[Jayne Osborn]

These are the others from An Owl in a Sack..., Bill. (Wendy's and George's are already on this thread):

Peter Womack's:

Chuffity-puffity
Anna Karennina
Suffered unduly from
Chauvinist males

Setting her up as an
Author-itarian
Warning to ladies who
Go off the rails.

Marie Herbert's:

Flibberty-gibberty
Josephine Bonaparte
Thought she had landed one
Helluva lad

Till he with typical
Megalomania
Married a Hapsburg and
Proved she'd been had.

and Mark Tavener's:

Scribbledy-wibbledy,
Christopher Isherwood,
I've never heard of you,
Did you exist?

Carol, my office mate,
Coincidentally,
Says you wrote Cabaret.
I think she's pissed.

[John Whitworth]

I think the problem with froggy is that the language is accented differently. They don't have our big accents. See Racine, if you want to be really poncy.

[Mary Moore]

When submitting, does your double dactyl go directly into the email or get attached? Any other info required?
Mary

[Jayne Osborn]

Hi Mary,

As a general rule, directly into the body of the email is preferable.
Include your postal address, so they know where to send the dosh!

[Chris O'Carroll]

Originally Posted by Susan d.S.

This form was cooked up by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander in the 1960s. Their book, Jiggery-Pokery: A Compendium of Double Dactyls (NY: 1967) is great fun.

I love Jiggery-Pokery -- a light verse landmark. And I have more than once told people that Hollander and Hecht co-created the form. But I think I've been wrong every time. I'm pretty sure I read something by Hollander (maybe in Rhyme's Reason?) in which he says he simply helped Hecht to popularize the form, which Hecht invented either by himself or with somebody else.

As for "Higgledy-piggledy," Cope didn't coin that, or originate the idea of using it as the first line of a double dactyl. It's the default line 1 for many, many examples of the form. (But I'm with Jayne in preferring to use something different.)

[Roger Slater]

I can't think of any current figures with double dactyl names. I'm hoping that when a name finally occurs to me, the poem will write itself.

[John Whitworth]

In Rhyme's Reason, Hollander says Hecht INVENTED the form by himself, but that it was first PUBLISHED in collaboration with Hollander.

I consider higgledy-piggledy to be the ur-form, as it were. Wendy certainly did not invent it. Lewis Turco essays a couple of good ones in his Book of Forms. Both use higgledy-piggledy.

I noticed in a movie there was an actress called Stephanie Zimbalist. I don't know if she is well-known. Hamish McAllister is Lord Emsworth's gardener in the P.G. Wodehouse novels. Perhaps not really contemporary. A pity 'Monosyllabically' would do beautifully for him.

[Susan d.S.]

Jerome, sorry for the delay, I have been away. According to Jiggery- Pokery by Hollander and Hecht, the stanzas are separated. The book features about 80 outstanding examples, also by other hands, such as Richard Howard, James Merrill, and Donald Hall. The co-authored introduction is amusing.
Subjects include topical ones, such as President Kennedy, the Vladimirs Nabokov and Horowitz, Schlesinger, etc., but also the Archangel Raphael, Maimonedes, Richard Plantagenet, and Anna Livia Plurabelle--more historical figures than contemporary. (Pity this contest is limited to contemporary celebrities.)

German and Greek subjects seemed especially convenient for supplying the 6 syllable one-word line (double dactylic) in the second stanza, which is a requirement of the form.

Anything else you'd like to know that I may find in the book, which must be long out of print, let me know. Good Luck!

[Susan d.S.]

John, Chris, yes, looking at the introduction again, it is correct that Hecht (in collaboration with Paul and Naomi Pascal) defined the form starting with the idea of a reasonably long poetic line made up of one word, in this case a double dactyl.

[Jerome Betts]

Susan, many thanks. I shall have to do some stanzaectomies.