The Height Of The Ridiculous Poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes
The Height Of The Ridiculous
I WROTE some lines once on a time
In wondrous merry mood,
And thought, as usual, men would say
They were exceeding good.
They were so queer, so very queer,
I laughed as I would die;
Albeit, in the general way,
A sober man am I.
I called my servant, and he came;
How kind it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
He of the mighty limb.
"These to the printer," I exclaimed,
And, in my humorous way,
I added, (as a trifling jest,)
"There'll be the devil to pay."
He took the paper, and I watched,
And saw him peep within;
At the first line he read, his face
Was all upon the grin.
He read the next; the grin grew broad,
And shot from ear to ear;
He read the third; a chuckling noise
I now began to hear.
The fourth; he broke into a roar;
The fifth; his waistband split;
The sixth; he burst five buttons off,
And tumbled in a fit.
Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye,
I watched that wretched man,
And since, I never dare to write
As funny as I can.
Every now and then we all can use the ridiculous humor! Loved it. Trying to imagine what was written in those line! Yes! no revelation....the best part!
The author, Sir Oliver, pokes fun at himself/his written lines, ....as I do at times in my poems and messages on PH. bri : ) ***** To my favorites.
Indeed, this poem climbs the heights of rediculousness/mockery, though in a tongue-in-cheek way a say. .
stanza 1: In 2024 I would use 'once upon a time'. mood/good is not what I call a 'perfect rhyme'; I think many years ago such rhymes were more acceptable. : ) bri
A committed defender of the First Amendment, Holmes is known for the 'clear and present danger' doctrine, which held that the U.S. government could restrict speech only when it posed a 'clear and present danger' to the national interest.'
stanza 1: Oliver W. H. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. Wikipedia Born: March 8,1841, Boston, MA Died: March 6,1935 '
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/17/2024 11:37:07 AM # 1.0.0.1119
That sounds really good. I needed to listen to you say this