Page 23 - eMuse Vol.9 No.09

Look more like an owl than that horrid fowl.
Foreign Stuck up there so stiff like a side of course leather,
In fact about him there’s not one natural feather.”

Poetry Just then with a wink and a sly normal lurch,
The owl very gravely got down from his perch,
Walked round and regarded his fault finding critic
(Who thought he was stuffed) with a glance analytic,
And then fairly hooted as if he should say;
“Your learning’s at fault; this time anyway;
Don’t waste it again on a live bird, I pray.
I’m an owl! Your another. Sir Critic, Good-day!”
And the barber kept on shaving .
This is a poem many older Australians believe is Australian. But, James T Fields
sadly, it’s not. It was actually written in America by James T Fields.
But because so many people believe it is Australian and love it, I like
to include it in my repertoire from time to time
The Owl Critic

“Who stuffed that white owl!” No one spoke in the shop;
The barber was busy and he couldn’t stop; James Thomas Fields
The customers waiting their turn were all reading (December 31, 1817 – April 24, 1881)
“The Daily”, “The Herald”, “The Post”, little heading American publisher, editor, and poet .
The young man who blurted out such a blunt question;
Not one raised a head, or even made a suggestion.
And the barber kept on shaving .
“Don’t you see Mr. Brown?” cried the youth with a frown,
“How wrong the whole thing is, how preposterous each wing is,
How flattened the head is, how jammed down the neck is — James’s father was a sea captain and died before he was three.
In short the whole owl, what an ignorant wreck ‘tis! He and his brother were raised by their mother and her siblings,
I make no apology; I learned owl-eology. their aunt Mary and uncle George. At the age of 14, James took
I’ve passed days and nights in a hundred collections, a job at the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston as an apprentice to
And cannot be blinded by any deflections publishers Carter and Hendee.
Arising from unskilled fingers that fail His first published poetry was included in the Portsmouth Jour-
To stuff a bird right from his beak to his tail. nal in 1837 but he drew more attention when, on September 13,
Mr. Brown! Mr. Brown! Do take that bird down 1838, he delivered his “Anniversary Poem” to the Boston Mercan-
Or you’ll soon be the laughing stock all over town!” tile Library Association.
And the barber kept on shaving .
In 1839, he became junior partner in the publishing and book-
‘I’ve studied owls and other night fowls, selling firm Ticknor and Fields. William Ticknor (the senior partner)
And I tell you what I know to be true; oversaw the business side of the firm while James was its literary
An owl cannot roost with his limbs so unloosed; expert. He became well known for being likable, for his ability to
No owl in this world ever had his claws curled, find creative talent, and, for his ability to promote authors and win
Ever had his legs slanted, ever had his bill canted, their loyalty .
Ever had his neck screwed into that attitude.
He can’t do it because ‘tis against all bird laws. With this company, Fields became the publisher of leading con-
temporary American writers, with whom he was on terms of close
Anatomy teaches, ornithology preaches, personal friendship. He also represented the American interests
An owl has a toe that can’t turn out so! of British writers such as Charles Dickens. Ticknor and Fields’ com-
I’ve made the white owl my study for years, pany had a substantial influence in the literary scene.
And to see such a job almost moves me to tears!
Mr. Brown I’m amazed you’d be so gone crazed In 1850, James married Eliza Willard at Boston’s Federal Street
As to put up a bird in that posture absurd! Church. She died of tuberculosis the next year. Grief-stricken, he
To look at that owl really brings on a dizziness; left the United States for a time and traveled to Europe. On his
The man who stuffed him don’t half know his business!” return in 1854 he married author Annie Adams.
And the barber kept on shaving . When Ticknor died in 1864, James became the senior patner in
“Examine those eyes! I’m filled with surprise the firm until his own retirement in 1868. He then devoted himself
Taxidermists should pass off on you such poor glass; to lecturing and writing essays and poetry. His book “Ballads and
So unnatural they seem they’d make Audobon scream, Verses” published in 1880 contains his famous work “The Ballad of
And John Burrows laugh to encounter such chaff. the Tempest”.
Do take that bird down; have him stuffed again, Brown!” James became increasingly popular as a lecturer throughout the
And the barber kept on shaving . 1870s. In May 1879, Fields suffered a brain hemorrhage and col-
“With some sawdust and bark I could stuff in the dark lapsed before a scheduled lecture. He seemed to recover briefly in
An owl better than that. I could make an old hat early 1881 but died on 24 April.

September 2020 eMuse 23