Tweedledum and Tweedledee: Difference between revisions
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imported>Peter Schmitt (new) |
imported>Ro Thorpe m (typo) |
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That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; | That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; | ||
Others aver that he to Handel | Others aver that he to Handel | ||
Is | Is scarcely fit to hold a candle; | ||
Strange all this difference should be | Strange all this difference should be | ||
'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. | 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. | ||
Revision as of 15:44, 16 March 2010
The first known mention of Tweedledum and Tweedledee is found in an epigram (1727) by John Byrom. It targets the rivalry of two composers — Georg Friedrich Händel and Giovanni Battista Bononcini — in the London of the 1720s.
The pair appears again in a nursery rhyme (printed around 1805) which may (or may not) have been old enough to be known to Byrom.
This rhyme is now worldwide well-known because Lewis Carroll included it in his second Alice book Through the Looking-Glass (1871) (Chapter IV. Tweedledum and Tweedldee).
The epigram (1927)
An Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini
Some say, compared to Bononcini That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny; Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle; Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.
The nursery rhyme
Tweedledum and Tweedledee Agreed to have a battle For Tweedledum said Tweedledee Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew down a monstrous crow, As black as a tar-barrel; Which frightened both the heroes so, They quite forgot their quarrel.