著者

服部 英二 EIJI HATTORI

雑誌

中京英文学 = Chukyo English literature (ISSN:02852039)

巻号頁・発行日

no.6, pp.1-51, 1986-03-20

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From his early schooldays to the later years of his life, Thackeray seems to have had a strong persistent urge within him to compose rhymed verses. Just as Shakespeare frequently sprinkled his plays with a jewel of a 'Song' here and there, Thackeray no less frequently set his light, agreeable songs within the pages of his novels. To a distinguished prose master such as he then was, occasional verse writing never failed to be a welcome respite from the humdrum daily hackwork, and so he wrote many more amusing ballads and verses even in his most serious moments. Thackeray's poems should therefore be read with much care and insight, for they might possibly reveal some intrinsic clues to his whole mind and art. His self-depreciating 'doggerel verses' might possibly be acknowledged to be the products of an original sophisticated man of genius with a streak of droll bathetic humour and elegant satiric irony. Thackeray is worth something much more than a passing, perfunctory mention of his name merely as one of the makers of Victorian humorous verse. He deserves at least an ungrudging tribute of praise for his little tour de force in light verse-that delightful and unforgettable 'Ballad of Bouillabaisse'.