[1118] Octopus

Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
    Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
    With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
    O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
    Betwixt and between.

Wast thou born to the sound of sea trumpets?
    Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges -- thy muffins and crumpets,
    Of the seaweed -- thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
    Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
    Sinburnian or Saint?

Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
    That creeps in a desolate place,
To enroll and envelop the sleeper
    In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
    Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
    Indelible ink!

O breast, that 'twere rapture to writhe on!
    O arms 'twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
    When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eight-fold embraces enfolden,
    Let our empty existence escape,
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
    Crushed all out of shape!

Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
    With death in their amorous kiss,
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
    With bitings of agonised bliss;
We are sick with the poison of pleasure,
    Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
    And bite us again!

By Algernon Charles Sin-Burn

	-- Arthur Clement Hilton

Note: A parody of Swinburne's "Dolores"

There are some parodies whose pleasure stems in good part from the sheer
painfulness of the original, and Octopus is definitely one such. 'Dolores'
is a poem I had great difficulty getting through - while each individual
verse is perfectly readable, there are way too many of them, and their
sequencing fails to capture my interest. Indeed, 'Octopus' is very like
Lewis Carroll's parodies in Alice, funny on their own, but much funnier once
you read the poems whose high tone they're mocking.

No real commentary on the poem itself - I just enjoy seeing a poet having
fun at another poet's well-deserved expense.

martin

p.s. doesn't "strange beauty eight limbed and eight handed" sound like it
should open a limerick?

Links:

"Dolores":
  http://user.itl.net/~geraint/dolores.html

UTEL's notes on the poem:
  http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/hilton2.html

Biography of Hilton:
  http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/authors/hilton.html#notes


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From: Richard_Moore@

Octopus

Strange beauty eight limbed and eight handed
Was out on the beach alone stranded
Lifted back to the water
It swam where it oughter
I continued on pleased but hot handed.

Alt. last lines:

While I pondered just how it had landed.

And took pride in the good that one man did.


Richard K. Moore
Resource Consultant
Orange County Department of Education
200 Kalmus Drive, B-1027
P.O. Box 9050
Costa Mesa, CA 92628-9050
(714) 966-4208 (B-1027)
(714) 434-0231 (fax)
http://www.ocde.k12.ca.us/infolit