Martin Gardner's Favorite Poetic Parodies
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"entertaining...good, clean fun..." -The Columbus Dispatch"...very amusing..." -Toronto Globe & MailSome famous poems ache to be parodied. In school they were forced down our throats, and though we can still remember a verse or two, their greatness may have escaped us. Take, for instance, Longfellow's famous " -The Village Blacksmith":Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he With large and sinewy hands . . . .Most of us have heard it, and may be able to recite a few verses. But many may prefer "The Minnesota Wrestler" by Armand T. Ringer:Under the spreading repartee The St. Paul wrestler stands. The Body, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands. . . .Ventura's hair, once black and long, Departed long ago; His brow was wet with honest sweat When he worked as a wrestling pro.Even original wits can set themselves up for later parody. When Dorothy Parker wrote, "Men seldom make passes/At girls who wears glasses," could she have foreseen this later take-off by Bob McKenty? "Men often get amorous/With gals who are mammarous."Whether you love poetry or just don't get it, you will love these often hilarious poetic parodies. Martin Gardner has assembled his favorites, many by famous authors in their own right (Robert Sherwood, G.K. Chesterton, A.E. Housman, Bret Harte). Gardner does us the favor of putting the original poems first, followed by their parodies, thus providing a sampling of some of the best-known poems in English while demonstrating how easily the profound can be made to look ridiculous.Martin Gardner, the creator of Scientific American's "Mathematical Games" column, which he wrote for more than twenty-five years, is the author of almost one hundred books, including The Annotated Ancient Mariner, Martin Gardner's Favorite Poetic Parodies, From the Wandering Jew to William F. Buckley Jr., and Science: Good, Bad and Bogus. For many years he was also a contributing editor to the Skeptical Inquirer.
Introduction131.Memory172.Rock Me to Sleep193.The Night Has a Thousand Eyes234.The Golf Links255.The Ancient Mariner276.To a Fat Lady Seen From the Train337.Ben Bolt358.The House By the Side of the Road399.The Road Not Taken4310.Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening4511.Fire and Ice4712.It Couldn't Be Done4913.I Remember, I Remember5114.Abou Ben Adhem5515.Jenny Kiss'd Me5716.Ode to a Nightingale5917.Trees6518.If6719.Tommy7120.Gunga Din7721.Excelsior8322.Hiawatha9123.The Village Blacksmith9324.The Day is Done9925.A Psalm of Life10326.The Arrow and the Song10927.My Candle11128.News Item11329.The Bells11530.Annabel Lee12731.Ulalume13532.The Raven14133.The Lost Chord15534.Fog16135.The Shooting of Dan McGrew16336.Ozymanias16937.The Battle of Blenheim17138.Happy Thought17539.The Star17940.Crossing the Bar18141.Beautiful Snow18542.Maud Muller18943.The Burial of Sir John Moore20744.The Old Oaken Bucket21145.Mary's Little Lamb22946.Jabberwocky23147.A Visit From St. Nicholas23548.The Purple Cow239AppendixIf Famous Poets Had Different Occupations241
