2012-11-05
Original: 2012-11-05 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Main comic (a single panel showing a handwritten note on a piece of paper):
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
Except for this one's sweet refrains;
Let's print them on a tree's remains.
Caption below the panel: Joyce Kilmer wrote really good cover letters.
Votey:
10 Internet points to anyone who argues the following in a lit theory class:
The poem can be taken as an expression of Kilmer's deep sense of inadequacy and the wrath it precipitated. He knew in advance the poem would be published on dead trees. Thus, the poem revolves around Kilmer's desire to destroy perfect beauty so that it can be replaced by imperfect, but controllable, beauty.
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
Except for this one's sweet refrains;
Let's print them on a tree's remains.
Caption below the panel: Joyce Kilmer wrote really good cover letters.
Votey:
10 Internet points to anyone who argues the following in a lit theory class:
The poem can be taken as an expression of Kilmer's deep sense of inadequacy and the wrath it precipitated. He knew in advance the poem would be published on dead trees. Thus, the poem revolves around Kilmer's desire to destroy perfect beauty so that it can be replaced by imperfect, but controllable, beauty.
Alt text
A single-panel comic shows a handwritten note on a sheet of cream-colored paper. The handwritten verse reads: 'I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree. / Except for this one's sweet refrains; / Let's print them on a tree's remains.' This parodies Joyce Kilmer's famous poem 'Trees,' reframing it as a self-promoting cover letter pitching to have the poem printed (on paper, made from trees). A caption beneath reads: 'Joyce Kilmer wrote really good cover letters.' The joke is that the poet praising trees is simultaneously asking to have his work printed on them. The votey (bonus panel) is plain text reading: 'Internet points to anyone who argues the following in a lit theory class: The poem can be taken as an expression of Kilmer's deep sense of inadequacy and the wrath it precipitated. He knew in advance the poem would be published on dead trees. Thus, the poem revolves around Kilmer's desire to destroy perfect beauty so that it can be replaced by imperfect, but controllable, beauty.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.