The Lamb Cycle: What the Great English Poets Would Have Written about Mary and Her Lamb (Had They Thought of It First)

The rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" told in the style--and substance--of the great English poets from Edmund Spenser to Stevie Smith.

In The Lamb Cycle, David R. Ewbank achieves the unthinkable--he writes so convincingly in the style of the great English poets that one could be lulled into thinking that Shakespeare himself was inspired to muse upon the subject of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Ewbank captures not only the style of each of the poets he chooses, but also their preoccupations and subject matter. So D.H. Lawrence's Mary longs for her lamb as any woman longing for her lover, whilst T.S. Eliot's Mary is recollected by an old man looking back on his life. Alexander Pope writes an "An Essay on Lambs," and Tennyson's lotus eaters become "The Clover Eater." Brilliantly written, sophisticated, and laugh-out-loud funny, these poems, enhanced by Kate Feiffer's charming illustrations, will enchant anyone who has ever read an English poem.


Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Published: 04/01/2023
Pages: 60
Weight: 0.5lbs
Size: 7.40h x 5.40w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781684581450

About the Author
David R. Ewbank is professor emeritus of English literature at Kent State University. He has authored A Distant Summer, and a collection of parodies Fairy Tales for Adults, famous stories as they might have been written by classic American authors. He also served as coeditor of the multivolume collection The Complete Works of Robert Browning. Kate Feiffer's illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers, and on television. She is the author of eleven highly acclaimed children's books, including Henry the Dog with No Tail and My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life, and the event producer for the Martha's Vineyard-based writers festival Islanders Write.