Long Titles: Answers
Created | Updated Oct 7, 2012
A test of endurance, a measure of longwindedness.
Long Titles: Answers
The answers to these questions about poems and songs with long titles.
- In the poem Written on passing Dead-man's Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Late in the Evening, September, 1804, what does the poet see?
The Flying Dutchman. He says:
Fast gliding along, a gloomy bark
Scary stuff, though most people think this is a case of fata morgana, or optical illusion.
Her sails are full, though the wind is still,
And there blows not a breath her sails to fill. - Who penned the wonderful On the Great Encouragement Given by the English Nobility & Gentry to Correggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Gainsborough, Catalani, Du Crowe, & Dilbury Doodle?
William Blake. Not as pithy a title as Jerusalem, but the poem is short, and caustic, and reads in part:
AS the ignorant savage will sell his own wife
For a sword, or a cutlass, a dagger, or knife;
So the taught, savage Englishman, spends his whole fortune
On a smear, or a squall, to destroy picture or tune... - Who claimed responsibility for The Auld Farmer's New-Year-Morning Salutation to his Auld Mare, Maggie, on giving her the Accustomed Ripp of Corn to Hansel in the New-Year?
Robbie Burns. The 'auld' probably gave it away. This is actually a good poem:
Mony a sair daurk we twa hae wrought,
An’ wi’ the weary warl’ fought!
An’ mony an anxious day, I thought
We wad be beat!
Yet here to crazy age we’re brought,
Wi’ something yet.
One for the animal lovers, bless him. - Which British Vogon perpetrated Lines Left upon a Seat in a Yew-Tree Which Stands Near the Lake of Esthwaite, on a Desolate Part of the Shore, Yet Commanding a Beautiful Prospect?
William Wordsworth. Wordsworth was prone to this, remember Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey? He probably should have left these on the seat, but never mind. - How did US Poet Laureate Billy Collins show his feelings about long poem titles?
He wrote a poem with a long title, of course. It's called Reading an Anthology of Chinese Poems of the Sung Dynasty, I Pause To Admire the Length and Clarity of Their Titles. Fair enough. It's a lovely poem, and we think you should read it. You know you want to. - Complete this Fred Astaire title: How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When. . . ?
. . . You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life? Good question, Fred. (Bet he got the girl, anyway.) - Can you rattle off the Hoagy Carmichael title about the Yank in Yokohoma? Who was with him in his tank?
It's easy: I'm a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin' Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues. Longest song title, according to Guinness. - Vogonity is not limited to classical poetry, Chinese or otherwise. What rock group is responsible for Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict?
Pink Floyd. Find it on Youtube. We think it's, er, interesting, if you like mice. - Finish this title from Fall Out Boys Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song. . .
. . . So We Wouldn't Get Sued. That about says it all. - How did The Steal respond to long song titles?
Wrote a song about them, of course. It's called Long Song Titles Are So 2001. That's them told.
As the Bard didn't quite say, 'So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long these titles will a headache be.' If you enjoyed these, share them with your poetic and music-loving friends.
