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Likes: White Water, UmadDamu, Martinm6, Sonya Maddock
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UmadDamu - wigged out kickback.
Clever piece!
on Aug 26 2022 05:57 AM PST x edit
Sonya Maddock - My favourite poem when I was 6. 48 years later I still remember every word.
Unfortunately, there are several mistakes in this version.
on Apr 09 2022 07:35 PM PST x edit
Martinm6 - Excellent but is this transcription correct? The final verse doesn't scan. I learned this as a child, admittedly a mere 57 years ago but... "I had a hippopotamus but nothing upon earth" & "No joy that life can give me can be strong enough to smother"... is how I remember it!
on Oct 08 2020 09:42 AM PST x edit
Sonya Maddock - You are correct.
on Apr 09 2022 07:36 PM PST x edit
Mairi bheag -
A great pity that OldPoetry does not have 'I Had a Haddock' as well. It is a gem.
on Sep 09 2011 10:08 PM PST x edit
Mairi bheag - (And the good Lord preserve me from all Yorkshiremen with zero manners and an over-inflated sense of their own importance.)
on Sep 16 2011 01:16 PM PST x edit
Mairi bheag - It's probably from his 1935 book 'Songs of a Sub-man'. Out of print but probably available second hand.
on Sep 09 2011 10:06 PM PST x edit
Mairi bheag - As Barrington was a 'toff' - an aristocrat - he would NEVER have dropped his Hs! Imagine the late Rex Harrison reciting it instead, or Trevor Howard from 'Brief Encounter', or Noel Coward.
on Sep 09 2011 10:06 PM PST x edit
I-Like-Rhymes - Sadly Mr Barrington died and cannot write anymore poems. We have hlf-a-dozen here at Oldpoetry but because his work is still protected by copyright we can't use any more BUT ifr you check your school or local library you should be able to find some for yourself.
Jim
on Mar 06 2011 09:22 PM PST x edit
Mairi bheag - Then 'circulate' them. Replace poems that have been here with others from his collection.
I am particularly anxious to get hold of the words to 'I Had a Haddock', but if you can't post it here on the site please message me with the words.
on Sep 09 2011 10:09 PM PST x edit
I-Like-Rhymes -
I repeat again we CANNOT post anymore. Consent from copyright holders is not as flexible as your suggestion implies.
If you can't find the new puffin book that it is in then try this http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/article-899008-puff-grand-daddy-raps-the-lords.do
Jim
on Sep 12 2011 01:38 AM PST x edit
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Mairi bheag - Okay okay okay, sheesh, no need to go off on one and SHOUT, it was only a suggestion for heavens sake. Get over yourself!
on Sep 12 2011 09:25 PM PST x edit
Comments from the archive
- This has long been one of my favourite mirthful poems (along with "The Twins" by Henry Sambrooke Leigh, and "When Father Carves the Duck" by E. V. Wright). Some effort is required to make certain lines scan convincingly. For example, the line that begins "But beautiful relationships" seems to have two syllables missing, and pauses are need to make it scan properly. If it ended with, say, "bound to have an end", it would scan more naturally. A similar problem arises with the line that begins "No life that's joyful", and I haven't yet found an adequate solution to that one.
Finally, if you will allow me a moment's further nitpicking, the word "till" has no apostrophe (and even the oft-seen "'til" is non-standard, and is wholly unnecessary given the existence of "till"). Also, technically speaking, the hyphen in the last line of the penultimate verse is superfluous, as adverbs with "ly" endings do not give rise to possible ambiguities. Compare, by contrast, "a long standing dispute", which, with its missing hyphen, could mean "a long dispute during which the participants stand". (Note that I say "possible" ambiguities; they need not be very probable.)
But these are mere niggles. The poem remains, for me, a slightly flawed but priceless diamond.
on Apr 27 2010 06:28 PM PST x edit
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- From guest Mike Dineen (contact)
This is a HippopotamEPIC & a hippopotamOPUS Maximus,
on Feb 21 2010 03:50 AM PST x edit
- From guest fab (contact)
I stumbled upon this poem many years ago and still recite it to my students. Recently, however, I started reciting it in a British voice where I drop all Hs and "garage" has the accent on the first syllable.It's a wonderful poem. I will continue to read it aloud.
on Dec 07 2009 12:50 PM PST x edit
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- From guest Geetha (contact)
A beautiful poem which the children enjoy the most.It is an emotional poem which we feel and goes through our imagination.A wonderful poem.
on Nov 24 2009 02:39 AM PST x edit
- From guest Jaspreen (contact)
can anyone please tell me when 'I had a hippopotamus' was written and published? or a source from where I can find this
on Nov 12 2009 02:14 PM PST x edit
- From guest Caoihe (contact)
my mum thought it was an excellent poem and so do I
on May 20 2009 05:28 AM PST x edit
rbruce - A masterful creation. Imaginative extension of the Hippopotamus word , yet kept straight forward and uncomplicated from start to finish.
on Mar 12 2009 09:37 PM PST x edit
- From guest Jessy (contact)
I think this poem is a really cool poem and i love it a lot!!!!
on Mar 12 2009 09:15 AM PST x edit
- From guest cathy (contact)
Searched this out as a happy childhood memory (what sort of mother did I have?) but I think it should read "a musically modulated voice". Oh, and gambol should be spelt without an "e"
on Jun 30 2007 09:24 AM PST x edit
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baawri - Its Beutiful. The words created from the word Hippopotamus sounds great.
on May 14 2007 02:06 AM PST x edit
- From guest Harriet Remy-Maillet (contact)
In the second last verse, the hippo had not been gambling, he had been gamboling - a very different activity !
on Nov 08 2006 07:10 PM PST x edit
wheezyanna - This poem has ben my all time favourite for a number of years now but I'm a little disappointed with the few mistakes that are in it here. I didn't know until recently that he had written others, finding first "The Diplomatic Platypus" and then discovering here the delightful "Bustlemaker". I only hope there may be others lurking out there somewhere.
on Mar 07 2004 10:00 PM PST x edit
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