The Burning Babe
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
Chapter: English Literature in the Sixteenth Century
Too bad I didn't stumble onto this last month during my Christmas lovefest. Southwell's poem tells of a man who stumbles upon a guy that's engulfed in flames. Instead of, y'know, screaming in terror and peeing himself, the narrator approaches the flaming man and finds him to be - gasp - Jesus. Our Lord bitches about how He died for everybody and then poofs out of the air, taking the heavenly barbeque with Him. The narrator then recalls that it wasn't just any day he found Jesus on fire in the middle of nowhere, it was Christmas Day.
Seriously, if that happened to me on Christmas, I run in terror for an hour in the opposite direction.
Then I'd tweet about it.
(Sidenote: the Norton says this was published in 1602. The internet says 1595. Thus I am once again stuck in the dilemma that every student must eventually face: do you trust the Internet, or the textbook? Choices, choices!)
Author: Robert Southwell • Year: 1602 (and/or 1595) • Info: Luminarium
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Lit Brick is a comic started by Jodie Troutman in an effort to read the entire Norton Anthology of English Literature. Having eventually succeeded in that goal, it now features comics about all manner of random literature. For more of Jodie's work, visit longtalljodie.com!
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