George Poem by Hilaire Belloc

George

Rating: 3.6


Who played with a Dangerous Toy, and suffered a Catastrophe of considerable Dimensions

When George's Grandmamma was told
That George had been as good as gold,
She promised in the afternoon
To buy him an Immense BALLOON.
And so she did; but when it came,
It got into the candle flame,
And being of a dangerous sort
Exploded with a loud report!
The lights went out! The windows broke!
The room was filled with reeking smoke.
And in the darkness shrieks and yells
Were mingled with electric bells,
And falling masonry and groans,
And crunching, as of broken bones,
And dreadful shrieks, when, worst of all,
The house itself began to fall!
It tottered, shuddering to and fro,
Then crashed into the street below-
Which happened to be Savile Row.

When help arrived, among the dead
Were Cousin Mary, Little Fred,
The Footmen (both of them), the Groom,
The man that cleaned the Billiard-Room,
The Chaplain, and the Still-Room Maid.
And I am dreadfully afraid
That Monsieur Champignon, the Chef,
Will now be permanently deaf-
And both his aides are much the same;
While George, who was in part to blame,
Received, you will regret to hear,
A nasty lump behind the ear.

Moral:
The moral is that little boys
Should not be given dangerous toys.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Barjinder Singh Randhawa 24 January 2012

the poem can be read through a Marxist perspective...a little mistake by the aristocratic boy led to the demise of many a working class people...what you think? ? ?

9 11 Reply
Robin Pershing 19 June 2022

It's just a cautionary tale for naughty children. We really don't need to bring Marx into it.

2 1
Hans Vr 24 January 2012

Cute poem.

10 6 Reply
Pranab K Chakraborty 24 January 2012

Nice wit. Poet at last put a moral just to communicate our idiocy. BALLOON...just a globe could be its match. In Chaplins Great Dictator we have experienced it already. A globe is very much like our loving planet. A child...yes, the bosses, in respect of our planet, are child no doubt. We put the right to administrate our social existence to their hand. So should be conscious before selection...How long is poets length, we don't know but his lucid style of fables introducing in poetry, is unique. Pranab k chakraborty

8 7 Reply
Manonton Dalan 24 January 2012

oh! i was thinking that earthquake pushed balloon to candle flame as the house start to crumble... just a thought from once california kid. md

7 7 Reply
Bri Edwards 22 February 2023

FIVE stars, no less, no more

1 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 22 February 2023

'Asked once why he wrote so much, he responded, 'Because my children are howling for pearls and caviar.' ' THAT is copied from the HUGE PH biography of the author, born in the 1800s.

1 0 Reply
Bri Edwards 22 February 2023

I thought the poem began a bit 'slowly', but it got better and better. This poem is a cautionary tale for parents and 'grandmammas'! ! !

0 0 Reply
Bharati Nayak 22 February 2023

(Part-2) Our earth, the balloon is now at the hands of a child who does not know how dangerous it is if the balloon catches fire.Such a fire will destroy the whole world.

0 1 Reply
Bharati Nayak 22 February 2023

This poem can be read with the present scenario of the world.Pakistan threatens to sell nuclear bombs to tide over its finance crunch, Putin threatens to prolong war after Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine.(Part-1)

0 1 Reply
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Hilaire Belloc

Hilaire Belloc

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