Opinion : Parody, satire and the patriotic mosquito poem

One of my favorite humorous poems has always been an 100-year-old ditty called “The Mosquito Hunt.”

The poem, from a book of poetry dated around 1890, tells of the story of a couple trying to kill a mosquito that threatened to interrupt their sleep with a painful bite.

“Not a sound was heard but a terrible hum

As round the chamber we hurried”

In search of the mosquito whose trumpet and drum

Our delectable slumber had worried.”

The poem ends with a triumph for the humans:

But half an hour seemed to elapse

Ere we met with the wretch that had bit us

And raising our boots we gave some terrible slaps

And made the mosquito quietus

Quickly and gladly we turned from the dead

And left him all smashed and gory

We blew out the candle and popped into bed

Determined to tell you the story.

I love this poem and I always thought it was a wonderful 19th Century expression of American life that captures a battle we all face every summer in a way that helps us understand how people lived in the U.S.in the 1800s.

But it’s even more than that.

It’s a wonderful expression of American patriotism.

How, you may ask, does a poem about smashing a mosquito promote patriotism?

Let me explain.

The mosquito hunt is a parody of a serious British poem that honors a man who fought against Americaduring the Revolutionary War.

That man, Sir John Moore, died in the battle of Corunna. He had earned fame in England(and some respect in the colonies) for his success in our war for independence.

His funeral was a British national event, and a poem about that funeral, ""The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna," was often called one of the best poems of his day.

The very first time that I read the poem, I realized it seemed very familiar:

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,  

As his corse to the rampart we hurried;  

Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot  

O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 

The more I read, the more I realized: This sounds like “The Mosquito Hunt.”

No useless coffin enclosed his breast...  

Slowly and sadly we laid him down..  

From the field of his fame fresh and gory...

And then I realized that ‘The Mosquito Hunt” is not at all about mosquitoes. It’s about Americans making fun of a man who fought against them in the war for our nation’s freedom.

Some current Americans seem to think that with our “shock jocks” and late night talk show hosts that our generation is the wittiest and most clever of them all.

But if we only knew how much wiser our forefathers were, and how much more creatively and humorously they could communicate just about anything they had to say — even with the limited technologies of their day — we’d start asking why they were so much better.

And that is a question we all should be asking.

Valediction

Beth:

Never mistake better communication for better communication.

— Dad