Hello, my little friends. You will find two new posts below: one serious, the other more for fun. This is the "fun" one. Please respond, intelligently, to both by Sunday, 11/6. After you read the piece on Ophelia, please vote in the poll found in the right column of our Blog page. Only vote once. We should end with a total of 19 votes. Enjoy:
I ask to be or not to be.
That is the question I ask of me.
This sullied life, it makes me shudder.
My uncle's boffing dear sweet mother.
Would I, could I take me life?
Could I, should I end this strife?
Should I jump out of a plane?
Or throw myself before a train?
Should I from a cliff just leap?
Could I put myself to sleep?
Shoot myself or take some poison?
Maybe try self-immolation?
To shudder off this mortal coil,
I could stab myself with a fencing foil.
Slash my wrists while in the bath?
Would it end my angst and wrath?
To sleep, to dream, now there's the rub.
I could drop a toaster in my tub.
Would all be glad if I were dead?
Could I perhaps kill them instead?
This line of thought takes consideration -
For I'm the king of procrastination.
21 comments:
Loll. Wait is this really by Dr. Seuss?? I didn't know he wrote poems about all the ways to kill yourself. I can imagine some depressed little kid in the book store confusing it with Green Eggs and Ham. "Mommy what's self-immolation?" I had to look that one up, apparently it means setting yourself on fire... O.o
Hahaha James that's pretty crazy. This poem seems accurate for what Hamlet was probably feeling. It's funny how a guy that can write children's books could make up rhymes for all the ways to kill one's self.
I had already seen some of Dr. Seuss's more "serious" literature from World War II. He used a lot of satire to express his views. However his style of writing, like "I am Sam. Sam I am." is apparent in all his literature, whether it be Green Eggs and Ham or Green Eggs and Hamlet. He brings up some pretty serious topics, such as suicidal thougts and setting one's self on fire (thanks James for the definition); I think that therefore society wants to keep Dr. Seuss's children's book image by not really showing this other side of his literature.
I think this poem is kind of clever. It definitely perceives the way some critics seem to interpret the mind of Hamlet. Between his deep deppression, suicidal thoughts, and stalling the death of Claudius; this poem seems to cover it all. I never knew Dr. Seuss wrote things like this... but i actually think this is like a parody to the actual children's poem written by another author.
Anyways, i don't recommend any depressed, melodramatic, or emo teenagers read this poem. It's just won't do them any good...
hahahaha great poem but to me it seemed to suicidal. In just that poem there is many death suicide examples. i agree with Ferial that this is a clever poem. I think this is a foreshadowing to Hamlet when his emotions acted up after his fathers death. Another way his emotions acted up was when he started to hate women which i believe the term was Misogynist.
I won't even lie, I was DEFINITELY unaware that Dr.Seuss was writing serious poems such as this one. This poem basically sums up the emotional state Hamlet was in perfectly. Hamlet was completely confused on who he should be, and whether killing his Uncle was something he could do. I thought Hamlet's procrastination to kill his Uncle was the result of not knowing if this was the person he wanted to be, a murderer. Oh and I agree with James completely on how this is not at all a child's book. Any child who reads this would be traumatized for life. Also, I want to point out that Dr.Seuss is an absolute genius. The fact that he can go to writing jokey little children books to this is incredible.
Oh sugar, I'm sorry if I have two posts. I don't really know if the last one was posted. Anyway, let me try and remember what I put down... This is totally shocking to believe that the Dr. Seuss from my childhood, who wrote one of my favorite books, wrote this terrible, and highly suicidal poem! I mean yeah it goes along with Hamlet, who just needs a therapist, but coming from a children's book author, you'd never expect it. That was mind blowing, and a great way to insult someone you just really can't stand. Good job Dr. Seuss.
So I re-read my comment and realized that it really doesn't answer a whole lot of anything. To clarify, I feel that this poem as serious as it is also has a somewhat whimsical tone to it. This same tone, although not intended by Shakespeare in Hamlet, is slightly prevalent in the play. What with the whole being determined to avenge his father's death in one scene and contemplating his own in the next, the reader cannot help but find a droll, ironic humor in the play. Dr. Seuss is simply exaggerating it here in Green Eggs and Hamlet.
hahaha, I agree with James, I had no idea Dr. Suess wrote poems that involved so many different ways of killing yourself. This poem is very clever though. It's the exact thoughts that are going through Hamlet's mind but puts a mondern twist on it (i.e. the toaster in the tub, jumping out of a plane or in front of a train). Totally love this poem! : )
Wow! This poem was funny and yea i agree with all of you how could this funny author write poems like this one. Its pretty intresting what you can get out of this and exactly comes up with what happened to Hamlet. LOL and James that funny that you went to look that up but with Hamlet's way of acting who knows what else he could come up with. All the ways its questioning Hamlet's way of dying and the way Dr. Seuss writes by using rhyme is smart and atracts a reader's attention. This was pretty funto read and made me laugh because suicide is not a joke and he made it seem like one by giving crazy examples.
One of Dr. Suess's many admirable talents was his diverse writing capabilities. Contrary to popular belief, Dr. Suess's talent extended beyond children's works. As Jason stated, he used satire to express his political views (specifically in WWII). Although, Dr. Suess probably wouldn't publish his own rendition of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The influence of said work would probably be more criticized than acclaimed. Could you imagine the children's writer we all love considering suicide options? Nevertheless, this poem says true to Suessian wit and rhyme and is definitely on par with The Cat in the Hat.
As we all can see Dr. Seuss not only rhymes for children's books but he also creates suicidal poems. I thought this poem was pretty cool.(I'm not crazy) Honestly I use to make songs up myself but this just goes to show how good of an author he is. He took Hamlet's "To be or not to be" line and basically wrapped it up into a short poem. He definitely established the tone of dawdling in Hamlet.
This poem most definitely shows Dr. Seuss' ability to extend beyond the work of children's poems. I believe Dr. Seuss basically re-wrote Hamlet's famous soliloquy with a more modern connotation. He involved the use of toasters, Guns, planes, and trains. While also embedding the element of Claudius and Gertrude's marriage and Hamlet's procrastination throughout the play. Cleverly done Seuss!
Wow! I really didn't think Dr. Seuss wrote poems like this. Guess you really do learn something new every day. I think this poem is really fitting for Hamlet's situation. The fact that Dr. Seuss can take a serious topic, like suicide, and add a whimsical tone to it is true genius. I think Dr. Seuss really nailed it with this poem and describes what is going on in Hamlet's complex mind with a modern poem.
I really can't believe this is Dr. Seuss. Who would've thought a man that can make poem's for little kids could make weird, depressing poems that really portray Hamlet's state of mind. I also agree with Jason that we really never do see this side of Dr. Seuss.
I'm glad that I'm not the only one that finds this surprising, but it is interesting to see a more serious piece of Dr. Seuss' literature. i feel that this poem does describe what Hamlet felt and thought, although there is definitely some exaggeration in the poem. At the beginning of the play there were moments when Hamlet didn't see any point in living because he was grieved by his father's death. So he did at a point feel suicidal. Hamlet definitely had some procrastination issues. He really took his sweet time to take revenge on Claudius, even though he had so many chances to kill him. Anyways i feel this is a good poem, although i wouldn't recommend that people should read it. I think it's too suicidal even for Hamlet.
It is very interesting to see some of Seuss’s more serious work. The Seuss I am used to wrote up beat children stories, not a dark poem discussing examples of suicide. The line about self-immolation reminds me of the man in Tunisia, and how he used it to protest the government. It is extremely clever how Seuss could describe a dark play in such a comical tone. This poem allows us to see Hamlet’s plight in a new light.
....I think Dr. Seuss had some mental problems :O. Or maybe he's just very creative and has a big imagination :D . And agreeing with "Ferberto", I don't recommend this to suicidal/emo people. Anyways, this is pretty much what Hamlet was saying but just in a way that most people today can understand or maybe even relate to. *thumbs up* for the poem.
PS: Nevline IS crazy >:p <3
Wow. This is pretty surprising considering it as one of Dr. Seuss's works. It just doesn't reflect the same ideals as "Green Eggs and Ham", or "The Cat in the Hat" to me...lol. However, it still indicates his style of writing, as Jason said earlier. Even though it's a part of Dr.Seuss's "serious literature" it just doesn't seem all that serious, taking into consideration that the entire poem is depicting ways to kill oneself.
This poem, although it is about death, for me has sort of a comical tone to it. The rhyming structure of the poem contributes to the tone, making it dark and gloomy, but at the same time amusing. The connection to Hamlet is clear, thoughts of death and suicide are prominient throughout the play. And this whole poem is focused on ways to kill yourself. I agree with Jen and Glo about this being a sort of modern interpretation of Hamlet's "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. Though it doesn't talk about everything, it contains the gist of Hamlet's troubles and emotions.
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