Verbal Parodies

“Caricature is the tribute which mediocrity pays to genius.”

- Oscar Wilde

The links below take you to a collection of verbal caricatures and parodies, as well as some scholarly analysis of each one. Where possible, links to full text have been included within the analysis. If full text is not available, or is protected by copyright, bibliographic information has been provided.

W(illiam) H(urrell) Mallock The New Republic
Anthony Hecht "The Dover Bitch" Commentary by Paul H. Schmidt
H.D. Traill "Poor Matthias"
Author Unknown, "The Necklong"
Author Unknown. "Matthew Arnold and the Barefooted Newsboy"

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold
A rare photograph of Arnold smiling