The creature's popularity was wonderfully wide.
July 17, 2024 6:34 AM Subscribe
I had a hippopotamus. "I had a hippopotamus; I kept him in a shed
And fed him upon vitamins and vegetable bread.
I made him my companion on many cheery walks,
And had his portrait done by a celebrity in chalks.
His charming eccentricities were known on every side.
The creature's popularity was wonderfully wide.
He frolicked with the Rector in a dozen friendly tussles,
Who could not but remark on his hippopotamuscles.
If he should be affected by depression or the dumps
By hippopotameasles or hippopotamumps
I never knew a particle of peace 'till it was plain
He was hippopotamasticating properly again...."
"Patrick Barrington was a British poet best known for his humorous and whimsical verse. His poems often featured playful wordplay, unexpected rhymes, and a light-hearted approach to life's absurdities. He was particularly skilled at crafting witty and memorable limericks, a form he helped popularize.
Barrington's work emerged during a period of significant change and upheaval in British poetry. While modernist poets like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were experimenting with new forms and exploring darker themes, Barrington's verse offered a refreshing counterpoint, emphasizing humor and traditional forms. His work found a receptive audience among readers seeking respite from the anxieties of the era."
Of equal merit to "I had a Hippopotamus" is further down the page: "Diplomatic Platypus."
"Patrick Barrington was a British poet best known for his humorous and whimsical verse. His poems often featured playful wordplay, unexpected rhymes, and a light-hearted approach to life's absurdities. He was particularly skilled at crafting witty and memorable limericks, a form he helped popularize.
Barrington's work emerged during a period of significant change and upheaval in British poetry. While modernist poets like T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound were experimenting with new forms and exploring darker themes, Barrington's verse offered a refreshing counterpoint, emphasizing humor and traditional forms. His work found a receptive audience among readers seeking respite from the anxieties of the era."
Of equal merit to "I had a Hippopotamus" is further down the page: "Diplomatic Platypus."
This is lovely, thank for sharing!
On a darker note, I profoundly, deeply, passionately despise the "Analysis (ai):" added at the bottom.
posted by signal at 7:29 AM on July 17 [1 favorite]
On a darker note, I profoundly, deeply, passionately despise the "Analysis (ai):" added at the bottom.
posted by signal at 7:29 AM on July 17 [1 favorite]
.
posted by AlSweigart at 7:37 AM on July 17
posted by AlSweigart at 7:37 AM on July 17
I read to my kids, and a lot of the verse out there (usually rhyming kids’ picture books) feels forced or awkward.
Maybe don't read this one to your kids, though. It gets pretty fucking dark once the maid finds out our hippo friend is a "hippopotamissus":
MeFi: Nothing upon the earth is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth.
posted by The Bellman at 8:03 AM on July 17 [6 favorites]
Maybe don't read this one to your kids, though. It gets pretty fucking dark once the maid finds out our hippo friend is a "hippopotamissus":
My housekeeper regarded him with jaundice in her eye.Well.... Shit.
She did not want a colony of hippopotami.
She borrowed a machine gun from her soldier-nephew, Percy
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
. . .
I had a hippopotamus, but nothing upon the earth
Is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth.
No life that's joyful can be strong enough to smother
My sorrow for what might have been a hippopotamother.
MeFi: Nothing upon the earth is constant in its happiness or lasting in its mirth.
posted by The Bellman at 8:03 AM on July 17 [6 favorites]
She borrowed a machine gun from her soldier-nephew, Percy
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
Whoof - boy, ...
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:53 AM on July 17 [1 favorite]
And showed my hippopotamus no hippopotamercy.
Whoof - boy, ...
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:53 AM on July 17 [1 favorite]
Oof, wow.
posted by lostburner at 10:11 AM on July 17
posted by lostburner at 10:11 AM on July 17
Behold the hippopotamus!
We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.
Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look all right to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.
Ogden Nash
posted by lalochezia at 12:24 PM on July 17 [4 favorites]
We laugh at how he looks to us,
And yet in moments dank and grim,
I wonder how we look to him.
Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus!
We really look all right to us,
As you no doubt delight the eye
Of other hippopotami.
Ogden Nash
posted by lalochezia at 12:24 PM on July 17 [4 favorites]
Also, that ai "analysis" (i.e. sludge) of the poem at the bottom of the OP's first link, is creepy and banal as fuck, yet it is germane, and, to be blunt is better than most people could write.
posted by lalochezia at 12:26 PM on July 17
posted by lalochezia at 12:26 PM on July 17
'I Had A Duck-Billed Platypus' is one of the few long poems I can recite by heart. The Bustlemaker's Song is pretty good too:
Oh I don't know, I think it's kind of sweet how the AI completely fails to grasp that these are nonsense poems. 'The use of repetition and the refrain "Things have decayed in the bustle making trade" emphasize the cyclical nature of fashion and the passing of time.' So earnest, so naive, and so completely wrong!
posted by verstegan at 4:00 PM on July 17 [2 favorites]
I built bustles for the slender, I built bustles for the stout,> I profoundly, deeply, passionately despise the "Analysis (ai):" added at the bottom
I built bustles for the girls with muscles, and bustles for the girls without.
I built bustles by the thousands, in the good old days of yore,
But things have decayed in the bustle making trade and I don't build bustles any more.
Oh I don't know, I think it's kind of sweet how the AI completely fails to grasp that these are nonsense poems. 'The use of repetition and the refrain "Things have decayed in the bustle making trade" emphasize the cyclical nature of fashion and the passing of time.' So earnest, so naive, and so completely wrong!
posted by verstegan at 4:00 PM on July 17 [2 favorites]
What, no mention of the North American House Hippo?
(Preparing Canadians for AI-generated content since 1999.)
posted by warriorqueen at 6:15 PM on July 17
(Preparing Canadians for AI-generated content since 1999.)
posted by warriorqueen at 6:15 PM on July 17
My entire family hasn't been looking for this poem for decades or anything. Granddad used to recite poetry instead of telling bedtime stories, and this and Gorey were favorites but I'd never heard the part after the 'hippopotamercy' before. Very exciting! I will share it with the cousins!
posted by ngaiotonga at 4:07 PM on July 18 [1 favorite]
posted by ngaiotonga at 4:07 PM on July 18 [1 favorite]
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Hippopotamuscles!
posted by lostburner at 7:00 AM on July 17 [3 favorites]