h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Poetology - A41770037
Author: dmitrigheorgheni - U1590784

This was probably a Bad Idea, but the annoyance factor of National Public Radio on a beautiful fall day...

I like this parody of Serious Poetry! The line break in
"Fireman's braces, to hold his trousers/Up" is a delicious detail.

It is odd, though, that a lot of men regard poetry as a sissy occupation, only fit for women, when most of the great poets of history (at least until the twentieth century) were men.

This certainly is good.
Some would say they still are, mVp

American poetry seems to lend itself especially well to parody - Eliot, Pound, Whitman etc. Maybe that's because of this manliness thing. It does beg to be ridiculed, rather.

Anyone read Chard Whitlow?

The Edited Guide could use a decent bio of Eliot and Pound, individually or collectively. (The suitably mid-Atlantic Eliot was a planned collaboration for me and Jordan, only he seems to have wandered off again)

Oops, this is the AWW isn't it.
Sorry, off-topic there for a minute.

Thank you for the tip, Pin...

I was unaware of the exquisite beauty that is 'Chard Whitlow'.

For a real treat, listen to the delightful Dylan Thomas a-reading of this masterpiece:

http://www.solearabiantree.net/namingofparts/audio-visual.html

You left out Longfellow. (This one was hard to find, and is too long to legally quote.)

http://www.newenglishreview.net/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/8876

(Go to the bottom of the page for 'This is the meter Columbian'.)

I grew up with the shores of Gitche Gumee, among other bits of versified pseudo-Americana. It is probably a violation of child cruelty laws to force 13-year-olds to study 'The Courtship of Miles Standish'.

Chard Whitlow is great!

I'm glad to see Eliot parodied, having wrestled with the Waste Land in the course of English A-level and again at undergraduate level.

Hiawatha has personal significance, though not for its poetry, and I confess to superficial reading of Longfellow.

There was a maths question based on the poem in my uni entrance paper. It was a ballistics question, with so many arrows in the air before the first landed. It fell out nicely, and I got my place.

Then came the Lonnrot/Kalevala thing. I spent around two years working in Finland in my early twenties. It's a country I still love, and it was a time when the shadow of Russia was receding, and the nationalism was very strong. That evocative metre epitomises all that, along with the paintings of Gallen-Kallela. For me, there is nothing Native American about the cadence any longer.

Enjoyed it dmitri, one line reminded me of that song which has a line in it something like this: "down Mexico way" (old cowboy song?)
and I too liked the mind picture of the man hitching his pants with a pair of braces(I wonder if he sticks his thumbs in them when reciting?)

'South of the Border, Down Mexico Way' - that's the one.

Yeah, I imagine he would sticks his thumbs in them...

Ah, epic poetry that is *real* epic poetry, now *that's* another topic...such as Kalevala.

'The Song of Hiawatha' isn't real epic, of course. The saga of Hiawatha was written down by the Iroquois chiefs in the 19th Century, in prose:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHEROKEE/2005-08/1125191406

The story itself is fascinating, since it combines an understanding of political theory with, frankly, magical realism.

For a Native American rhythm, try this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nhCw8X6uI0

(This is a good version, hasn't got any velvet paintings in it.)

neato.

Congratulations Dmitri, another for another UnderGuide selection!

I'll post the QA ramblings on this one in full "This is seriously good. We branded it as parody in the AWW thread, a genre with connotations of superficiality. This isn’t lightweight, though. It’s really pretty authentic literary satire.
The only slightly disappointing aspect is the relative weakness of the poetry. I didn’t get this ironic deficiency on a first reading, because lots of clever devices are there, such as the throwaway single-word stanza closures, the pretentious rhetoric and the token symbolism. It just doesn’t scan quite well enough to be completely self-standing.
That said, I love it and it’s a delight to have to try and write a QA summary that doesn’t fall victim to it. I’ve managed to convince myself of immunity in that it’s really about Americans, and the contradiction in the American male psyche between strength and sensitivity. dmg succeeds here in making all points on the spectrum ridiculous. (I wondered for a while whether there ought to be a few Fascist overtones to complete a Pound-ward nod, but probably that’s wisely omitted).
This has probably killed off my fitful attemps to write the Entry on TS Eliot, as well as to flog through ‘The Naked and the Dead’. I think I’ll go watch ‘American Beauty’ again instead, and maybe have a beer."

Thank you for all your contributions here, Dmitri, they are much appreciated.
UGeds

If I have put one person off Norman Mailer, I shall feel fulfilled.