Bee! I'm expecting you! 1
Was saying Yesterday
To Somebody you know
That you were due－
The Frogs got Home last Week－5
Are settled, and at work－
Birds, mostly back－
The Clover warm and thick－
You'll get my Letter by 9
The seventeenth; Reply
Or better, be with me－
Yours, Fly.
Was saying Yesterday
To Somebody you know
That you were due－
The Frogs got Home last Week－5
Are settled, and at work－
Birds, mostly back－
The Clover warm and thick－
You'll get my Letter by 9
The seventeenth; Reply
Or better, be with me－
Yours, Fly.
(F.983/J.1035)
[1] Bee:: a sweet writer (OED bee 3), whose writing style is sweeter than honey.
[4] due:: reached the deadline.
[5] Frogs:: French authors (who take holidays often).
[6] settled, at work:: behaved and started to work.
[7] Birds:: young fellows (with less experience). back:: behind schedule.
[8] Clover:: name of a publication; e.g., Sweet Clover by Carrie L. May (1865). This poem was written around 1865.
[8] warm and thick:: a heavy (thick) book just (warm) printed.
[9, 10] my Letter, seventeenth:: an editor's letter to remind a delayed author.
[12] Fly:: an annoying creature, and the editor's name.
The domestic life of Sophocles was less fortunate than his public career. . . . The Athenians erected a splendid monument to his memory, on which was engraved a swarm of bees, in allusion to the appellation usually given to him of the Attic Bee — on account of the sweetness and harmony of his verse. ─ The History of Literature (1843)
In this species of excellence, Xenophon is confessedly a model. He has been called the Attic Muse and the Attic Bee. It has been said, that the Muses would express themselves in his language, that his style is sweeter than honey, ─ Elegant Extracts (1824)