Doggerel Friday: Elegy for Sir Francis Hinsley
Posted by matt on 28 March 2008
They told me, Francis Hinsley, they told me you were hung
With red protruding eye-balls and black protruding tongue;
I wept as I remembered how often you and I
Had laughed about Los Angeles and now ’tis here you’ll lie;
Here pickled in formaldehyde and painted like a whore,
Shrimp-pink incorruptible, not lost nor gone before.
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dave wuksib said
Alas…I have forgotten the poem this is based on. Any help?
matt said
Hi Dave–this fine bit of doggerel is from Evelyn Waugh’s hilarious novel “The Loved One”–a young British poet, Dennis Barlow has come to LA to live with his uncle Sir Francis Hinsley and turns out to be his elegist…this is early on, so the quality of the lad’s poetry/eulogy works toward character development
thanks for visiting–matt
Larry said
The original poem is “Heraclitus” by Willaim Johnson Cory. http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Readings/heraclitus.html