The Fatal Lozenge, An Alphabet by Edward Gorey.
Title: The Fatal Lozenge, An Alphabet.
Author: Edward Gorey.
Genre: Fiction, poetry, social criticism, gothic, dark.
Country: U.S.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 1960.
Summary: A darkly witty, delightfully but chillingly morbid, and surprisingly insightful couplet of for every letter of the alphabet!
My rating: 9/10.
♥ The Drudge expends her life in mopping,
In emptying and filling pails;
And she will do so, never stopping,
Until her strength entirely fails.
♥ The Magnate waits upon the pavement
For his enormous limousine,
And ponders further child-enslavement
And other projects still more mean.
♥ The Nun is fearfully bedevilled:
She runs about and moans and shrieks;
Her flesh is bruised, her clothes dishevelled;
She’s been like this for weeks and weeks.
♥ The Proctor buys a pupil ices,
And hopes the boy will not resist
When he attempts to practice vices
Few people even know exist.
♥ The Suicide, as she is falling,
Illuminated by the moon,
Regrets her act, and finds appalling
The thought she will be dead so soon.
♥ The sight of Uncle gives no pleasure,
But rather causes much alarm:
The children know that at his leisure
He plans to have them come to harm.