OCCIDIT MISERUM CRAMBE REPETITA PUPILLUM
This is the play that Bill wrote --
This is the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the book the Professor read
About the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the gent of German descent
Who wrote the book the Professor read
About the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
These are the notes the Professor embodied
To use in his lectures, when once he'd studied
In an English translation the explanation
(An awfully cute 'un) the learned Teuton
Evolved of the Dane who was not quite sane
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the Prof. that read the book
But never agreed with the view it took:
For he knew much better the "Art," etcetera,
Of Bill aforesaid who wrote the play
About the Dane, who was mad as they say,
Than all the German books in a lump
Which explain that the Dane was off his chump
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is poor Bill who wrote the play;
He's dead and gone, so he cannot say
What he meant by the Dane of whom it was said
That he may or may not have been off his head,
By the learned Doctor who wrote the screed
With which the Prof. has never agreed,
Who both of them think they know much better
Than Billy himself, his "Art," etcetera,
And whether he meant the Dane "to be",
For "that is the question," or "not to be"
As sane as a judge or as mad as a hatter,
Or a little of both -- but it don't much matter;
For whichever it was we must all of us cram
The notes of the Prof. to pass our exam,
Till we're utterly sick of the Dane called Ham-
let who comes in the play that Bill Wrote.
Diploma Day Song (1893)
This is the play that Bill wrote --
This is the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the book the Professor read
About the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the gent of German descent
Who wrote the book the Professor read
About the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
These are the notes the Professor embodied
To use in his lectures, when once he'd studied
In an English translation the explanation
(An awfully cute 'un) the learned Teuton
Evolved of the Dane who was not quite sane
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is the Prof. that read the book
But never agreed with the view it took:
For he knew much better the "Art," etcetera,
Of Bill aforesaid who wrote the play
About the Dane, who was mad as they say,
Than all the German books in a lump
Which explain that the Dane was off his chump
Who appears in the play that Bill wrote --
This is poor Bill who wrote the play;
He's dead and gone, so he cannot say
What he meant by the Dane of whom it was said
That he may or may not have been off his head,
By the learned Doctor who wrote the screed
With which the Prof. has never agreed,
Who both of them think they know much better
Than Billy himself, his "Art," etcetera,
And whether he meant the Dane "to be",
For "that is the question," or "not to be"
As sane as a judge or as mad as a hatter,
Or a little of both -- but it don't much matter;
For whichever it was we must all of us cram
The notes of the Prof. to pass our exam,
Till we're utterly sick of the Dane called Ham-
let who comes in the play that Bill Wrote.
Diploma Day Song (1893)