# Ye Idyll of Ye Hippopopotamus explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## 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.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator who describes the scene and the Hippopotamus's song.

## Key lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/ye-idyll-of-ye-hippopopotamus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters