Happy Birthday To You .....

                            HAPPY BIRTHDAY A. N. OTHER

Not much is known about this most prolific of poets. It is rumoured that he is in fact she but the truth is hidden in obscurity and doubt so I will continue to assume he is masculine and apologise of I am wrong.

He has been writing for so long that no-one is sure any longer about his actual date of birth and a few strange souls claim he is actually of the undead and has been around throughout recorded history. Others claim that it is a long established family who pass the poet’s pen down through the generations. Certainly the apparent antiquity of some of his more famous works seem to support this later claim but it could simply be just one more elaborate hoax on a par with the Piltdown Man. Part of the problem is his frequent use of pseudonyms such as Anon or more formally Anonymous and of course U N Known as well as the one that causes the gender doubt Ann Onnymous.

Like the Queen of England and all racehorses he has two birthdays, the private one celebrated by family members and the official one acknowledge by the public though not for him the pomp and ceremony of Birthday Parades in June just the same anonymous January 1st as with Grand National winners and amateur hacks. So I feel no real unease at choosing this random timing for his Birthday tribute.

Another area of doubt is the poet’s nationality. People on every continent have claimed his work for their own geographical area and his writings have appeared in more Languages than are spoken at the UN. The fact that I am British and am most comfortable speaking and writing English have given me a bias towards the idea that he is English but that’s just my own opinion

He is skilled in most of the standard verse forms as well as free verse and even straight prose. Probably his favourite style and surely one of his most quoted is the humble Limerick. These include such marvels as

The limerick makes gags anatomical
Packed in verses quite economical,
But the good ones that I've seen
Are seldom very clean,
And the clean ones are seldom are comical.

Let us take a look at some of his early work starting with those lines known to every schoolboy
I’m a poet
But you don’t know it.

I am sure this causes him many moments of merriment with its dual role of jest and truth.

Many of Anonymous’ poems were written in secret for fear of ridicule or retribution. For example the one that starts
An ancient story Ile tell you anon
Of a notable prince, that was called King John;
And he ruled England with maine and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintein'd little right.
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/53855-Anonymous-Olde-English---King-John-And-The-Abbot-Of-Canterbury
This poem, entitled King John And The Abbot Of Canterbury, goes on to poke fun at the King and the Cleric which in those “Good” Old Days might have cost our hero his head. Little wonder he never signed it.

This does show that Anonymous was quite a scholarly person since just being able to write in the 14th century was a remarkable achievement. However we should not be surprised at that since there are claims that he is an “Old Boy” from schools all over the world. Indeed he is said to have written the school anthem from many of these centres of academic excellence. Also his ability to write in languages ranging from ancient Greek and Latin through to Esperanto shows remarkable skill. However it wouldn’t surprise me if he had been expelled given some of the lavatorial humour he is famous for.
However sometimes that deep learning is buried even deeper under an assumed ignorance and coarseness as in his Horrible tale or as he actually wrote “A Norrible Tale”
A norrible tale I'm going to tell
Of the woeful tragedy which befell
A family that once resided
In the very same thoroughfare as I did;

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/31440-Anonymous-British-A-Norrible-Tale

One area where his anonymity is a trifle baffling is romantic poetry. Who can forget the lovely words of I know my love… http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/25776-Anonymous-British-I-Know-My-Love
I KNOW my Love by his way of walking,
And I know my love by his way of talking,
And I know my love dressed in a suit of blue,
And if my Love leaves me, what will I do?
Some say that the use of “his way of walking” etc indicate a female’s hand but as this was probably written to a sailor “in a suit of blue” and we know of sailor’s reputations I’ll leave you to decide.
Such sweetness deserves success in his romancing and how can that be unless he told her who was the real author?
There is equal ambiguity about http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/25751-Anonymous-British-The-Maid-of-the-Sweet-Brown-Knowe
COME all ye lads and lassies and listen to me a while,
And I’ll sing for you a verse or two will cause you all to smile;
It’s all about a young man, and I’m going to tell you now,
How he lately came a-courting of the Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe.
Still he is following (or perhaps he creating) a fine tradition in his Valentine odes which have been stolen and copied by so many people and Hallmark writers. How may of us have seen the immortal words
Roses are red
Violets are blue
But none are as sweet
As a beauty like you.

In his time Anonymous has followed many trades and professions such as
Weather forecastser.  http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/47922-Anonymous-British-Weather
Shepherd. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/54144-Anonymous-British-The-Willow-Tree--A-Pastoral-Dialogue
Sailor. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/by/Anonymous+British/2?order=first+line
Soldier. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/60188-Anonymous-British-The-Old-Timer
Airman. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/95769-Anonymous-British-The-Dying-Airman
Stonemason. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/55717-Anonymous-British-The-Flaming-Epitaph-On-A-Butcher-Of-The-19th-Century
Philosopher. http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/49834-Anonymous-Asian-If-this-were-a-world
And many more besides.

Whatever his trade, whatever his country, whatever his sex or his motives we can all be grateful for his penmanship and give thanks for his existence. So whoever and wherever he is.
Happy Birthday Anon!