File:The Ape-Doctor Prognosticates his own Ruin (5808828139).jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file (1,533 × 2,202 pixels, file size: 915 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary

[edit]
Description

The Ape-Doctor Prognosticates his own Ruin

The pee’s the thing, wherein I’ll scry my own prognosis: I dare not blench, but I Must face it: thrombosis,

Embolism, imbalance Of one or other humour, Spasms, syphilis, Some tumid tumour -

Besides which, I have lately Quaffed ale, and not a little:

So I must needs die of pain

Or otherwise take a pittle.

The question is not Ontological: To pee, or not to pee? The answer’s logical:

I need not fear the bite Of spider, or of adder: The biggest risk’s An impacted bladder.

Poem by Giles Watson, 2011. In mediaeval iconography, an ape urinating or staring into a flask of liquid is a satire on quack doctors, who set great store by the colour and opacity of their patients’ urine as a means of diagnosis. Since the misericord which inspired this poem is close by the tomb of William Shakespeare, it seemed only right to take the piss out of Hamlet.
Date
Source The Ape-Doctor Prognosticates his own Ruin
Author Giles Watson from Oxfordshire, England

Licensing

[edit]
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution share alike
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Giles Watson's poetry and prose at https://flickr.com/photos/29320962@N07/5808828139. It was reviewed on 6 October 2020 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.

6 October 2020

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current18:00, 6 October 2020Thumbnail for version as of 18:00, 6 October 20201,533 × 2,202 (915 KB)Jarble (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata