The Education of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n/One More Manhattan
by
by
[Harcourt, Brace, $2.00 each]
READERS, I give you Harcourt s brace
Young authors both — a queen and ace.
You like to laugh? They’re out to kill us.
Are Ross (L.Q.) and McGinley (Phyllis).
So buy of Ross! Buy Ross’s nostrum!
Young authors both — a queen and ace.
You like to laugh? They’re out to kill us.
Are Ross (L.Q.) and McGinley (Phyllis).
So buy of Ross! Buy Ross’s nostrum!
(The public beats the Leonard Ross drum):
’The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N,’
A man as funny as Charlie Chaplin.
Imported soul of twistful tongue,
He makes good elderly English young.
He struggled with night school; spelled, recited,
And Julius Scissor! are we delighted
By Vashington (Judge), Jakesbeer’s Macbat,
Selecting Katz for the plural of cat;
I big de pottment, ufcawss, exactel,
Beauriful — Ross! what an elegant dactyl.
He’s bland, he’s human, with faller-students
To harry him on to each new imprudence.
The ghost of genius over him poises:
Jake Popper had fivver — with ‘spacial noises.’
But still if you ask me (I big de pottment?)
Do I know what writing with starry D*O*T
meant?
I don’t, but its K*A*P*L*A*N — soprizing,
dividual;
Pshaw, what I give you is purely residual,
Plus the one fault which a critic should mention:
Spontaneous things get confused with invention.
’The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N,’
A man as funny as Charlie Chaplin.
Imported soul of twistful tongue,
He makes good elderly English young.
He struggled with night school; spelled, recited,
And Julius Scissor! are we delighted
By Vashington (Judge), Jakesbeer’s Macbat,
Selecting Katz for the plural of cat;
I big de pottment, ufcawss, exactel,
Beauriful — Ross! what an elegant dactyl.
He’s bland, he’s human, with faller-students
To harry him on to each new imprudence.
The ghost of genius over him poises:
Jake Popper had fivver — with ‘spacial noises.’
But still if you ask me (I big de pottment?)
Do I know what writing with starry D*O*T
meant?
I don’t, but its K*A*P*L*A*N — soprizing,
dividual;
Pshaw, what I give you is purely residual,
Plus the one fault which a critic should mention:
Spontaneous things get confused with invention.
Well, that for the prose. Miss McGinley the Terse,
With some gin in her name, ’s not awry in her verse.
Golly, no; she belongs with the best o’ the daft
Who are licensed to practise the darlingest craft.
Her songs are New York, and her pen the New
Yorker’s,
And most of the crop she’s collected are corkers.
She’s urban-suburban, resilient as Rahway,
And yet (says the jacket) she comes from Utah-
way!
No matter: she reads like a lady who’s schooled
By traditional masculine verse — but not ruled.
And who cares for the source? Still, I’ll crack her
a Filbert
For some of the good that she got out of Gilbert,
For some of the slyness — but don’t let it trouble
you —
After that Talk-of-the-Town E.B.W.
Phyllis McGinley, you’ve made such a name for
Yourself that I’ll bet you will reach what you aim
for.
My critique — I’m signing these couplets for such:
The danger to all good light verse is too much.
With some gin in her name, ’s not awry in her verse.
Golly, no; she belongs with the best o’ the daft
Who are licensed to practise the darlingest craft.
Her songs are New York, and her pen the New
Yorker’s,
And most of the crop she’s collected are corkers.
She’s urban-suburban, resilient as Rahway,
And yet (says the jacket) she comes from Utah-
way!
No matter: she reads like a lady who’s schooled
By traditional masculine verse — but not ruled.
And who cares for the source? Still, I’ll crack her
a Filbert
For some of the good that she got out of Gilbert,
For some of the slyness — but don’t let it trouble
you —
After that Talk-of-the-Town E.B.W.
Phyllis McGinley, you’ve made such a name for
Yourself that I’ll bet you will reach what you aim
for.
My critique — I’m signing these couplets for such:
The danger to all good light verse is too much.
Readers, I give you Harcourt’s brace:
Young authors, yes! the queen and ace.
You’d like to laugh? They’ll kill you, too
McGinley (Phyllis) and Ross (L.Q.).
Young authors, yes! the queen and ace.
You’d like to laugh? They’ll kill you, too
McGinley (Phyllis) and Ross (L.Q.).
DAVID McCORD