{"id":112431,"date":"2017-07-12T15:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T19:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=112431"},"modified":"2017-07-12T15:17:41","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T19:17:41","slug":"tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

From the cover of the NYRB reissue of The Fire Horse<\/i>.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

I have just closed Isaac Watts\u2019s once-famous book of children\u2019s poetry, Divine Songs Attempted in Easy Language for the Use of Children<\/em><\/a>. This book came out in 1715 and went through nobody-knows-how-many editions. Billions. Apparently there was a very long period during which it could reasonably be expected that any English-speaker could recite every one of these twenty-eight poems backward, under any conditions, including hanging upside-down drunk on two hits of acid.<\/p>\n

Today, most people only know of the book\u2019s existence because two of its pieces are parodied in Alice in Wonderland <\/em>(Watts: \u201c \u2019Tis the voice of the sluggard \u2026 \u201d and \u201cHow doth the little busy bee \u2026 \u201d versus Carroll: \u201c \u2019Tis the voice of the lobster \u2026 \u201d and \u201cHow doth the little crocodile \u2026 \u201d). Modern readers usually assume Carroll is cocking a snoot at old Watts for being a moralistic, unfun and quadrilateral prig. It is, of course, possible that Carroll thought that, but I must say I doubt it. After all, Carroll was himself a supreme goody-goody, every bit as much as Watts. Read Carroll\u2019s in-earnest poem on the first page of Alice <\/em>(\u201cFrom a Fairy to a Child\u201d). Read his diary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, we are inclined to explain away the wild success of Divine Songs<\/em>, because we believe we have in hand all the pertinent facts concerning children and their minds. Children, it is now known, delight in nonsense, noisemaking, pointlessness, and perversity. They do not wish to be taught anything. They relish, obscenely, rhythm and rhyme. They love the idea of making a b-i-i-i-i-i-g mess. They also \u201crespond with deep satisfaction\u201d to assurances that they are treasured and special. Others are muggles; they are magic.<\/p>\n

Since all of the above is true, we can infer that poems about not swearing, about not fighting with one\u2019s brothers and sisters, and about not wasting time can only be the soporific effusions of persons with ant farms up their asses. Prigs, in a word\u2014who want to teach children to be prigs.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just one problem. Children actually are prigs. They adore <\/em>scolding one another. They adore <\/em>pulling rank. And they adore the idea that they (unlike the brutish, unlike the neighbors, unlike the damned) know what is appropriate and what is not.<\/p>\n

Watts spoke to this need, to this Passion of the Spirit\u2014and so he was, for a hundred and fifty years at least, as popular as Dr. Seuss and J. K. Rowling combined. The key difference between Watts and his heirs in the art of writing for children is that Watts really did write for children directly<\/em>. Literary artists\u00a0had not yet risen to the task of dropping things in to amuse the wretches who are forced to read to the little droolers and mess-makers.<\/p>\n

In this way, most children\u2019s books today are like \u201cbank shots\u201d in pool. You tickle the parents, and the kids get pleasure by contagion. Watts was more direct. \u201cNine ball in the corner pocket\u201d\u2014and bang<\/em>.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

The prejudice against didacticism runs very deep in another book I\u2019ve been reading: Russian Poetry for Children<\/em><\/a> by Elena Sokol (University of Tennessee Press, 1984). This book, for all its flaws, is ridiculously useful, both as an overview and also as a quote book. Practically every page teems with quoted material in Romanized Russian\u2014with the stresses marked (very convenient for a beginner like me)\u2014and with practically word-for-word translations. These two factors alone are worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n

However: I get impatient with Sokol a lot. She exemplifies our modern conventional certainty with regard to satisfying children\u2019s tastes. She glows with admiration for writers so long as they stick to magical happenings and African animals, but is saddened and disappointed when, for example, Mayakovsky writes about work. (Sokol thinks kids\u00a0exclusively<\/em>\u00a0like lollipops and nonsense\u2014indeed, that’s what almost everybody thinks.)<\/p>\n

Now let me take a moment to say explicitly: I myself write for children more or less constantly, and all my controls are set for magic and African animals, just like with everybody else. Also big messes. After all, I grew up on the Cat in the Hat and Sam-I-Am and the Grinch Who Stole Hanukkah\u2014all of whom I revere. But I am also a trained literary person with a doctorate in English Literature, and so naturally I believe nothing is more subject to ideology than assessments regarding the Meaning of Childhood.<\/p>\n

A book just came out this year that\u2019s well worth a look\u2014The Fire Horse: Children\u2019s Poems by Mayakovsky + Mandelstam + Kharms<\/em><\/a>, translated by a man I know slightly, Eugene Ostashevsky. This poet has given us a great deal of material relevant to any inquiry into children\u2019s poetry of the Soviet period. He has translated the Oberiu poets and I don\u2019t know whatall. This latest book is a special treat because it includes the original illustrations, in full color, of three works: Mayakovsky\u2019s \u201cThe Fire Horse,\u201d Mandelstam\u2019s \u201cTwo Trams,\u201d and Daniil Kharms\u2019s \u201cPlay.\u201d (The only thing the book is missing is the Russian. I should\u2019ve liked to see the originals of these poems in an appendix, ideally with literal translations, just like in Sokol. A little poetry kit, why not.)<\/p>\n

In translating this kind of thing, one does have to take liberties, there\u2019s no way around that. In every culture, the belief is that children\u2019s poetry has no right to exist unless it sounds fresh and spontaneous. That aspect of the work cannot be sacrificed. It\u2019s the king on the chessboard.<\/p>\n

So the big question should not be how close does Ostashevsky stick to his originals\u2019 diction. Instead one should ask: Does he protect his king? <\/em>I\u2019ll try and give you just enough so you can judge.<\/p>\n

The following is from the very beginning of Kharms\u2019s \u201cIgra\u201d (\u201cPlay\u201d\u2014not as in \u201cactors + stage\u201d but as in that thing you do when you\u2019re a kid). I\u2019m copying this straight out of Sokol, page 135:<\/p>\n

Begal P\u00e9t\u2019ka po dor\u00f3ge, po dor\u00f3ge,
\npo pan\u00e9li,
\nbegal P\u00e9t\u2019ka
\npo pan\u00e9li
\ni krich\u00e1l on:
\n\u2014Ga-ra-r\u00e1r!
\nIa tep\u00e9r\u2019 uzhe ne P\u00e9t\u2019ka,
\nrazoid\u00edtes\u2019!
\nRazoid\u00edtes\u2019!
\nIa tep\u00e9r\u2019 uzhe ne P\u00e9t\u2019ka,
\nIa tep\u00e9r\u2019 avtomob\u00edl\u2019.<\/p>\n

[Along the street ran Petia, \/ along the street, \/ along the sidewalk; \/ Petia ran \/ along the sidewalk \/ and shouted: \/ \u201cVrr-oo-m! \/ I\u2019m not Petia anymore, \/ clear the way! \/ Clear the way! \/ I\u2019m not Petia anymore: \/ now I\u2019m an automobile.\u201d]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here\u2019s Ostashevsky:<\/p>\n

Peter ran down the road,
\ndown the road,
\nalong the pavement,
\nPeter ran
\nalong the pavement,
\nand he hollered
\n\u201cRoo-roo-roo!
\nI\u2019m not Peter any longer!
\nEverybody,
\nmove aside!
\nI\u2019m not Peter any longer!
\nI\u2019m on wheels, I\u2019m a car!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ll quote a little more Ostashevsky in a minute. Sokol, meanwhile, is uneasy that the piece \u201cintroduces a certain cognitive element through its descriptions of automobile, train, and airplane.\u201d She doesn\u2019t like cognitive elements; however, she\u2019s relieved to report that Kharms \u201cdoes it imaginatively, depicting children behaving in ways they naturally do. He avoids static description\u2014whatever knowledge of the surrounding world he communicates comes through the movement, involving children directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty pages later, Mayakovsky\u2019s \u201cFire Horse\u201d barely merits a mention:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fire Horse\u201d (\u201cKon\u2019-ogon,\u201d 1927), which traces the various types of labor involved in constructing a rocking horse, is a children\u2019s version of the \u201cproduction\u201d literature encouraged, even demanded, by the proletarians at that time. Maiakovskii himself described his motivation for this poem. \u201cHere I am taking advantage of the opportunity to explain to a child how many people must work to prepare such a horse…. In this way a child becomes acquainted with the collective nature of labor.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The quote from Mayakovsky is adduced as if he were confessing that \u201cFire Horse\u201d is not a real children\u2019s poem. Yet, in Ostashevsky, it looks pretty good. This is from the middle of the piece, when the production of the horse is well under way:<\/p>\n

Riding experts
\nhave revealed
\nThere\u2019s no riding without the wheel.<\/p>\n

They go to see the CARPENTER.
\nOf course he\u2019s glad to encounter them.
\nHe cuts a set of little WHEELS
\nQuickly,
\nsmoothly,
\ntrue to scale.
\nThey now have wheels but no mane,
\nNo fibers for the tail.<\/p>\n

A horsetail, where would we get it?
\nSame place as brush and bristle.
\nThe BRISTLEMAN does not object\u2014
\nTo make the horse frizzle
\nHe gives
\nHORSEHAIR
\nfor the horse\u2019s head
\nAnd some
\nfor the horse\u2019s other end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anthony Madrid<\/a> lives in Victoria, Texas. <\/em>His second book of poems is\u00a0<\/em>Try Never<\/a>\u00a0(Canarium Books, 2017). He is a correspondent for the\u00a0<\/em>Daily.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1005,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22700],"tags":[29511,10484,189,12555,29513,10718,29509,29510,29516,29518,2813,22927,190,12856,3395,8963,7221,29519,29514,29512,29515,29517,29270,12807],"class_list":["post-112431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-correspondents","tag-books-for-kids","tag-cars","tag-children","tag-childrens-literature","tag-childrens-poetry","tag-daniil-kharms","tag-divine-songs","tag-divine-songs-attemtpted-in-easy-language-for-the-use-of-children","tag-elena-sokol","tag-eugene-ostashevsky","tag-horses","tag-isaac-watts","tag-kids","tag-morality","tag-osip-mandelstam","tag-parenting","tag-poems","tag-pretend","tag-priggishness","tag-reading-for-kids","tag-russian-poetry-for-children","tag-the-fire-horse","tag-vladimir-mayakovsky","tag-work"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Do Kids Want from Children\u2019s Poetry?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell by Anthony Madrid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"July 12, 2017 \u2013 Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1396\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1030\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anthony Madrid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anthony Madrid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anthony Madrid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff28732ebcbdac8b865bc16ad5887c2e\"},\"headline\":\"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\"},\"wordCount\":1490,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"books for kids\",\"Cars\",\"children\",\"Children's literature\",\"children's poetry\",\"Daniil Kharms\",\"Divine Songs\",\"Divine Songs Attemtpted in Easy Language for the Use of Children\",\"Elena Sokol\",\"Eugene Ostashevsky\",\"horses\",\"Isaac Watts\",\"kids\",\"morality\",\"Osip Mandelstam\",\"parenting\",\"poems\",\"pretend\",\"priggishness\",\"reading for kids\",\"Russian Poetry for Children\",\"The Fire Horse\",\"Vladimir Mayakovsky\",\"work\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Correspondents\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\",\"name\":\"What Do Kids Want from Children\u2019s Poetry?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff28732ebcbdac8b865bc16ad5887c2e\",\"name\":\"Anthony Madrid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549efa5a01d55301426f5af7f96efcdad383944e916201d24ebb62c4e26da542?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549efa5a01d55301426f5af7f96efcdad383944e916201d24ebb62c4e26da542?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anthony Madrid\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/anthony-madrid\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Do Kids Want from Children\u2019s Poetry?","description":"Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell by Anthony Madrid","og_description":"July 12, 2017 \u2013 Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1396,"height":1030,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Anthony Madrid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anthony Madrid","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/"},"author":{"name":"Anthony Madrid","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff28732ebcbdac8b865bc16ad5887c2e"},"headline":"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell","datePublished":"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/"},"wordCount":1490,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg","keywords":["books for kids","Cars","children","Children's literature","children's poetry","Daniil Kharms","Divine Songs","Divine Songs Attemtpted in Easy Language for the Use of Children","Elena Sokol","Eugene Ostashevsky","horses","Isaac Watts","kids","morality","Osip Mandelstam","parenting","poems","pretend","priggishness","reading for kids","Russian Poetry for Children","The Fire Horse","Vladimir Mayakovsky","work"],"articleSection":["Our Correspondents"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/","name":"What Do Kids Want from Children\u2019s Poetry?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg","datePublished":"2017-07-12T19:00:02+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-12T19:17:41+00:00","description":"Children, we\u2019re told, delight in nonsense. They do not wish to be taught anything. They love making a big mess. The problem is: children are also prigs.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fire_horse.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/12\/tis-pity-such-a-pretty-maid-as-i-should-go-to-hell\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2019Tis Pity Such a Pretty Maid As I Should Go to Hell"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ff28732ebcbdac8b865bc16ad5887c2e","name":"Anthony Madrid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549efa5a01d55301426f5af7f96efcdad383944e916201d24ebb62c4e26da542?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549efa5a01d55301426f5af7f96efcdad383944e916201d24ebb62c4e26da542?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Anthony Madrid"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/anthony-madrid\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112431"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112440,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112431\/revisions\/112440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}