alliterativism
by Chesterton · Cluster: Satire of Society · Epigram · Satire
Abstract
A 1914 comic light-verse squib mocking, through relentless alliteration, the wartime newspaper rhetoric about ‘violating Belgian neutrality’. A satirical patriotic parody touching on the First World War.
Testo / Text
Connections
Settings: Germany, Continental Europe (Brussels), Europe
Topoi: World Upside Down
Themes & Concepts: Satire of Society, War and its Cost, Nationalism and Patriotism, Power of Language, Deception Forms & Genres: Satire, Parody, Comic Verse Song, Epigram Historical References: First World War
Testo integrale / Full text
ALLITERATIVISM (1914)
(THE LATEST SCHOOL)
(FRENCH AIRMEN HAVE BEEN FLYING OVER BADEN AND
BAVARIA, VIOLATING BELGIAN NEUTRALITY
—Stated on German authority in the “Westminster Gazette”)
SEE the flying French depart
Like the bees of Bonaparte,
Swarming up with a most venomous vitality.
Over Baden and Bavaria,
And Brighton and Bulgaria,
Thus violating Belgian neutrality.
And the injured Prussian may
Not unreasonably say
”Why, it cannot be so small a nationality
Since Brixton and Batavia,
Bolivia and Belgravia,
Are bursting with the Belgian neutrality.”
By pure Alliteration
You may trace this curious nation,
And respect this somewhat scattered Principality;
When you see a B in Both
You may take your Bible oath
You are violating Belgian neutrality.