Oh, my head! my head! my head!
Lack! for my poor unfortunate head!
Mister de Ville
Has been to feel,
And what do you think he said?
He felt it up, and he felt it down,
Behind the ears, and across the crown,
Sinciput, occiput, great and small,
Bumps and organs, he tickled 'em all;
And he shook his own, as he gravely said,
'Sir, you really have got a most singular head!
'Why here's a bump,
Only feel what a lump;
Why the organ of "Sound" is an absolute hump;
And only feel here,
Why, behind each ear,
There's a bump for a butcher or a bombardier;
Such organs of slaughter
Would spill blood like water;
Such "lopping and topping" of heads and of tails,
Why, you'll cut up a jackass with Alderman S—.'
[Caetera desunt.]
Notes
'Dec. 5. -- Met my old friend Charles D -- , who appears to have become quite a convert to phrenology; went with him to De Ville to have his head felt; scribbled the following lines during the "manipulation":
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Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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For me this has more merit than many fine poems that others rate highly. It seems to have been written for no other reason than to amuse the writer and remind him of a recent experience and what better reason could there be to write any poem.
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Do all those lumps and bumps really tell a tale?
Might tell a tale but I think it's a tall one.
Enjoyed this!
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It's different, very funny.
it's nice to read sommat you can have
a good laugh at.
Meganx
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Interesting imagery here!
It touches in visions within my head!
I did enjoy this!
Bill -
This poem made me LMAO...just the image of having one's head feeled up and down...such manipulation LOL
very fun and delightful read.
glad I came across it today
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wow, this is a really fun read with the way it flowed. i enjoyed that highly. For some reason though it really conjured a scary image of head feeling-up. i always wondered about how that was done and didn't know it was called phrenology. The idea really kinda gives me the creeps now. i think it's the way that the poem sounds so intense b/c of it's fast urgency with all the exclamation marks and enjambment. i really liked it a lot though.
lizbian -
good structure and rhyme
just flew over my head for the underline message?
pen on
Tamara
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