The Stuffed Owl
, by WYNDHAM LEWIS, D.B.LEE, CHARLESNote: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
- ISBN: 9781590170380 | 1590170385
- Cover: Trade Paper
- Copyright: 4/30/2003
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.
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
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
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. |
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