THE THEORETIC TURTLE

The theoretic turtle started out to see the toad;

He came to a stop at a liberty-pole in the middle of the road.

"Now how, in the name of the spouting whale," the indignant turtle cried,

"Can I climb this perpendicular cliff and get on the other side?

If I only could make a big balloon I'd lightly over it fly;

Or a very long ladder might reach the top though it does look fearfully high.

If a beaver were in my place, he'd gnaw a passage through with his teeth;

I can't do that but I can dig a tunnel and pass beneath."

He was digging his tunnel with might and main, when a dog looked down at the hole.

"The easiest way, my friend," sald he, "is to walk around the pole."

 BIODATA

●       Amos Russel Wells, born on December 23, 1862 and died on March 6, 1933 was an American poet, editor, prose author, and academic.

●       Wells was born in Glens Falls, New York.

●       He graduated from Antioch College in 1883.

●       He was a prolific author, with no less than 63 titles being credited to him. His works include books dealing with young people's work and Sunday school, juvenile fiction, poetry and devotional literature.

 

LITERARY DEVICES

●     Assonance

i) Line 3: "Now how, in the name of the spouting whale, "the indignant the turtle cried,”

ii) Line 4: "Can I climb this perpendicular cliff and get on the other side?"

iii) Line 7: "If a beaver were in my place, he'd gnaw a passage through with his teeth;"

iv) Line 9: "He was digging his tunnel with might and main, when a dog looked down at the hole."

 

●     Alliteration

i) Line 1: "The theoretic turtle started out to see the toad;"

ii) Line 2: "He came to a stop at a liberty-pole in the middle of the road."

iii) Line 4: "Can I climb this perpendicular cliff and get on the other side?"

iv) Line 8: "I can't do that but I can dig a tunnel and pass beneath."

 

 WHAT DOES HUMOR GOT TO DO WITH IT

This poem is a humorous poem because the turtle who is theoretic thinks of harder ways to cross the pole even though it is obvious that he only needs to walk around it in order to cross the liberty pole. This funny poem makes me laugh because at the end, the turtle must’ve questioned why he did not think of the easiest way instead of spending his time thinking about harder solutions.

 

MEANING OF THE POEM

Even though the solution to cross the liberty-pole is simple, which is to walk around it, the turtle who is theoretic comes up with different ways that would take a lot more effort but not impossible because they can still achieve the purpose of the turtle which is to cross the pole. For example, the turtle thinks of climbing the cliff, blowing a big balloon and climbing a ladder. At last, the turtle digs a tunnel below the pole despite knowing it would take so much work. At the end of the poem, the dog tells the theoretic turtle that the easiest way is to just walk around the pole.

 

MESSAGE

The message that we got from this poem is we have to work smarter in life and don’t be too ambitious over simple things. Life is simple so don’t complicate it by making it harder.