The Book of Literary Terms: The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, and Scholarship, Hanover: University Press of New England (www.UPNE.com), 1999. ISBN 0874519543, cloth; ISBN 0-874519-55-1, paper. A companion volume to The Book of Dialogue and The Book of Forms. A Choice “Outstanding academic title” for 2000.
What is parody? The Oxford English Dictionary says,
parody
Pronunciation: /ˈparədi/
Definition of parody
noun (plural parodies):
an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect: the film is a parody of the horror genre [mass noun]: his provocative use of parody
an imitation or version of something that falls far short of the real thing; a travesty: he gave her a parody of a smile.
Synonyms for “parody” are caricature, imitation, lampoon, satire, burlesque, takeoff, spoof, and send-up. Measure Press is offering a 2013 parody contest which will be judged by one of the funniest poets in the English language, R. S. (“Sam”) Gwynn. Here is a parody –- of a famous poem written by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, “Sailing to Byzantium” -- written by Sam Gwynn himself:
CRUISING TO BYZANTIUM
Six nights on the Med with 60's greats!
--Radio Ad
1
This is no venue for young men. The old
In one another's arms, gumming their lips
--The overfed and nearly dead who sold
Siding or stocks--now board their cake-tiered ships
To meet the slow swells which have always rolled,
Rocking and rolling like those spousal hips,
Rolling past midnight to the sensual beat
Of sixties sounds danced to on aching feet.
2
An aged man is a substantial thing
Whose waistline yearly claims a larger size.
One puts his hands together now to sing
A chorus with The Rascals, but his eyes
Lock on the long buffet, where waiters bring
Boiled shrimp, crab claws, and the "Kemal Surprise"--
Mussels in garlic butter, which shall come
In endless number. Ah, Byzantium!
3
No sages standing in God's holy fire--
Just Gary Puckett and his back-up band,
Splendid in floodlights and lamé attire,
Playing "Young Girl" while the old girls command
Their husbands to the floor to perne and gyre
The night away, still five full nights from land.
Many male feet are crying out in pain,
Yet Gary's asked to sing "Young Girl" again.
4
Once down the gangplank, they will quail and quake
At local vendors hawking souvenirs
In such shrill voices as will likely make
A permanent impression on their ears.
A golden bird? Why not? Something to take
Back to the grandkids who, in later years,
Will shake their heads at chipped enamelling,
Wondering who'd pay for such a paltry thing.
R. S. Gwynn, from Light Quarterly.
In the 1950s the poet Dylan Thomas
was exceedingly popular among college students, one of the fabled people of my
generation. Everyone had often listened to the recordings of Thomas reading his
poems, so poets everywhere were familiar with the Welshman’s performances.
Whenever Robert Huff and I got together we would have Dylan Thomas sound-alike
contests. Huff was good, but I had the advantage of reading original material
because I had published this parody in my First
Poems in 1960:
DIRGE A LA DYLAN
Listen to Lewis Turco read his poem
When I was a curled boy, short and long-
shadowed beneath an apple moon,
I peeled my dreams out of cider skies
and toasted them crisp each fiery noon.
When I was a birch young man I pruned
my dreams until they grew green and tall.
I plunged brown seed upon mossy days,
urged them to lunge and be done with the fall.
Then, when I was a hairy man,
I grasped my past by both its ears
to feed it on cabbages and grass
until it turned pink-eyed with the years.
Ah! curled small lad; O birch young man,
hairy elder: apple hours
are lying, prune-dry, upon cellar shelves,
choking black seed within vinegar cores.
Lewis Turco, from First Poems.
Here is a send-up of a Gilbert and Sullivan song that was a satire to begin with:
I AM THE VERY MODEL OF A POET ORATORICAL
Richard Blanco, a gay Hispanic civil engineer living in Maine, was announced today as the Inaugural Poet 2013 by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
I am the very model of a poet oratorical.
Although I have no store of clever pictures metaphorical,
I know the presidents of the United States historical
From Washington until Obama orderly and lyrical.
I am a civil engineer, but I can wax poetical
To some degree – I’ve written now and then, I think, a versicle
That, though it may not strictly be what some might call prosodical
At least, perhaps, it’s prose put down in documents methodical.
CHORUS: At least, perhaps, it’s prose put down in documents methodical --
At least, perhaps, it’s prose put down in documents methodical --
At least, perhaps, it’s prose put down in documents methodical.
I’m very good at writing town reports that are quite legible,
Unlike my fellow townsmen’s that are rather inaccessible.
They did not know my talents are in no way antithetical
To writing odes for Presidents in masks that are poetical.
CHORUS: In short, although he has no clever pictures metaphorical
He is the very model of a poet oratorical.
In matters of my gender I am gaily interchangeable
And not at all what Baptists might believe to be derangeable
Which counts in politics these days almost as much as ethnical,
But I have that as well because my genes are called “Hispanical.”
I’m middle-aged at forty—five, but I am adolescent-ish
In people’s minds because when I perform I’ll still be youngest-ish,
Compared with Robert Frost who was the first to read for Kennedy
A famous verse which he applied to Russia as a threnody.
CHORUS: That famous verse which was applied to Russia as a threnody.
That famous verse which was applied to Russia as a threnody.
That famous verse which was applied to Russia as a threnody.
Oh, I can write a parking ban in Babble-on cuneiform
And tell you every detail of a housing codex uniform.
In short, although I have no store of pictures metaphorical,
I am the very model of a poet oratorical.
CHORUS: In short, although he has no store of pictures metaphorical
He is the very model of a poet oratorical.
Athough I don’t know what is meant by "anapest" or "triolet"
I’m Puerto-Rican, born in Spain, I understand the word “Ole!”
And that, no doubt, is nothing short of something more than wonderful,
For I can tell the difference ‘twixt chattels and a lotta bull,
And I hope soon to learn what progress has been made in punnery
Though I suspect that nonesuch will be found in any nunnery;
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental poesy
I’m sure Obama will agree I’ve done him proud in poetry.
CHORUS: You’ll say he’s done Obama proud in what must pass as poetry!
You’ll say he’s done Obama proud in what must pass as poetry!
You’ll say he’s done Obama proud in what must pass as poetry!
In versifying practice, though I'm plucky and adventurous
I’m sure you’ll find there’s nothing found that’s rhyming or censorious,
But still, although I have no store of pictures metaphorical.
I am the very model of a poet oratorical.
CHORUS: But still, although he has no store of pictures metaphorical.
He is the very model of a poet oratorical.
Italo Buffaloni
Enter the 2013 X.J. Kennedy Parody Contest now! $500 prize
and publication in Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry.
Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry presents
The 2013 X.J. Kennedy Parody Award
$500 Prize
Final Judge: R.S. Gwynn
Deadline: March 1, 2013
Click Here for More Information!
1. Submissions must be original, unpublished parodies of famous poems of any length and subject matter.
2. Parodies must be metrical (accentual-syllabic or accentual), though the original poems may be free verse.
3. Author’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and name of poem being parodied should be typed on the back of each entry (if not submitting electronically).
4. Final judge for the 2013 contest will be R.S. Gwynn. The winning poem and several runners-up will be published in a 2013 issue of Measure.
5. Send up to three poems in one envelope (or in one MS Word file via our electronic submission system). Entry fee: $10 per three poems, checks payable to Measure Press, or you may pay electronically via PayPal. Writers may enter as many times as they’d like, but each group of three poems must be accompanied by a $10 fee.
6. Entries must be sent to the address below and postmarked no later than March 1, 2013. Enclose an SASE if you would like to be notified of the contest results. Entries cannot be returned.
Measure Parody Award
Department of Creative Writing
1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
Or
http://www.measurepress.com/measure.
No poems in this blog may be reproduced anywhere for any purpose without the written consent of the authors.
