The rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb" told in the style--and
substance--of the great English poets from Edmund Spenser to Stevie
Smith.
In The Lamb Cycle, David R. Ewbank achieves the unthinkable--he writes
so convincingly in the style of the great English poets that one could
be lulled into thinking that Shakespeare himself was inspired to muse
upon the subject of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Ewbank captures not only
the style of each of the poets he chooses, but also their preoccupations
and subject matter. So D.H. Lawrence's Mary longs for her lamb as any
woman longing for her lover, whilst T.S. Eliot's Mary is recollected by
an old man looking back on his life. Alexander Pope writes an "An Essay
on Lambs," and Tennyson's lotus eaters become "The Clover Eater."
Brilliantly written, sophisticated, and laugh-out-loud funny, these
poems, enhanced by Kate Feiffer's charming illustrations, will enchant
anyone who has ever read an English poem.