The Re-echo Club

In Short

This book is a delightful compendium of light verse and parody, documenting the meetings of a fictional literary circle known as the Re-Echo Club. Its members amuse themselves by rewriting famous poems and simple folk verses in the distinct styles of legendary authors like Milton, Poe, Browning, and Whitman. By taking subjects as mundane as a "Purple Cow" or a "Little Girl with a curl," the club strips away the pomposity of the literary canon. It has lasted because its humor remains sharp, its technical mimicry is impeccable, and it celebrates the joy of not taking high art too seriously.

The Story

The narrative follows the members of the Re-Echo Club as they gather in their rooms at No. 4, Poetic Mews, to engage in a series of creative challenges. The club’s primary pursuit is the "re-echoing" of classic literature—essentially, taking a well-known poem or cultural touchstone and applying the stylistic quirks of famous poets to the same theme.

The book is structured as a series of meetings, each focused on a specific challenge. The club begins by tackling Gelett Burgess’s famous quatrain about a "Purple Cow." Members take turns rendering the cow in the voices of John Milton, Shelley, Wordsworth, Gray, Tennyson, and Poe, among others. The arc of these sessions reveals a playful irreverence; as the poets grow more comfortable, the mimicry becomes more complex. The "Little Girl with a curl" is the next subject, leading to a series of reinterpretations that explore her morality—good or "horrid"—through the dramatic lens of Browning or the melancholic cadence of Poe.

As the meetings continue, the club turns its gaze toward the "Limerick," defending it against high-brow critics by comparing it to Chaucer’s verse or Omar Khayyam’s philosophy. The humor shifts toward the absurd when the club decides to satirize the "Cubist" art movement, describing a "Nude Descending a Staircase" through the voices of various poets. The final movement of the book shifts from the poets to a solitary session where Omar Khayyam (having missed the meeting) pens a series of satirical quatrains about Wall Street. The book concludes with this cynical, rhythmic takedown of financial speculation, leaving the reader with the impression of a club that finds equal amusement in the heights of Parnassus and the depths of the stock market.

How It Unfolds

The Purple Cow The club opens its first session by applying the voices of the literary greats to a simple, nonsensical nursery rhyme. Each member attempts to infuse the "Purple Cow" with the gravity of Milton or the ethereal nature of Shelley, creating a humorous contrast between the trivial subject and the lofty style.

The Little Girl’s Temper The focus shifts to the moral ambiguity of a child’s curl, with members debating whether "horrid" behavior is better expressed through a sonnet, a ballad, or a dramatic monologue. The result is a series of character studies that highlight the absurdity of applying heavy emotional weight to a nursery rhyme.

The Defense of the Limerick The club turns its attention to the formal structure of the limerick, attempting to elevate this "lowly" form of verse. By contrasting the limerick with the work of Chaucer and Tennyson, the members mock the pretension of literary gatekeeping.

The Cubist Experiment The members engage with the then-modern art movement of Cubism, describing a painting of a nude on a staircase. The poets struggle to make sense of the abstract geometry, leading to poems that are as fragmented and confusing as the art itself.

The Wall Street Rubaiyat The final act features a solitary Omar Khayyam reflecting on the folly of financial greed. The book ends on a note of worldly irony, mirroring the financial "bubbles" of the era through the lens of classical verse.

The People

The members of the Re-Echo Club act less like distinct individuals and more like a collective engine for literary critique. The President is the most visible figure, a man of "fine frenzy" who guides the members toward new topics, from Cubism to the stock market. He serves as the curator of the club’s absurdity, always eager to test whether a subject can survive the weight of a poet’s ego.

The members themselves are largely defined by the poets they impersonate. There is a "Dan Rossetti" who cannot refrain from adding a bizarre refrain to his work, a "Teddy Poe" who is inherently adventurous and eager to lean into the macabre, and a "Rob Browning" who is perpetually "born cubic," viewing everything through an overly complex, intellectual filter. These characters are unified by their shared desire to deconstruct the "classics." They are not trying to be original; they are trying to be perfectly, recognizably derivative, finding satisfaction in the precision of their pastiche. By the end, they function as a single, multi-voiced entity that serves to remind the reader that even the most revered poets are susceptible to being turned into caricatures.

In Its Own Voice

"Hence, vain, deluding cows. The herd of folly, without color bright, How little you delight, Or fill the Poet's mind, or songs arouse!"

In this opening parody, the club has the ghost of John Milton attempt to elevate the nonsensical "Purple Cow" to the standard of an epic invocation.

"There was a young lady of Niger, Who smiled as she rode on a tiger; They came back from the ride With the lady inside, And the smile on the face of the tiger."

The President cites this classic limerick to argue that its economy of language makes it a superior form of poetry to more elaborate, long-winded compositions.

"You see, you just symbolize the liquefaction of the essence of an idea into its emotional constituents, and there you are!"

The member imitating Robert Browning explains the "simple" logic behind the club’s experiment in writing Cubist-themed poetry.

What It's Really About

This book is a sustained argument for the importance of literary play. It suggests that the "masterpieces" of the world are not fragile artifacts to be kept behind glass, but raw material for human engagement. By forcing high-minded authors to talk about pumpkins and paste-pots, the club challenges the reader to question whether the value of a poem lies in its content or in the rigid habits of its creator. Beneath the humor, it asks a serious question about the nature of influence: how much of our own "original" thought is merely an echo of the styles we have been taught to admire? It is a book about the liberation that comes from mimicry and the sanity found in parody.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the sharp wit of modern social commentary or the technical brilliance of a well-executed New Yorker parody will find this book immediately accessible. It is a treat for those who have spent time with the "classics" and secretly wished they could see them taken down a peg. The reading experience is light and conversational, feeling very much like sitting in a room with clever friends who are showing off their best impressions.

However, one must be prepared for the book's period-specific sensibilities. It relies heavily on a reader’s familiarity with nineteenth-century poets like Swinburne and Tennyson; if you aren't familiar with these voices, the punchlines may occasionally drift out of reach. Additionally, the book reflects the casual, sometimes jarring attitudes of its 1913 publication date—particularly in its references to "street Arabs" or various cultural caricatures—which can act as a reminder of the era's limitations. Despite these hurdles, the book remains a fascinating look at the turn-of-the-century sense of humor. It stays with you not just for its jokes, but as a reminder that the best way to honor the giants of literature is to occasionally laugh at their expense.