Against Idleness and Mischief
by Isaac Watts
and
How Doth the Little Crocodile
by Lewis Carroll
Given below are two poems: 'Against Idleness and Mischief' by Isaac Watts and its parody, 'How Doth the Little Crocodile' by Lewis Carroll. The parody has been taken from the popular story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The Poem:
"How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes."
Isaac Watts
Summary of the Poem:
Bee is a busy animal. It is active all the time. It utilises every bit of time to collect honey from every blooming flower and gather it in hive.
Bee builds hive very skilfully with wax. It works hard to fill the hive with honey it makes.
In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice fell down a rabbit hole where she first drank a potion that made her shrink and then she ate some cake that made her so large that 'her head struck the roof of the hall'. Confused about her identity, she tried to repeat Isaac Watts' poem that everyone in those days learnt by heart. But the poem came out all wrong!
The Poem:
"How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully she seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!"
Lewis Carroll
Summary of the Poem:
Crocodile is an animal of idleness and inactiveness. It lies down all day long and moves its tail to spread water of the river on its body to get rid of heat.
It makes no effort to do anything or catch his prey. It only smiles showing its teeth while lying down on the shore. It waits there spreading its claws for the little fishes to come to him. He catches them and eats them.
MAKING CONNECTIONS
1. Compare 'Against Idleness and Mischief' and 'How Doth the Little Crocodile', and fill the table given below.
=
|
|
‘Against Idleness and Mischief’ |
‘How Doth the Little Crocodile’ |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of lines |
8 lines |
8 lines |
|
Rhyme scheme |
abcb abab |
abab abab |
|
Theme |
Life of a bee full of business and activeness |
Life of a crocodile full of idleness and inactiveness |
|
Tone(serious/funny) |
Serious |
Funny |
2. Read the lines given bellow and answer the questions that follow.
a. "How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shine hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!"
i. Which adjectives does the poet use to describe the bee?
= The poet uses the adjectives like little and busy to describe the bee.
ii. In your own words explain 'improve each shining hour'.
= "Improve each shining hour' means the bee utilises every sunny days to collect nectar from the blooming flowers.
iii. What task does the poet describe in this verse? List two other tasks described by the poet.
= The poet describes the bee collecting nectar from every blooming flowers.
Other two tasks described by the poet are -
i. Building cells skilfully by spreading wax.
ii. Gathering and storing honey in the cells.
b. "How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in"
i. Which words tell us that the crocodile is preparing to attack?
= The words 'spread his claws' tell us that the crocodile is preparing to attack.
ii. Does the crocodile really 'welcome' little fishes? What does he do?
= The crocodile does not really 'welcome' little fishes.
It actually catches fishes and eats them.
iii. What expression does the crocodile have while he is doing so?
= The crocodile is happy and it smiles while the fishes comes near it and he catches them to satisfy his hunger with least effort.
3. How apt do you think is the poet's choice of the bee as the subject of a poem titled 'Against Idleness and Mischief'? What qualities does the poet admire?
= Bees are considered to be the most busy and active animal. They are the symbol of selflessness. They collect nectar from flowers and turn it honey and store it in their hive. They are strictly against idleness and mischief. The poet has made best choice to choose bee as the subject of the poem titled 'Against Idleness and Mischief'.
According to the poet, the bee utilises every bit of the time it gets in the fair weather. It builds its cell very skilfully with wax. It is very neat in spreading the wax. It labours hard to store honey in the hive well.
4. The crocodile in the first stanza of Carroll's poem is so likeable that we almost forgot that it is a wild beast. Pick words from the poem that build this image of the crocodile.
= The crocodile in the first stanza of Carroll's poem is so likeable that we almost forgot that it is a wild beast. The poet calls it as 'little crocodile'. It is raising its shining tail. It is spreading water of the river on its 'golden scale'. All these images make the readers admire the crocodile forgetting the fact that it is a wild beast.
5. Why do you think Lewis Carroll chose to draw up a parody of 'Against idleness and Mischief'? How effective or funny is the parody according to you?
= In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice fell down a rabbit hole where she first drank a potion that made her shrink and then she ate some cake that made her so large that 'her head struck the roof of the hall'. Confused about her identity, she tried to repeat Isaac Watts' poem that everyone in those days learnt by heart. But the poem came out all wrong. She became idle and became of no efficient to anything. Alice wanted to get active and do something good to get rid of her present condition. So she tried to recall Watts' poem to energise herself. The poet used the parody of the real poem to lighten the situation for the readers and enjoy fun and laughter.
According to me, the parody is very effective along with the situation of Alice. It shows the helplessness and futility of Alice after being too short and too tall.
6. The main idea of 'How Doth the Little Crocodile' is that appearances can be deceptive. Do you agree? Justify your answer.
= Yes, I do agree with the fact that the main idea of "How Doth the Little Crocodile' is that appearances can be deceptive. The poet has described an adorable appearance of the crocodile. It is a 'little crocodile' raising its tail. It spreads the water of the Nile on its 'golden scale'. It grins cheerfully.
This captivating image breaks when we see that the crocodile spreads his claws neatly to catch his prey. He is holding a fake smile so that the fishes do not fear to come near him. But he catches and kills then and makes them his food. The crocodile definitely has a deceptive appearance.
About the Poets:
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was an English hymn writer, theologian and logician. He has written more than 650 hymns of which have been translated into several languages.
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898). He was an English writer and mathematician. His most famous works are Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll used parodies of many famous poems and puzzles in his works.