Illuminating, Ann. Hadn't realised the syrup was once a real brand
like Fiery Jack's Rubbing Ointment and other delights.
Interestingly, in the Unkind To Unicorns collection only one piece - not one of the best IMHO - would very distantly suggest Housman's serious verse if you didn't know the author. For me two or three lines have trochaic echoes of other poems and fragments.
Now all day the horned herds
Dance to the piping of the birds;
Now the bumble-bee is rife
And other forms of insect life;
The skylark in the sky so blue
Now makes noise enough for two,
And lovers on the grass so green
- Muse, oh Muse, eschew th'obscene.
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