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''The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God'' is a 1911 poem by J. Milton Hayes that is a famous example of the genre of "dramatic monologue", which was a music hall staple in the early twentieth century. The piece was written for and performed by actor and monologist Bransby Williams.〔Williams, Bransby ''Bransby Williams by Himself'' Hutchinson, London (1954) pg 47〕 The poem is influenced by the ballads of Rudyard Kipling and was often parodied, most famously by Billy Bennett as ''The Green Tie on the Little Yellow Dog''.〔(The Green Tie on the little Yellow Dog by Billy Bennett ). Accessed 2011-12-10〕 The opening lines are still very well known: :There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu, :There's a little marble cross below the town; :There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew, :And the Yellow God forever gazes down. It is set in Nepal ("to the north of Kathmandu"), and tells the tale of a wild young officer known as "Mad Carew", who steals the "green eye" of a "yellow god" (presumably an emerald in a gold statue) in order to impress his beloved. He is wounded in the course of the robbery, and later murdered, presumably by a devotee of the god for the theft, who returns the jewel to the idol. ==Hayes's account== In his book ''My Brother Evelyn and Other Profiles'',〔 Waugh, Alec (1967) ,'My Brother and Other Profiles', Cassell London〕 Alec Waugh gives Hayes's account of the writing of the poem: :"I wrote The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God in five hours, but I had it all planned out. It isn't poetry and it does not pretend to be, but it does what it sets out to do. It appeals to the imagination from the start: those colours, green and yellow, create an atmosphere. Then India, everyone has his own idea of India. Don't tell the public too much. Strike chords. It is no use describing a house; the reader will fix the scene in some spot he knows himself. All you've got to say is 'India' and a man sees something. Then play on his susceptibilities." :"His name was Mad Carew. You've got the whole man there. The public will fill in the picture for you. And then the mystery. Leave enough unsaid to make paterfamilias pat himself on the back. 'I've spotted it, he can't fool me. I'm up to that dodge. I know where he went.' No need to explain. Then that final ending where you began. It carries people back. You've got a compact whole. 'A broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew' They'll weave a whole story round that woman's life. Every man's a novelist at heart. We all tell ourselves stories. That's what you've got to play on." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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