Hi ya' Alex,
Ya' great rake!
How ya' doin' for heaven's sake?
For ya' poor ol' Aristotle did worr'in ache.
Ye'r a God Ye'r ma' said, born of a snake.
By Zeus! Don't that take the cake?
Is zat' what made ya' such a flake?
Cuttin' Gordian's Knot made Asia Quake.
But march'n crost'it would make
ye'r troops in'na dessert do a slow bake.
Cute trick ya' big ol' fake.
Did ya' have to put so much at stake
then let ye'r world go jump in'na lake?
Die'n so young was ye'r big mistake.
So sorry dude I mis't ye'r wake.
Author notes
this is a parody of everything written about Alex the Great, also of Highway 61 revisited by Bob Dylan.
A contest entry
- Changes - Parodies by gaze.
700 points, ended May 7, 2008, 7 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - History: BIG events and BIG people by Yorkshire Rose.
450 points, ended August 15, 2008, 16 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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hey, this is certianly a new look on things and history very gd rhyme and all i can see some historical facts in there, which make it even better, well done and thank you your entry
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Thanks for your comment. If you
look it up ALL the facts are historical and fairly well konwn by people who like history of that period. I like to joke about ledgens to remind us that they are human and don't shit marble but are only sculpted in it.
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Ah, a parody on Alexander The Great, I certainly never assumed that would be the case. You clearly know your subject and I have to dig back into my history classes to remember the facts, and it's a clever parody, using Dylan's lyrics as inspiration.
well done!
Mari
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Very clever! I like this, singing along to Dylan's tune, with the snarl at the end of the lines - it works really well! If Alex the Grate made a mistake, it was in dying so young. I've always thought that maybe his work was over, though, better to exit on a high note than wait around, boring people at banquets with old tales of victories that no longer have relevance...but that's because I'm getting old myself, I guess. Great work.
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Oh my, erudition in this parody contest! Darn, now I have to use my brain!
There are indeed a lot of legends attached to his name, the snake and the Gordian Knot being two examples.
That gives me an idea for a story...the gordian knot thing. But that is neither here nor there.
If I can untie the knot my dog put in his rope attached to his dog house, do you think I could become King Of Dogs? Sorry, that for some reason popped into my head.
It's a good parody requiring more brain power than I am used to using...I like to conserve. I'm just being silly, but your poem was good.
For anyone reading this poem who might be interested, this is a link to Dylan's lyrics:
http://www.kbapps.com/lyrics/songlyrics/DylanBob_Route66.html
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Thanks for the feedback
Also: 1. that Aristotel was coericed into teaching him 2. that despite such an "eurdite" teacher he still spoke attic i.e. shit-kicker, Greek much like the vernacular English I use in this poem. If memory serves, the title is "Highway 61 Revisited" to rhyme with the ending lines: kill'n done, bleachers out in the sun, and so on. Could be mistak'n, been a long time ago. If you can find a sword big enough to do the job I guess you could be "king of the dogs", if that's what pulls your chain, and 3. the rhyme scheme is set up so that cadence when reading matches that in Dylan's song. All this just to save you "thinking time". Ha! P.S. The song lyrics you linked to are not the ones Dylan wrote. Those are the lyrics to song composed for the TV show from the 50's called "Route 66", oddly enough. Dylan's lyrics were of a different presuasion altogether. "God said 'Abe kill me a son' Abe asked God; '[Where do you want this kill'n done.]' 'God told Abe '[Out on highway 61.}'"
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