Jabberwocky Variations
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'Twas rollog, and the minim potes
Did mime and mimble in the cafe;
All footly were the Philerotes,
And Daycadongs outstrafe.
Beware the Yallerbock, my son!
The aims that rile, the art that racks,
Beware the Aub-Aub Bird, and shun
The stumious Beerbomax.
He took Excalibur in hand:
Long time the canxome foe he sought--
So rested he by the Jonbul tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
Then, as veep Vigo's marge he trod,
The Yallerbock, with tongue of blue,
Came piffling through the Headley Bod,
And flippered as it flew.
One, two! One, two! And through and through
Excalibur went snicker-snack!
He took its dead and bodless head
And went jucunding back.
And hast thou slain the Yallerbock?
Come to my arms, my squeamish boy!
Oh, brighteous peace! Purlieu! Purlice!
He jawbled in his joy.
'Twas rollog, and the minim potes
Did mime and mimble in the cafe;
All footly were the Philerotes,
And Daycadongs outstrafe.
Published in the London World, 1895.
Also to be found (in an incomplete form: first four verses only, and credited to "Anonymous") in Unauthorized Versions: Poems and their Parodies, edited by Kenneth Baker, from which the following explanation is taken:
The Yellow Book, 1894 to 1897, was the major vehicle for the decadent writers who followed in the wake of Oscar Wilde. The Bodley Head published many of their works. Punch commented: "Uncleanliness is next to Bodliness".Max Beerbohm, in his essay, "A Defence of Cosmetics", used the language of the ardent campaigner to claim that the era of rouge was at hand, that the mask was more important than the face. Beerbohm was really sending up the cult of Aestheticism. Wilde treated him with respect, but could not resist asking a friend, "When you are alone with Max, does he take off his face and reveal his mask?"
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