Poetry · Chapter
Ye Idyll of Ye Hippopopotamus explained
A whimsical, surreal poem in which the Sun sets over the sea, a Hippopotamus sings a plaintive nonsense song, a Sponge rises from the wave to pose absurd riddles, and the Hippopotamus recalls a pastoral romance of absurd adventures before c
What happens
A whimsical, surreal poem in which the Sun sets over the sea, a Hippopotamus sings a plaintive nonsense song, a Sponge rises from the wave to pose absurd riddles, and the Hippopotamus recalls a pastoral romance of absurd adventures before comforting himself with strawberry tart.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Artifice
The poem blends natural imagery (sun, sea, moon) with absurd, artificial elements (custard, crape, octagonal boulders), highlighting a playful contrast between the natural world and human invention.
Characters to notice
- Unknown
The narrator who describes the scene and the Hippopotamus's song.
Key passages
“With a Methodist hymn in his musical throat, The Sun was emitting his ultimate note; His quivering larynx enwrinkled the sea Like an Ichthyosaurian blowing his tea;”
The Sun, singing a hymn, sets and causes ripples on the sea, as if a prehistoric creature were blowing on its tea.
The opening lines personify the Sun and use a humorous simile to describe the sunset.
“Lo, how I stand on my head and repine— Lollipop Lumpkin can never be mine!”
The Hippopotamus laments while standing on its head that it cannot have a sweetheart named Lollipop Lumpkin.
The Hippopotamus's song expresses a comical, unrequited love.
“We roamed—my love and I. By the margin of the fountain spouting thick with clabbered milk, Under spreading boughs of bass-wood all alive with cooing toads, Loafing listlessly on boulders of octagonal design, Standing gracefully inverted with our toes together knit, We loved—my love and I.”
The Hippopotamus recalls a romantic idyll with its beloved, involving absurd activities like hunting spiders with a shotgun and standing on their heads together.
The memory is a parody of pastoral romance, filled with nonsensical details.