Notes
4] "Québec rejected [prohibition] as early as 1919 and became known as the `sinkhole' of N America, but tourists flocked to 'historic old Québec' and the provincial government reaped huge profits from the sale of booze" (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2nd edn. [Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988]: 1765).
13] B.V.D.'s: trademark for underwear.
17] Henry Ford (1863-1947): manufacturer of automobiles.
19] Bill Bryan: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), American lawyer and politician who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. President.
20] Billy Sunday: William Ashley Sunday (1862-1935), American evangelist.
22] suck in: trick, deceive.
24-25] Barney Google, Mutt and Jeff. / And Jiggs: all are newspaper comic strip characters, the first begin in 1919, the second two from 1910, and last in one named "Bringing Up Father."
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Ernest Hemingway, Complete Poems, ed. Nicholas Gerogiannis, rev. edn. (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1992): 65. PS 3515 E37A17 1992 Robarts Library.
First publication date:
1923
Publication date note: Toronto Star Weekly
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: RPO 1999.
Recent editing: 2:2002/4/17
Composition date:
1923
Composition date note: In Toronto? Hemingway's articles in the Toronto Star Weekly run from Feb. 14, 1920, to Jan. 19, 1924 (he was dropped from the newspaper payroll on Dec. 31, 1923). Attributed to Hemingway on grounds of provenance (TSW), style, and his use of "By a Foreigner" as a by-line in manuscripts at the Kennedy Library.
Rhyme: unrhyming