Entry for September 01, 2007 - Am I Over-Analyzing?

Roald Dahl (1916 - 1990 / Wales)

Roald Dahl wrote classic children's books - his writings include - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach (My Childhood Favorite!) and Matilda. He is also an accomplished poet, as you will see below. What made me do this post was the comments below the the poem. Over analyzing or what? LOL Enjoy the poem 'THE PIG' for what it's worth! and I am laughing my ass off~ love me later~tj

The Pig In England once there lived a big And wonderfully clever pig. To everybody it was plain That Piggy had a massive brain. He worked out sums inside his head, There was no book he hadn't read. He knew what made an airplane fly, He knew how engines worked and why. He knew all this, but in the end One question drove him round the bend: He simply couldn't puzzle out What LIFE was really all about. What was the reason for his birth? Why was he placed upon this earth? His giant brain went round and round. Alas, no answer could be found. Till suddenly one wondrous night. All in a flash he saw the light. He jumped up like a ballet dancer And yelled, "By gum, I've got the answer!" "They want my bacon slice by slice "To sell at a tremendous price! "They want my tender juicy chops "To put in all the butcher's shops! "They want my pork to make a roast "And that's the part'll cost the most! "They want my sausages in strings! "They even want my chitterlings! "The butcher's shop! The carving knife! "That is the reason for my life!" Such thoughts as these are not designed To give a pig great piece of mind. Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland, A pail of pigswill in his hand, And piggy with a mighty roar, Bashes the farmer to the floor; Now comes the rather grizzly bit So let's not make too much of it, Except that you must understand That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland, He ate him up from head to toe, Chewing the pieces nice and slow. It took an hour to reach the feet, Because there was so much to eat, And when he finished, Pig, of course, Felt absolutely no remorse. Slowly he scratched his brainy head And with a little smile he said, "I had a fairly powerful hunch "That he might have me for his lunch. "And so, because I feared the worst, "I thought I'd better eat him first." Roald Dahl

Comments about this poem (The Pig by Roald Dahl) Click here to write your comments about this poem (The Pig by Roald Dahl) 1. Here is a pig with an enormous intellect: 'He's worked out sums inside his head. There isn't a book he hasn't read.' His powers of reasoning are superior, indeed, a master of his mind. But there's one thing he hasn't mastered, and that's his own unruly passions, his deeper, irrational self. This is a sobering truth. No matter how advanced man becomes, he is still a slave to himself. He still cannot control his own heart and its autonomous will toward self-destruction and survival. Roald Dahl often misses the mark with his poetry, but this one of his stronger pieces, by far. 2. Kudos to Roald for a bloody interpretation of a horrific reality. Comic at first, though his kinda misanthropic elements is what makes this lovely pork an excruciating answer towards human lust. 3. Roald Dahl is more of an author, not really a poet. i adore him and his books! i have read james and the giant peach, the adventures of charlie and mr willy wonka, george's marvellous medicine, the witches and all of his books.(i too lazy to write them down.) and i finished these when i was 8 years old! now i'm ten, going to 11 on 29 oct 07 4. Smart pig. Interesting conflict between the 'meaning of life' and 'survival of the fittest.' Well done!