Book rhyme
A book rhyme is a short
Book rhymes were fairly common in the
Anti-theft warnings
One of the most common is:
If this book you steal away,
What will you say
On
Identification rhyme
An example of a common style of identification rhyme is:
Everytown is my dwelling-place
America is my nation
John Smith is my name
The end line has several variations,
And Christ is my salvation
And heaven my expectation
An example of an identification rhyme found in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) is: "Stephen Dedalus is my name, Ireland is my nation. Clongowes is my dwellingplace. And heaven my expectation."[2]
The title of Thornton Wilder's novel Heaven's My Destination (1935) and Alfred Bester's novel The Stars My Destination (1956) play on the final line.
A typical example of an identification book rhyme features prominently in M.R. James' 1925 ghost story A Warning to the Curious:
Nathaniel Ager is my name and England is my nation,
Seaburgh is my dwelling-place and Christ is my salvation,
When I am dead and in my Grave, and all my bones are rotton,
I hope the Lord will think on me when I am long forgotton.
See also
- Book curse
- Bookplate
References
- ^ Meier, Allison (2014-11-18). "19th and 20th–Century Bookplates as Deeply Personal Brands of the Home Library". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- ^ Joyce, James (1916). A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Sources
- Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology & Legend (hardcover). 1972. pp. 156–57. ISBN 0-308-40090-9..
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