A wizened dealer in the second-hand Said: I've two vast and dog-eared kid-bound tomes Still in my stock. I cannot understand Why no-one wants them any more. Such poems Transport you to new worlds, a wonderland Where planets swim, and men are hushed on peaks And skylarks fly through hail. O, how I wish To sell the blessed things. They've been there weeks. And on the frontispiece these words appear: "My name is Percy Shelley - 'twas a Bysshe! If you don't like it, rub it in your hair!" Nothing beside remains. What can I say? They've been remaindered. Else, my shop is bare. The dusty, empty shelves stretch far away.
Ozymandias (not a sonnet, incidentally, despite having 14 lines. The rhyming scheme is "wrong", so it's a humble quatorzain). His second wife was , author of Frankenstein.
(1792-1822) left us a phenomenal amount of great poetry, considering that he drowned before he was 30. Among it was"Bish" is an unfashionable word for "mistake". A mistake in this parody is that there is a reference to a poem by
. I plead artistic licence, and ask for numerous other offences to be taken into consideration.© Bob Newman 2004. All rights reserved.
This page last updated 28/11/2004