Life, 1924-06-26 · page 25 of 37
Life — June 26, 1924 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Main Content:** The page features two distinct satirical pieces: 1. **"Let Keats Do It"** - A poem mocking Romantic poetry enthusiasts who romanticize nature. The speaker attempts to emulate Keats by lying in a meadow at night but gets bitten by insects, concluding he "cannot be a first-class lyric poet." The satire targets affected literary pretension and the gap between poetic idealization and reality. 2. **Bottom cartoon** - Depicts a domestic dispute between what appears to be a white employer and a Black maid named Mandy. The employer complains about an unpaid laundry bill despite Mandy taking a two-week paid vacation. The humor (by period standards) relies on the maid's apparent contradiction or shirking responsibility. This reflects early 20th-century racial stereotypes common in American humor. **Context:** Both pieces exemplify Life magazine's satirical approach—deflating pretension (literary affectation) and reinforcing contemporary social hierarchies through humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Let Keats Do It LOVE nocturnal poets who wander through Dim-lighted groves where chants tl Who lie in frag meade And sleep...how can they “How sweetly shines the r To verses, even though the quote be wrong I joy to read how Strephon, in the val : Sat up all night with Dian, alias Mc HAYS RIGHT, JOHN And talked, as man to Godde My pulses stir as to a | : Heard at the Hoarse Show Each insect mur gives my bh EEP it y 7 Swibt heads off just nineteen mi bellow valiantly on Until I seem to be a whippr A cricket, or perhaps a light Or other pest more mi But oh! I tried it once, that The grass was lush, the xtremely wet The moon, the e full, was full enou; In short, the stage seemed adequately set And then some creature bit me on the knec The sear is there a ugh T may not show it Since when I know, whatever else I be I can not be a first-class lyric poet m the sea of m in behalf of A. Pish two hours and nine the uproar. res rattles, harm pop-guns, At m ed very quie persons the corner know is Any fish in this lake Seconn Guest You “MANDY, YOU DIDN'T CALL FOR OUR WASH FOR TWO WEFKS, YET YOU SENT ME A BILL FoR IT can search me. I'ma de JUST THE SAME” tective, and I'm on my va “YAS'M. AML DONE TUK A TWO-WEEKS' VACATION WIP PAY.” comicbooks.com