Literary Haiku

A professor of English sent me a set of haikus summing up famous books. Here are a few of them.

The Odyssey of Homer

Aegean forecast –
Storms, chance of one-eyed giants,
Delays expected.

The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

Galapagos finch –
The same beak as Aunt Enid’s!
A theory is born.

Kama Sutra of Vatsayana

Advice for those in
A difficult position.
First, be flexible.

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Snow-drops hang like tears.
Shy, sweet, saintly Beth has died.
One down, three to go.

I replied:

These are very good.
When I get a moment free
I’ll write some others.
I only wrote a few, though.
Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville

Call me Ishmael. But:
Better read the Preface first.
What’s whale in Hebrew?

The Holy Bible

Yahweh thirsts for blood:
First human, then from bullocks,
Lastly from his Son.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce

Young Irish fellow,
Fed up with the Church, decides
To go to Paris.

For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

Midwesterner fights
In civil war in Spain. Doomed love,
Then death in action.

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare

Denmark’s a prison.
He who hesitates is lost.
Everybody dies.

Animal Farm, by George Orwell

Animals revolt.
Revolution is betrayed,
As happened before.

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