Saturday, March 31, 2012

Today's poem up for autopsy is from my child hood.  It may be the first poem that I ever memorized and it certainly shows.  Let's get right to it shall we?
Ooey Gooey was a worm
And a mighty worm was he
He sat upon a railroad track 
The train he did not see,
Ooey Gooey. 
The rhyming meter of this poem is ABAC.  A normal couplets, the most simple pattern form is ABAB. 
A Couplets is a Stanza of only two lines which usually rhyme. Shakespearean (also called Elizabethan and English) sonnets usually end in a couplet and are a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought. William Shakespeare makes use of couplets in more complex rhyme schemes.
Here are a couple of examples of couplets that the Poetry Coroner has certified alive and well.
True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
— Alexander Pope
Whether or not we find what we are seeking
is idle, biologically speaking.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay

It would appear that these poems have something to say, metered correctly and are in good health. Ooey Gooey is a novelty poem that attempts to be funny by causing the reader to anticipate the standard couplets form then changes at the last minute.  This change is supposed to be a double entente making it a statement of the reality of worm guts on a rail road track rather than the actual rhyme. With out the life giving finish it would appear to be DOA.

Poetry Coroner's report on "Ooey Gooey"
Current condition: Deceased
Cause of Death: Lack of proper anticipated meter and rhyme

1 comment:

P. Grecian said...

This was one of my favorites from childhood:

Hickory Dickory Dock,
Five mice ran up the clock.
The clock struck one
And the rest escaped with minor injuries.