bennet_7

koalathebear was discussing Jabberwocky here, a poem I adore. She reminded me that I had read a parody of the poem...somewhere.

After a bit of searching, I discovered it in The Even More Complete Book of Australian Verse by Australian satirist John Clarke.

The poem is not a parody of Jabberwocky; what it does is use the style of Jabberwocky to satirize Australian politics and politicians, in particular the 'Children Overboard' scandal. Some of the nonsense of words are not nonsense at all: 'ruddock' is a reference to Philip Ruddock who was the immigration minister at the time of the 'Children Overboard' scandal.

As such, the full effect of the poem will be lost on non-Australians but it is brilliantly written.

In the same book is a fantastic parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'I am the very model of a modern Major-General'. This one can be enjoyed by Aussies and non-Aussies alike ;-)

You can hear the original here. 




This book is truly excellent. I may post more of the parodied poems later as I love the Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost ones.