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"The Motor Bus" is a macaronic poem written in 1914 by Alfred Denis Godley (1856–1925).〔Alfred Godley (1914). Letter to C.R.L. Fletcher, Jan. 10, 1914. "The Motor Bus," Printed in ''Reliquae'', vol. 1 (1926).〕〔''The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations''〕〔Kingsley Amis (ed.), ''The New Oxford Book of English Light Verse''〕 The mixed English-Latin text makes fun of the difficulties of Latin declensions. It takes off from puns on the English words "motor" and "bus", ascribing them to the third and second declensions respectively in Latin, and declining them. At the time of writing Godley, a distinguished Classical scholar, was resident at Oxford University. The poem traditionally commemorates the introduction of a motorised omnibus service in the city of Oxford (Corn and High are the colloquial names of streets in the centre of the city where several Colleges of the University are located), thereby shattering the bucolic charm of the horse-drawn age. It has since also been cited in the context of the recent introduction of larger vehicles (including "bendy" buses). The poem owes its continuing popularity to the large number of pupils who had to learn Latin as a compulsory subject for University entrance (not just Oxford and Cambridge) in the United Kingdom.〔(Ireland's Other Poetry: An Unfashionable Poet: A D Godley )〕 Most of them will have used a "primer" in which Latin nouns were "declined" (the correct declensions written out), for example, servus, serve, servum, servi, servo, servo (depending upon the order in which the cases – nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, etc. – were cited). The poem provides leavening to what is a very dry subject for most school pupils. The poem's rhymes assume that the Latin words are read using the traditional English pronunciation, which was taught in British (and American) schools until early in the 20th century. ==Text== Next to each repetition of the phrase "Motor Bus" is the case the words appear in in the original poem. :What is this that roareth thus? :Can it be a Motor Bus? :Yes, the smell and hideous hum :Indicat Motorem Bum! :Implet in the Corn and High :Terror me Motoris Bi: :Bo Motori clamitabo :Ne Motore caedar a Bo--- :Dative be or Ablative :So thou only let us live:--- :Whither shall thy victims flee? :Spare us, spare us, Motor Be! :Thus I sang; and still anigh :Came in hordes Motores Bi, :Et complebat omne forum :Copia Motorum Borum. :How shall wretches live like us :Cincti Bis Motoribus? :Domine, defende nos :Contra hos Motores Bos! 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 Motor Bus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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