Archy and Mehitabel (usually written as archy and mehitabel) are the names of two fictional characters created in 1916 by Don Marquis (July 28 1878 to June 16 1937), who was a columnist for The Evening Sun newspaper in New York City.
I first came across these two endearing characters during my schooldays; memories of them surfaced from the depths recently and inspired a short article.
Great friends Archy, a cockroach, and Mehitabel, an alley cat, appeared in hundreds of humorous verses and short stories in Marquis’s daily column. The cartoonist George Herriman was the main illustrator. This material was later published in book form.
Archy the cockroach is the reincarnation of a poet; he produces his work on a typewriter, in lower case as he can't manage the shift key. There are few rhymes and no punctuation; he writes in free verse. I recommend taking his creations in small doses!
Mehitabel the cat has a 'past' in more ways than one! She claims to be the reincarnation of Cleopatra. She sings and dances, and Archy transcribes her words. She often uses the expressions 'wotthehell' and 'toujours gai'.
Archy and Mehitabel:
Mehitabel has, she says, come down in the world. She tells Archy about her glamorous past and he types it all up. She may be exaggerating a little! Here, Archy says “And then, what did the 'Duke' say to you?”:
In this short extract from the rather long "song of mehitabel" as recorded by Archy, Mehitabel the former queen finds freedom from the royal life:
“i have had my ups and downs
but wotthehell wotthehell
yesterday sceptres and crowns
fried oysters and velvet gowns
and today i herd with bums
but wotthehell wotthehell
…
do you think that i would change
my present freedom to range
for a castle or moated grange
wotthehell wotthehell
cage me and i d go frantic
my life is so romantic
capricious and corybantic
and i m toujours gai toujours gai“
This is an extract from “the wail of archy”, in which he complains about having to live as a cockroach:
“i once was a vers libre poet
i died and my spirit migrated
into the flesh of a cockroach
gods how i yearn to be human
neither a vers libre poet
nor yet the inmate of a cockroach
a six footed scurrying cockroach
given to idiot hexameters
longfellowish sprawling hexameters
rather had i been a starfish
to shoot a heroic pentameter
gods i am pent in a cockroach
i with the soul of a dante
am mate and companion of fleas
i with the gift of a homer
must smile when a mouse calls me pal
tumble bugs are my familiars
this is the punishment meted
because i have written vers libre”
Anyone who would like to see some more of the same can find it in books such as these:
