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Nov. 16th, 2007 03:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leafWell, well, well.
As a result of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
junomagic's post, I found myself looking for the words to Swinburne's Dolores - you know, 'oh splendid and sterile Dolores, Our Lady of Pain." I shan't repost it, given that it's very much TL:DR, in my view, though I was charmed to discover that this is the origin of 'noble and nude and antique', as well as the hoary old 'from the lilies and languors of virtue/ to the raptures and roses of vice' (though actually I see Swinburne as more in the lilies and languors camp, however vicious). The sort of poem which consists of quotations interspersed with padding.
However: thanks to the wonders of Wikipedia, I have come across a parody of Dolores; not only is it the funniest poem I have ever read about a squid or octopus, but I think I might have found the origin of squidporn. It also rather deflates Swinburne.
Octopus
Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between.
Wast thou born to the sound of sea trumpets?
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges -- thy muffins and crumpets,
Of the seaweed -- thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
Sinburnian or Saint?
Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
That creeps in a desolate place,
To enroll and envelop the sleeper
In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
Indelible ink!
O breast, that 'twere rapture to writhe on!
O arms 'twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eight-fold embraces enfolden,
Let our empty existence escape,
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
Crushed all out of shape!
Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
With death in their amorous kiss,
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
With bitings of agonised bliss;
We are sick with the poison of pleasure,
Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
And bite us again!
By Algernon Charles Sin-Burn
-- Arthur Clement Hilton
† Mind you, the only other one I can recall is The Kraken, and though I am very fond of Tennyson it's hardly a barrel of laughs.
As a result of
junomagic's post, I found myself looking for the words to Swinburne's Dolores - you know, 'oh splendid and sterile Dolores, Our Lady of Pain." I shan't repost it, given that it's very much TL:DR, in my view, though I was charmed to discover that this is the origin of 'noble and nude and antique', as well as the hoary old 'from the lilies and languors of virtue/ to the raptures and roses of vice' (though actually I see Swinburne as more in the lilies and languors camp, however vicious). The sort of poem which consists of quotations interspersed with padding.However: thanks to the wonders of Wikipedia, I have come across a parody of Dolores; not only is it the funniest poem I have ever read about a squid or octopus, but I think I might have found the origin of squidporn. It also rather deflates Swinburne.
Octopus
Strange beauty, eight-limbed and eight-handed,
Whence camest to dazzle our eyes?
With thy bosom bespangled and banded
With the hues of the seas and the skies;
Is thy home European or Asian,
O mystical monster marine?
Part molluscous and partly crustacean,
Betwixt and between.
Wast thou born to the sound of sea trumpets?
Hast thou eaten and drunk to excess
Of the sponges -- thy muffins and crumpets,
Of the seaweed -- thy mustard and cress?
Wast thou nurtured in caverns of coral,
Remote from reproof or restraint?
Art thou innocent, art thou immoral,
Sinburnian or Saint?
Lithe limbs, curling free, as a creeper
That creeps in a desolate place,
To enroll and envelop the sleeper
In a silent and stealthy embrace,
Cruel beak craning forward to bite us,
Our juices to drain and to drink,
Or to whelm us in waves of Cocytus,
Indelible ink!
O breast, that 'twere rapture to writhe on!
O arms 'twere delicious to feel
Clinging close with the crush of the Python,
When she maketh her murderous meal!
In thy eight-fold embraces enfolden,
Let our empty existence escape,
Give us death that is glorious and golden,
Crushed all out of shape!
Ah! thy red lips, lascivious and luscious,
With death in their amorous kiss,
Cling round us, and clasp us, and crush us,
With bitings of agonised bliss;
We are sick with the poison of pleasure,
Dispense us the potion of pain;
Ope thy mouth to its uttermost measure
And bite us again!
By Algernon Charles Sin-Burn
-- Arthur Clement Hilton
† Mind you, the only other one I can recall is The Kraken, and though I am very fond of Tennyson it's hardly a barrel of laughs.