Caricature and parody

They were close associates at one time of their lives – Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay (1685-1732) and John Arbuthnott (1667-1735), who was a doctor, mathematician, and pamphlet writer. Their literary-political circle accounts for the emergence of the notorious John Bull character, a caricature image. Such was the title of the pamphlet series written by Arbuthnott, History of John Bull. The nation demonstrated again the ability to laugh at its own folly. Self-derision, without undue hue and cry, is an essential part of English humour.

In the 18^th century epigram and parody writing flourished in Britain. Every poet of distinction contributed to the trade. Robert Burns, the rebel leader of the great middle-class revolution in poetry, was one of the most relentless epigrammatists of his time.

Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was always poor and therefore had to do all kinds of literary work. He became one of the greatest scholars of the age: his famous Dictionary appeared in 1755 and went into five editions in his own life! Johnson became a sort of a literary ruler judging authors and books like a god. Johnson, like many other highly-educated people, was able to coin a memorable verse, too.

In the 19^th century, parodies came in battalions. Not a single important poetic work escaped the cursed (or blessed?) fate of becoming source of inspiration for someone with a comic twist of mind. Parodies in the form of sequels 'ad absurdum', and the so-called 'broad parodies' appeared. The reading public developed an insatiable appetite for parodies. One six-volume (!) collection of parodies published in 1889 numbered dozens of parodies on Wordsworth, Swinburne, and Whitman. Edgar Poe's Raven came as champion winning 60 (sixty!) parodies in the collection. It's some flock of birds, eh?

The following selection (Text 79) features parodies which are recognizable imitations of... You are supposed to crack the riddle easily. Can you?