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Fleas (poem)
"Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes", also known simply as "Fleas", is a couplet commonly cited as the shortest poem ever written, composed by American poet Strickland Gillilan in the early 20th century. The poem reads in full: Shorter poem "Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes" is frequently said to be the shortest poem in the English language, or the shortest in the world. However, many shorter poems have since been written. A notable example was composed by boxer Muhammad Ali. On June 4, 1975, after giving a speech at Harvard University, Ali was discussing poetry on stage with journalist George Plimpton. When asked for the shortest poem of all time, Plimpton recited "Fleas" as above, and Ali responded, "I've got one: Me? Whee!!" According to the ''Guinness Book of Records'', the world's shortest poem is a one-letter poem by Aram Saroyan Aram Saroyan (born September 25, 1943) is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright, who is especially known for h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Couplet
In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there is a grammatical pause at the end of a line of verse. In a run-on (open) couplet, the meaning of the first line continues to the second. Background The word "couplet" comes from the French word meaning "two pieces of iron riveted or hinged together". The term "couplet" was first used to describe successive lines of verse in Sir P. Sidney's ''Arcadia ''in 1590: "In singing some short coplets, whereto the one halfe beginning, the other halfe should answere." While couplets traditionally rhyme, not all do. Poems may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets in iambic pentameter are called '' heroic couplets''. John Dryden in the 17th century and Alexander Pope in the 18th century were both well known for their w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strickland Gillilan
Strickland W. Gillilan (1869–1954) was an American journalist, author, poet, humorist and speaker. He is most famous for the poem ''The Reading Mother'', which remains a popular poem on Mother's Day. He is also recognized as the author of '' Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes'', said to be the shortest poem ever written. Much of his work is public domain and is often reproduced in greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...s. Gillilan was an Ohio-born descendant of a Nathan Gilliland line which can be traced from Augusta County, Virginia back to Ireland and Scotland. Gillilan's writings, which ranged from the satirical to the sublime, made him one of the more popular authors and speakers of his time. After three years at Ohio University in Athens, Strickland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale University Press publishes approximately 300 new hardcover A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound (At p. 247.)) book is one bookbinding, bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other clo ... and 150 new paperback books annually and has a backlist of about 5,000 books in print. Its books have won five National Book Awards, two National Book Critics Circle Awards and eight Pulitzer Prizes. The press maintains offices in New Haven, Connecticut and London, England. Yale is the only American university press with a full-scale publishing operation in Europe. It was a co-founder of the dist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. He held the ''The Ring (magazine), Ring'' magazine heavyweight title from 1964 to 1970, was the undisputed champion from 1974 to 1978, and was the World Boxing Association, WBA and ''Ring'' heavyweight champion from 1978 to 1979. In 1999, he was named Sports Illustrated#Sportsman of the Century, Sportsman of the Century by ''Sports Illustrated'' and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year#Sports Personality of the Century Award, Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began training as an amateur boxer at age 12. At 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics and turned professional later that year. He joined the Nation of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003) was an American writer. He is known for his sports writing and for helping to found ''The Paris Review'', as well as his patrician demeanor and accent. He was known for " participatory journalism," including accounts of his active involvement in professional sporting events, acting in a Western, performing a comedy act at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and playing with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra''The Best of Plimpton'', p. 72 and then recording the experience from the point of view of an amateur. According to ''The New York Times'', his "exploits in editing and writing seesawed between belles lettres and the witty accounts he wrote of his various madcap attempts to slip into other people's high-profile careers ... a lanky, urbane man possessed of boundless energy and perpetual bonhomie, became, in 1953, the first and only editor of ''The Paris Review''. A ubiquitous presence at book parties and other gala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. History 19th century ''The Harvard Crimson'' was one of many college newspapers founded shortly after the end of the American Civil War. The paper describes itself as "the nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper", although this description is contested by other college newspapers. ''The Crimson'' traces its origin to the first issue of ''The Magenta'', published January 24, 1873, despite strong discouragement from the Dean. The faculty of the College had suspended the existence of several previous student newspapers, including the ''Collegian'', whose motto ''Dulce et Periculum'' ("sweet and dangerous") represented the precarious place of the student press at Harvard University in the late 19th century. ''The Magenta''s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press (UNP) was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the University of Nebraska system. UNP publishes primarily non-fiction books and academic journals, in both print and electronic editions. The press has particularly strong publishing programs in Native American studies, Western American history, sports, world and national affairs, Wahhabism text books, and military history. The press has also been active in reprinting classic books from various genres, including science fiction and fantasy. Since its inception, UNP has published more than 4,000 books and 30 journals, adding another 150 new titles each year, making it the 12th largest university press in the United States. Since 2010, two of UNP's books have received the Bancroft Prize, the highest honor bestowed on history books in the U.S. Domestic dist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinness Book Of Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listing world records both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Hugh Beaver, Sir Hugh Beaver created the concept, and twin brothers Norris McWhirter, Norris and Ross McWhirter co-founded the book in London in August 1955. The first edition topped the bestseller list in the United Kingdom by Christmas 1955. The following year the book was launched internationally, and as of the 2025 edition, it is now in its 70th year of publication, published in 100 countries and 40 languages, and maintains over 53,000 records in its database. The international Franchising, franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. The popularity of the franchise has resulted in ''Guinness World Records'' becoming the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aram Saroyan
Aram Saroyan (born September 25, 1943) is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright, who is especially known for his minimalist poetry, famous examples of which include the one-word poem "lighght" and a one-letter poem comprising a four-legged version of the letter "m". There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as ''Complete Minimal Poems''. Early life Saroyan was born in New York City. His parents were author and playwright William Saroyan and actress Carol Grace and his sister was actress Lucy Saroyan. He is the father of Strawberry and Cream Saroyan. He is of Armenian descent from his father's side and Russian-Jewish from his mother's. Career During the 1970s and 1980s he lived in a writer's community in Bolinas, California, though by 1999 he was living in Santa Monica. Saroyan's poetry has been widely anthologized and appears in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
