Hilaire Belloc’s “Henry King”
March 31st, 2008Save as PDF
There were complaints about the Billy Collins poem, “Parade.” Some found it morbid and depressing. To address this issue, here’s another poem about death! This one’s from the inimitable Hilaire Belloc, an Englishman of the early 20th Century whose classic work is Cautionary Tales for Little Children. In these delightfully macabre poems, Belloc describes the awful things that happen to misbehaving children, making particularly effective and amusing use of the initial capital letter. One of my favorites is below.
cut off in Dreadful Agonies.
By Hilaire Belloc
The Chief Defect of Henry King
Was chewing little bits of String.
At last he swallowed some which tied
Itself in ugly Knots inside.
Physicians of the Utmost Fame
Were called at once; but when they came
They answered, as they took their Fees,
“There is no Cure for this Disease.
Henry will very soon be dead.”
His parents stood about his Bed
Lamenting his Untimely Death,
When Henry, with his Latest Breath,
Cried – “Oh, my Friends, be warned by me,
That Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch and Tea
Are all the Human Frame requires . . .”
With that, the Wretched Child expires.
March 31st, 2008 at 3:24 pm e
OH MY GRACIOUS, DID THIS BRING BACK MEMORIES!!
I LEARNED THIS DELIOUS LITTLE POEM IN SCHOOL IN GLASGOW SCOTLAND..TOO MANY YEARS AGO TO MENTION..
March 31st, 2008 at 4:53 pm e
What an unexpected chuckle…or chuckle from an unexpected place!
Not bad for a gray and cold March 31st. Perhaps tomorrow it would have had a brighter ending!
(For a moment I thought it had to do with King Henry who too cut off more than he could chew…!)
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