POETRIA DRACONIS MACARONICA

On my previous blog, Old Men Ought to be Explorers on LiveJournal, I occasionally put up poetry from the Dragon Book of Verse, the anthology that we had at my school in London in the early Fifties and that got me hooked on poetry for life. So I thought I'd continue the good work on this blog; but this first poem I put up with some trepidation. It's macaronic, i.e. composed of two languages chaotically joined, in this case Latin and English. It's purportedly an extract from an epic which I doubt if the author ever completed: not the AEneid but the 'Bankolidaid', dealing, of course, with a Bank Holiday Monday and a Cockney outing. It was written by Frank Sidgwick, (1879-1939) one of the founders of the publishing company Sidgwick and Jackson and a delightful minor poet (check the link, above). I've put in a little Glossary to explain a few words that refer to the Covent Garden world -- the old food markets off the Strand in London, now destroyed like the Halles in Paris. So here is the episode of Jack and Arabella, for those who still remember snatches of Virgil. (The hexameters work.)

FROM THE BANKOLIDAID  

Charmer virumque I sing, Jack plumigeramque Arabellam. 
Costermonger  erat Jack Jones, asinumque agitabat; 
In Covent Garden holus, sprouts vendidit asparagumque. 
Vendidit in circo to the toffs Arabella the donah, 
Qua Picadilly propinquat to Shaftesbury Avenue, flores.  
Jam Whitmonday adest; ex Newington Causeway the costers 
Erumpunt multi celebrare their annual beano ; 
Quisque suum billycock  habuere, et donah ferentes, 
Impositque rotis, popularia carmina singing, 
Happy with ale omnes-exceptis excipiendis, 
Gloomily drives Jack Jones, inconsolabilis heros; 
No companion habet, solus sine virgine coster. 
Per Boro', per Fleet Street, per Strand, sic itur ad "Empire" ; 
Illinc Coventry Street peragunt in a merry procession, 
Qua Picadilly propinquat to Shaftesbury Avenue tandem 
Gloomily Jack vehitur. Sed amet qui never amavit!  
En! subito fugiunt dark thoughts; Arabella videtur. 
Quum subit illius pulcherrima bloomin imago, 
Corde juvat Jack Jones; exclamat loudly "What oh, there!" 
Maiden ait "Deus, ecce Deus!" floresque relinquit. 
Post asinum sedet illa; petunt Welsh Harp prope Hendon .  
O fons Brent Reservoir!  recubans sub tegmine brolli , 
Brachia complexus (yum yum!) Jack kissed Arabella; 
"Garn" ait illa rubens, et "Garn" reboatur ab echo; 
Propositique tenax Jack "swelp me lumme I loves yer." 
Hinc illae lacrimae; "Jest one!" et "Saucy, give over."  
Tempora jam mutantur, et hats; caligine cinctus 
Oscula Jones iterat, mokoque  inmittit habenas. 
Concertina manu sixteen discordia vocum 
Obloquitur; cantant (ne saeve, magne policeman) 
Noctem in Old Kent Road . Sic transit gloria Monday.       

Glossary:

Costermonger: man selling fruit and vegetables from a barrow.

Beano: a party, an outing.

Billycock: Cockney for a hat.

The Empire was a music-hall in Leicester Square. 

The Welsh Harp: a pub near Hendon, a borough in North London.

Brent Reservoir: a large artificial lake and leisure area in North London.

A brolly is slang for an umbrella.

Moke: Cockney slang for an ass.

“Knocked ‘em in the Old Kent Road”: an old music-hall song sung by Shirley Temple in A Little Princess. Here is a better version.