[Editor: This poem by C. J. Dennis was published in A Book for Kids, 1921.]
The Triantiwontigongolope
There’s a very funny insect that you do not often spy,
And it isn’t quite a spider, and it isn’t quite a fly;
It is something like a beetle, and a little like a bee,
But nothing like a wooly grub that climbs upon a tree.
Its name is quite a hard one, but you’ll learn it soon, I hope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
It lives on weeds and wattle-gum, and has a funny face;
Its appetite is hearty, and its manners a disgrace.
When first you come upon it, it will give you quite a scare,
But when you look for it again, you find it isn’t there.
And unless you call it softly it will stay away and mope.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
It trembles if you tickle it or tread upon its toes;
It is not an early riser, but it has a snubbish nose.
If you sneer at it, or scold it, it will scuttle off in shame,
But it purrs and purrs quite proudly if you call it by its name,
And offer it some sandwiches of sealing-wax and soap.
So try:
Tri-
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
But of course you haven’t seen it; and I truthfully confess
That I haven’t seen it either, and I don’t know its address.
For there isn’t such an insect, though there really might have been
If the trees and grass were purple, and the sky was bottle green.
It’s just a little joke of mine, which you’ll forgive, I hope.
Oh, try!
Try!
Tri-anti-wonti-
Triantiwontigongolope.
Source:
C. J. Dennis. A Book for Kids, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, [1921], pages 50-51
CJ Dennis- a national treasure… a favourite poem of mine as a child and one I now pass onto future generations of teachers and students.
I viewed a joyful drama activity drawing on “The Triantiwontigongolope” during a primary classroom observation.
A colleague teacher delivered a carboard box to the classroom with exaggerated excitement. On the front of the box, the class’s name and address was correctly and legibly printed, but on the back of the box, where the sender’s name and address should have been written, was pasted a copy of the poem, resplendent in all its punctuated glory. The class teacher read the poem to the eager class as they followed along, pausing to emphasise (read) the punctuation, building reading prosody.
The students discussed the clues provided to readers in the poem, to collaboratively solve the puzzle of what was in the box. They had to listen carefully to work out the clues in the poem, prior to opening it to check their deductive reasoning skills, building reading comprehension.
It was a fun English learning activity in the primary English classroom!