A CONTEMPLATIVE INTRODUCTION TO LITTLE BO PEEP: THE GOOSE I KNEW

Seldom has any book or poem generated the firestorm of controversy that attended Granny Goose's publishing of "Little Bo Peep." Since its initial introduction in 1890 to a public that was clearly unready for its incisive analysis, Goose's ability to lay bare the shame and pretense of Victorian society (and the societies which have superseded that one), "Bo Peep" has been at the center of a critical hurricane. From the many times, during her life, that Mother goose was pelted with eggs at public readings, called a quack and worse, to the more genteel analyses such as you will find in this volume, "Little Bo Peep" has been perhaps the most misunderstood poem in all the history of the English language. In this book I attempt to bring together some of the the more epochal critical analyses of this seminal poem and poet.

As to Goose herself, this much is the historical record: Granny Goose did not lead an easy life. In fact, the hideous tale "The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe" is widely believed to be autobiographical. In any case, Goose was an unattractive child, perhaps serving as a prototype for the ugly duckling myth that was later to arise. I was lucky enough to know her personally and many was the time we'd stop for a quick lunch in London at Petrocelli's -- fried eggs and birdnest soup-- and Goose would bemoan her looks. As her editor in her later life I had an unparalleled view of both the public and the private Goose. While the public Goose was as playful as a pinch on the bottom, the private Goose was a tortured Goose whom few saw. This was the semi-amphibian (The failure to be fully amphibian nagged at Goose right up until the day she was found dead in her bathtub) who wrote not only out of a need for approval, not only as a hobby, but also as a way to make a few quick bucks.

This Goose is revealed in the tragically frank preface Goose wrote for this book. This is the same angry goose I knew, the goose who vowed to get rich and teach Colonel Sanders a lesson. This was the complex goose who shit in ponds, ate corn off the floor, and laid the occasional egg. But this Goose was also a doyenne of literature, a tortured genius, a Goose amongst goslings!

In life, Goose was rarely given the respect that she had earned. Small children, and smaller critics, were wont to sneak up behind Goose and whisper obscenities like "pate foie de gras" in her ear. It is my belief that this shortened Goose's life by several years. This is tragic when one considers the normally brief lifespan of waterfowl. Goose's marriage, also, was not a happy one. The Gooses, though they loved each, fought furiously and this fighting did nothing at all to soften the blow for Goose when her husband divorced her calling her a 'turkey and 'chicken' in the highly publicized divorce papers.

Goose died shortly thereafter and was quickly followed by her erstwhile husband who had foolishly remarried a wolf from a different set of fables entirely. At the time I ironically noted the truth of the the old saying that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. So Goose's husband was also served in l'Orange sauce.

I certainly hope that you find this book of critical analyses to be interesting. Anyway, if you've read this far you've probably purchased it, and that's what I really care about anyway...