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The Bab Ballads
Sir W. S. Gilbert
Book Overview:
The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique “topsy-turvy” style, where the humor was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert’s cynical and satirical approach to humor. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert’s childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations “Bab”.
The Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan. In writing the Bab Ballads, Gilbert developed his unique “topsy-turvy” style, where the humor was derived by setting up a ridiculous premise and working out its logical consequences, however absurd. The Ballads also reveal Gilbert’s cynical and satirical approach to humor. They became famous on their own, as well as being a source for plot elements, characters and songs that Gilbert would recycle in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Bab Ballads take their name from Gilbert’s childhood nickname, and he later began to sign his illustrations “Bab”.
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Then she let down all her back hair, which had taken long in dressing.
Then she had convulsive sobbings in her agitated throttle,
Then
she wiped her pretty eyes and smelt her pretty smelling-bottle.
So I whispered, “Dear ELVIRA, say,—what can the
matter be with you?
Does anything you’ve eaten, darling POPSY,
disagree with you?”
But spite of all I said, her sobs grew more and more distressing,
And
she tore her pretty back hair, which had taken long in dressing.
Then she gazed upon the carpet, at the ceiling, then above me,
And
she whispered, “FERDINANDO, do you really, really love
me?”
“Love you?” said I, then I sighed, and then I gazed upon
her sweetly—
For I think I do this sort of thing particularly
neatly.
“Send me to the Arctic regions, or illimitable azure,
. . . Read More
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Community Reviews
Goodreads says there are 25 editions, but I only have 5! To the bookstore!
It's lightweight and silly but it's good to speak nonsense in season.
Gilbert was the master of rhythm and excruciating rhyme, but without the context of the Savoy Opera plots and without the sublime music of Sir Arthur Sullivan, these verses are dated and somewhat pointless.
Hillarious. It helps if you are familiar with older humor and Victorian British attitudes.
Until after I read it, I did not realize this was written by the Gilbert who was half the duo of Gilbert and Sullivan. G&S wrote the brilliant musicals The Mikado and Pirates of Penzance and many others.
WARNIN
This is a very uneven work. Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan) had a talent for rhyming. Not all rhymes are worthwhile. Most within this book are strange tales that leave one unfulfilled, having started with such promise. There are a few that are bear re-reading, but for the most part, seem nonsensic
Very variable in quality--the best of the "ballads" are very funny, while the worst are unbearably tedious or predictable. A couple might be viewed as racist in the current era, but they are generally more absurdist than anything else (e.g. the poem that involves a Jewish man's nose falling off and