{"id":117860,"date":"2017-11-08T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=117860"},"modified":"2017-11-08T10:40:43","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T15:40:43","slug":"edward-lears-scroobious-pip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/08\/edward-lears-scroobious-pip\/","title":{"rendered":"On Edward Lear\u2019s \u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The piece below was originally published on February 8, 2014, on Anthony Opal\u2019s old website, the Weekly\u00a0(since kaput). In reprinting it, we have only changed the very end of the \u201cAfterword,\u201d so that now you can simply click on a hyperlink to access additional (and extremely precious) information.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A detail of Nancy Ekholm Burkert’s illustration for Edward Lear\u2019s \u201cThe Scroobious Pip.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

In early 1872, Edward Lear left a poem unfinished. It was very nearly complete: all it lacked of its intended five rhyming subsections were two lines and two words (not at the end). Lear left blanks in the manuscript, and it\u2019s clear he intended to supply the missing bits at some later time. No one knows why he never did so.<\/p>\n

The piece is called \u201cThe Scroobious Pip,\u201d and it is good. It\u2019s right up there with the best material Lear included in\u00a0Laughable Lyrics<\/em>, which came out roughly\u00a0five years later\u00a0(December 1876). But, because he never finished it, it remained unpublished during his lifetime. Indeed, the piece first saw the light of day in 1935, in the back of what was essentially a small collectors\u2019 edition\u2014950 copies, each one numbered. (My copy is #237.)<\/p>\n

In 1954, Harvard University Press published a thin (sixty-four-page) book called\u00a0Teapots and Quails<\/em>, a very valuable document for Lear enthusiasts insofar as it made many previously uncollected or very hard-to-get pieces available\u2014including ten limericks with accompanying illustrations. \u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d appears on pages 60\u00a0through\u00a062. The lacun\u00e6 in the manuscript are rendered either as blanks or as strings of dots.<\/p>\n

In 1968, the American poet Ogden Nash was asked to complete \u201cThe Scroobious Pip,\u201d so that it could be published, with elaborate illustrations, as a children\u2019s book. He agreed. In September 1968, the book came out as an \u201celephant\u201d folio, the poem spread out over eighteen pages, roughly half of which contain text (in a very large font). Nash\u2019s insertions are enclosed in square brackets.<\/p>\n

I, too, came out in September 1968 (eight pounds, six ounces), so I felt an instantaneous affinity with this book, which I had never heard of until I ran across an entry for it in\u00a0Ogden Nash: A Descriptive Bibliography\u00a0<\/em>(1990). I\u2019m a big fan of both Nash and Lear. I was excited to see what a \u201ccollaboration\u201d between the two of them might look like.<\/p>\n

Long story short, I didn\u2019t care for the Nash insertions. In my judgment, they were insufficiently Lear-like. Granted, Nash had neatly solved at least one key problem … but I don\u2019t want to get into that just now.<\/p>\n

I set out to finish \u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d in a manner more to my liking. I felt qualified to make the attempt, because I had spent all of 2013 obsessing over Lear, memorizing most of his limericks, and so on. So I gave it my best shot. I reworked my material many times; I consulted with Lear\u2019s ghost. When I was satisfied I had done the best I could, I started to play a little game. I would show friends the \u201cMadrid version,\u201d stripping away any square-bracket apparatus and asking them to try to sniff out my two lines and two words.<\/p>\n

I am sorry to report my friends were very often able to spot the Madrid bits without much trouble. My friends were encouraging, they all said they liked my lines, but I was forced to admit I had lost any right to call what I had produced a \u201cseamless\u201d performance.<\/p>\n

Herewith, I shall allow the reader to have a look for herself. I\u2019m still clinging to the hope that my friends benefited (if that\u2019s the word) from familiarity with my habitual poetic vocabulary. It still seems possible that a reader without that advantage will find my \u201cScroobious Pip\u201d authentically Lear-like, top to bottom. I want very badly for this to be true, yet I am reconciled to the sad possibility that \u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d remains unfinished despite everything.<\/p>\n

At any rate, it\u2019s pleasant to have an excuse to introduce readers to this relatively little-known poem. I want to stress again: the following is ninety-seven percent Lear. Your job is to identify the three percent Madrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip went out one day
\nWhen the grass was green and the sky was gray.
\nThen all the beasts in the world came round,
\nWhen the Scroobious Pip sat down on the ground.
\nThe Cat and the Dog and the Kangaroo,
\nThe Sheep and the Cow and the Guinea Pig too,\u2014
\nThe Wolf he howled, the Horse he neighed,
\nThe little Pig squeaked and the Donkey brayed,
\nAnd when the Lion began to roar
\nThere never was heard such a noise before,
\nAnd every beast he stood on the tip
\nOf his toes to look at the Scroobious Pip.<\/p>\n

At last they said to the Fox,\u00a0By far
\n<\/em>You\u2019re the wisest beast\u2014you know you are!
\n<\/em>Go close to the Scroobious Pip and say:
\n<\/em>\u201cTell us all about yourself, we pray!
\n<\/em>For as yet we can\u2019t make out in the least
\n<\/em>If you\u2019re Fish or Insect, or Bird or Beast!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip looked vaguely round
\nAnd sang these words with a rumbling sound:
\n\u201cChippetty Flip! Flippetty Chip!
\nMy only name is the Scroobious Pip.\u201d<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip from the top of a tree
\nSaw the distant Jellybolee,\u2014
\nAnd all the birds in the world came there,
\nFlying in crowds all through the air.<\/p>\n

The Vulture and Eagle, the Cock and the Hen,
\nThe Ostrich, the Turkey, the Snipe and the Wren,\u2014
\nThe Parrot chattered, the Blackbird sung,
\nAnd the Owl looked wise but held his tongue,
\nAnd when the Peacock began to scream,
\nThe hullabaloo was quite extreme,
\nAnd every bird he fluttered the tip
\nOf his wing as he stared at the Scroobious Pip.<\/p>\n

At last they said to the Owl,\u00a0By far
\n<\/em>You\u2019re the wisest Bird\u2014you know you are!
\n<\/em>Fly close to the Scroobious Pip and say:
\n<\/em>\u201cExplain all about yourself, we pray!\u2014
\n<\/em>For as yet we\u2019ve neither seen nor heard
\n<\/em>If you\u2019re Fish or Insect, Beast or Bird!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip looked gaily round
\nAnd sang these words with a chirpy sound:
\n\u201cChippetty Flip! Flippetty Chip!
\nMy only name is the Scroobious Pip.\u201d<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip went into the sea
\nBy the beautiful shore of the Jellybolee.
\nAll the Fish in the world swam round
\nWith a splashy, squashy, spluttery sound.
\nThe Sprat, the Herring, the Turbot too,
\nThe Shark, the Sole, the Mackerel blue,\u2014
\nThe Flounder sputtered, the Cuttlefish huffed,
\nThe lovable fluffable Pufferfish puffed.\u00a0<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>And when the Whale began to spout
\nThey gave a redoubling, bubbling shout.
\nAnd every Fish he shook the tip
\nOf his tail as he gazed on the Scroobious Pip.<\/p>\n

At last they said to the Whale,\u00a0By far
\n<\/em>You\u2019re the biggest Fish\u2014you know you are!
\n<\/em>Swim close to the Scroobious Pip and say,
\n<\/em>\u201cTell us all about yourself, we pray!\u2014
\n<\/em>For to know from yourself is our only wish\u2014
\n<\/em>Are you Beast or Insect, Bird or Fish?\u201d
\n<\/em>
\n<\/em>The Scroobious Pip looked softly round
\nAnd sang these words with a liquid sound:
\n\u201cPliffetty Flip! Pliffetty Flip!
\nMy only name is the Scroobious Pip.\u201d<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip sat under a tree
\nBy the silent shores of the Jellybolee.
\nAll the Insects in all the world
\nAbout the Scroobious Pip entwirled.
\nCicadas and beetles with purple eyes,
\nGnats and buzztilential Flies,
\nGrasshoppers, Butterflies, Spiders too,
\nWasps and Bees and Dragonflies blue,\u2014
\nAnd when the gnats began to hum
\nThe firmament bounced like a dismal drum.
\nAnd every Insect curled the tip
\nOf his snout, as he looked at the Scroobious Pip.<\/p>\n

At last they said to the Ant,\u00a0By far
\n<\/em>You\u2019re the wisest Insect\u2014you know you are!
\n<\/em>Creep close to the Scroobious Pip and say:
\n<\/em>\u201cTell us all about yourself, we pray!\u2014
\n<\/em>For we can\u2019t find out, and we can\u2019t tell why
\n<\/em>If you\u2019re Beast or Fish, or a Bird or a Fly.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Scroobious Pip turned quickly round
\nAnd sang these words with a whistly sound:
\n\u201cWizzibby Wip! Wizzibby Wip!
\nMy only name is the Scroobious Pip.\u201d<\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

Then all the Beasts that walk on the ground
\nDanced in a circle, round and round,
\nAnd all the Birds that fly in the air
\nFlew round and round in a circle there,
\nAnd all the Fish in the Jellybolee
\nSwam in a circle about the sea,
\nAnd all the Insects that creep or go
\nBuzzed in a circle to and fro.
\nAnd they roared and sang and whistled and cried,
\nTill the noise was heard from side to side:
\n\u201cChippetty Tip! Chippetty Tip!
\nIts only name is the Scroobious Pip!\u201d<\/p>\n

Afterword<\/strong><\/p>\n

The above poem contains exactly one hundred lines. Two are supplied entirely by me (in one case stealing Ogden Nash\u2019s essential solution idea, and in the other case going my own way and even reworking the second half of the verse before mine in order to accommodate my interference). In two other instances, I supply a single word (in one case slightly altering the line\u2019s syntax, and in one case not). Accidentals have been adjusted throughout.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a>\u00a0for a pdf of the five versions of the poem known to me\u2014the last of which is my own, with square brackets around the parts I made up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anthony Madrid\u00a0lives in Victoria, Texas.\u00a0His second book is\u00a0<\/em>Try Never<\/a>\u00a0(Canarium Books, 2017)<\/em>.\u00a0He is a correspondent for the\u00a0<\/em>Daily.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The piece below was originally published on February 8, 2014, on Anthony Opal\u2019s old website, the Weekly\u00a0(since kaput). In reprinting it, we have only changed the very end of the \u201cAfterword,\u201d so that now you can simply click on a hyperlink to access additional (and extremely precious) information. In early 1872, Edward Lear left a […]<\/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":[7575,10064,10594,31595,31594],"class_list":["post-117860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-correspondents","tag-edward-lear","tag-harvard-university-press","tag-ogden-nash","tag-ogden-nash-a-descriptive-bibliography","tag-the-scroobious-pip"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn Edward Lear\u2019s \u201cThe Scroobious Pip\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edward Lear left one of his poems mysteriously incomplete. 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