Horace Wimp (first true love)

[NikolaiI]

thx for coming to my blog -poem, kind poster. a couple words about this poem.

it may bring you lots of joy if you read it right, but if you don't you will miss all of its meaning.

it must be sung, half to the tune of "Horace Wimp" by ELO but more importantly to the tune of "A Day in the Life", as it beings "....ten thousand holes in Blackburne, Lancashire...." "he had Lennon's poster on the wall..."

-so only if you read it like this will it make any sense, and then of course have fun and do what you will with it.

thx!

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/1/14/200px-Horace_Wimp.jpg

Horace Wimp was but a man,
He never needed anything at all;
He had a house, he used his hands,
He had Lennon's poster on the wall.

His days were full, and being glad
There wasn't much he wished would go away,
He loved the night, he was not sad,
And happily he passed his days.

He was a painter, he was rich,
He never really had to work at all.
He'd paint all day, and if he wished,
He'd stare at the poster on the wall.

But one day Horace met a girl,
"She was small and she was very pretty,"
He felt he'd known her longer than his life.
And soon he loved her more than all the world,
Maybe someday she would be his wife.

There wedding day, it came and went.
"Everybody's at the church, when Horace rushes in
and says 'now here comes my wife,
for the rest of my life,'
and she did,"

So Horace was in love,
And as he gave all to love,
He really felt for the first time,
He felt his first true love,
And he did.

[PrinceMyshkin]

"Nothing to be sad about," far as I could see but that last verse feels as if you'd run out of steam. Too plain, too flat.

[NikolaiI]

"Nothing to be sad about," far as I could see but that last verse feels as if you'd run out of steam. Too plain, too flat.

You're not reading it right. :) It's okay.

Er, I'm sorry, Jerry, that might have come of tacky. I just mean, you might be reading it, instead of singing it, as it's meant to be- I don't mean to compare myself to, but the same is true for Swinburne, for example. The fact is with his though, it sounds good if you read it too, though it's mean to be read in a lilting way. But mine does sound bad if it's only "read," and I admit that. It's okay though, I understand. :)

There's lots of different ways to sing this where it will sound better...when I wrote "he never really had to work at all," I had in mind the part, "ten thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire," but glancing at it now I see you could do a mix of "nobody was really sure (if he was from...)-- to turn you on..." if that makes any sense; as in, "he never really had to work at all..." although I guess it doesn't quite fit like "ten thousand holes." it fits if you slow it down on the 'work at all' or on the 'had'.



It seems like you are subtly criticizing it for being a "too much feel good" poem. But notice that anything you really interpret isn't an absolute. "He'd stare at the poster on the wall" isn't good or bad, we only think it is for god knows what reason. For me it's a feel good but for others it's a most horrible painfully boring eternal hell, etc, etc etc.

But that line, for instance "He'd stare..." definitely has to be sung to "ten thousand holes..." or i.e. "about a lucky man who made the grade..."

also, this blog entry might explain it a little more (thx Kiz. :)) as it has the lyrics to the song "Horace Wimp"-- I didn't explain this, but my poem is partly based on the song, tho the story's of course changed.

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/blogs/viewblog.php?userid=34281&entry=4550&c=10198#comment10198


Further, you really have to delve into this poem to get it's true merit. For instance, the first line I first thought from the lines "Horace Wimp-- this is your life--" very abrubt, you see... "Horace Wimp-- was but a man--" it's abrupt. But then you read it with the next line and it's more fluid. "Horace Wimp was but a man..." "I read the news today, oh boy..." and then "he never needed anything at all..." and it's beautiful. But if you just read it like prose, it's very lousy.