quoodle
by Chesterton · Cluster: Joy · Animals · Comic Verse Song
Abstract
A comic song sung by a dog, mocking the ‘noselessness of Man’ and celebrating the rich animal world of smells closed to human minds; on nature, wonder and the limits of human perception.
Testo / Text
Connections
Historical References: Bible
Characters: Quoodle
Topoi: Book of Nature, Fall from Innocence Motifs: Animals, Nature, Flowers, Smell and Scent Themes & Concepts: Wonder and Gratitude, Joy, Nature vs Civilization, Perception and Consciousness, Sin and the Fall Forms & Genres: Comic Verse Song, Lyric
Testo integrale / Full text
THE SONG OF QUOODLE
G.K.Chesterton
They haven’t got no noses,
The fallen sons of Eve;
Even the smell of roses
Is not what they supposes;
But more than mind discloses
And more than men believe.
They haven’t got no noses,
They cannot even tell
When door and darkness closes
The park a Jew encloses,
Where even the law of Moses
Will let you steal a smell.
The brilliant smell of water,
The brave smell of a stone,
The smell of dew and thunder,
The old bones buried under,
Are things in which they blunder
And err, if left alone.
The wind from winter forests,
The scent of scentless flowers,
The breath of brides’ adorning,
The smell of snare and warning,
The smell of Sunday morning,
God gave to us for ours
And Quoodle here discloses
All things that Quoodle can,
They haven’t got no noses,
They haven’t got no noses,
And goodness only knowses
The Noselessness of Man.