 144
(Oxford Street?)	p. 144
The Aged, Aged Man	p. 145
Asked and Answered	p. 145
The Old Huntsman	p. 145
The Poet Reveals All	p. 147
Baffled	p. 149
The Course Prescribed	p. 149
A Mother's Quest	p. 150
Insensibility	p. 150
The Stuffed Owl	p. 150
Decadence; or, The Umbrella	p. 151
A Worm's Life Not Everything	p. 151
An Experiment that Failed	p. 152
To Some Ladies	p. 153
The Female Friend	p. 156
The First-Rate Wife	p. 157
The Unfortunate Gentleman	p. 158
From "The Rose-Covered Grave"	p. 159
Catastrophe	p. 160
The Poet Questions the Ant	p. 161
And So Home	p. 161
A Contretemps	p. 162
Proximities	p. 163
The Once-Over	p. 163
Get-Together Song	p. 164
Efficiency	p. 165
Oh, No! We Never Mention Her	p. 167
Something to Love	p. 168
I'm Saddest When I Sing	p. 168
The Soldier's Tear	p. 169
I'd be a Butterfly	p. 169
Insect Affection	p. 171
Marine Vignette	p. 174
A Request	p. 174
Fore and Aft	p. 175
On the Revolution	p. 176
The Earl and the Girl	p. 177
A Challenge	p. 179
Only a Thought	p. 179
Prone	p. 180
Bridal Ballad	p. 181
Eulalie	p. 182
Miss Adair	p. 183
Miss Lee	p. 184
A Call	p. 185
From "The Vigil of Aiden"	p. 185
Snoblesse Oblige	p. 187
Excelsior	p. 190
Lord Stanhope's Steamer	p. 193
On the Cork Packet, 1837	p. 194
Great Western Days	p. 194
The Death of Huskisson	p. 195
Roses All the Way	p. 195
The Railway Boom, 1845	p. 196
A Lesson for the Proud	p. 197
Vision of the World, regenerated by the Gospel and the Power of Steam	p. 197
Trombone Solo	p. 200
Live and Let Live	p. 201
Becalmed in the Tropics	p. 201
A Thought	p. 202
From "The Old Arm-Chair"	p. 202
Entry of the Marines	p. 202
A Thought	p. 203
Incident in Italy	p. 204
The Passing of Arthur	p. 206
Paean	p. 207
Portrait of a Victorian Author	p. 209
The Marriage Market	p. 210
The Poor Relation; or, Pious Hope Frustrated	p. 212
The Art of Giving (1850)	p. 213
The Beelah Viaduct	p. 215
Haloes, Not Hats	p. 216
Mentem Mortalia Tangunt	p. 216
A Timely Hint	p. 217
Check to Song	p. 219
Financial Note	p. 220
The Count and the Lady	p. 221
Sordid Scene	p. 222
A Divine Mission	p. 224
Disaster at Sea	p. 226
A State Occasion	p. 227
The Good Young Squire	p. 228
A Graceful Divine	p. 228
A Lisp in Numbers	p. 229
From "Ashtaroth," a Drama	p. 230
The Fight in the Cave	p. 232
A Warning	p. 232
Steam: The Seamy Side	p. 234
Byron: A Critical Survey	p. 235
A Noble Structure	p. 237
Hic Finis Rapto	p. 238
The Poet is Scornful	p. 240
A Call (1876)	p. 240
Anti-Bacchics	p. 241
Ode Sung at the Opening of the International Exhibition	p. 242
The Lord of Burleigh	p. 244
Ocean-Spoil Alive, O!	p. 247
Riflemen Form	p. 247
Iphigenia in Extremis	p. 248
Postprandial	p. 249
Subject Index	p. 253
Index of Authors	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.