Stylish.

There once was an old crocodile
    Who lived on the banks of the Nile.
One day, for a meal,
    He swallowed a wheel,
And ate for dessert, an automobile.

Edwin C. Ranck

Edwin C. Ranck

Edwin C. Ranck was an American lyricist noted for his work in the early 20th century. He was a prolific writer and his lyrics were often characterized by their humor and wit. One of his standout works is the poem 'The Optimist', which reflects his positive outlook on life. Beyond that, little is known about his personal life or career. He remains a somewhat obscure figure in literary history.

Edwin C. Ranck

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

My Dream

Hear now a curious dream I dreamed last night
Each word whereof is weighed and sifted truth.

    I stood beside Euphrates while it swelled
Like overflowing Jordan in its youth:
It waxed and coloured sensibly to sight;
Till out of myriad pregnant waves there welled
Young crocodiles, a gaunt blunt-featured crew,
Fresh-hatched perhaps and daubed with birthday dew.
The rest if I should tell, I fear my friend
My closest friend would deem the facts untrue;
And therefore it were wisely left untold;
Yet if you will, why, hear it to the end.

    Each crocodile was girt with massive gold
And polished stones that with their wearers grew:
But one there was who waxed beyond the rest,
Wore kinglier girdle and a kingly crown,
Whilst crowns and orbs and sceptres s...

Christina Georgina Rossetti

How Doth The Little Crocodile

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!

Lewis Carroll

Crabbed.

A college professor one day
    Was fishing in Chesapeake Bay;
Said a crab to his mate,
    "Let's kick off the bait,
This business is too old to pay."

Edwin C. Ranck

Nonsense Alphabet 3

A



A was an ape,
Who stole some white tape,
And tied up his toes
In four beautiful bows.

a!

Funny old ape!


B



B was a bat,
Who slept all the day,
And fluttered about
When the sun went away.

b!

Brown little bat!


C



C was a camel:
You rode on his hump;
And if you fell off,
You came down such a bump!


c!

What a high camel!


D



D was a dove,
Who lived in a wood,
With such pretty soft wings,
And so gentle and good!

Edward Lear

The Quarry

        Between the rice swamps and the fields of tea
        I met a sacred elephant, snow-white.
        Upon his back a huge pagoda towered
        Full of brass gods and food of sacrifice.
        Upon his forehead sat a golden throne,
        The massy metal twisted into shapes
        Grotesque, antediluvian, such as move
        In myth or have their broken images
        Sealed in the stony middle of the hills.
        A peacock spread his thousand dyes to screen
        The yellow sunlight from the head of one
        Who sat upon the throne, clad stiff with gems,
        Heirlooms of dynasties of buried kings,--
        Himself the likeness of a buried king,
        With frozen gesture and unfocused eyes.
        The trappings of the beast were over-scraw...

William Vaughn Moody

Genius.

There was once a young man quite erratic
    Who lived all alone in an attic,
He wrote magazine verse
    That made editors curse,
But his friends thought it fine and dramatic.

Edwin C. Ranck