Latitudes and Longitudes by Hugh Lofting
This eight-line poem recounts a ship's crew idling in the tropic latitudes, exchanging platitudes in casual sailor-like chit-chatitudes as any ship-mates might. The speaker admits that the crew forgot to take their longitude, calling this a grievous wrongitude, and as a consequence they didn't reach Hong-kongitude until very late that night.
By Hugh Lofting · Genre: Poetry, Humorous Poetry, Light Verse · 64 words
First lines
'Twas in the tropic latitudes / That we were talking platitudes, / Just sailor-like chit-chatitudes, / As any ship-mates might.
We forgot to take our longitude / (Which was a grievous wrongitude) / So we didn't reach Hong-kongitude / Till very late that night.
Genres
- Poetry — The work is structured as verse with consistent rhyme scheme and meter, employing traditional poetic form throughout.
- Humorous Poetry — The entire composition relies on comedic effect through playful language, deliberate mispronunciations, and absurdist situations for entertainment.
- Light Verse — The tone is deliberately whimsical and entertaining rather than serious or profound, prioritizing amusement and wordplay over substantive themes.
- Nonsense Poetry — The creation of invented words with the '-itude' suffix (platitudes, wrongitude, Hong-kongitude) is central to the work's comedic and linguistic strategy.
Tags
poetry · nautical · humorous · playful · comic verse · whimsical · light verse · sailors · ships · sea · ocean · navigation
What this Textopian page supports
Latitudes and Longitudes is listed on Textopian as a poem by Hugh Lofting, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Hugh Lofting
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Humorous Poetry, Light Verse, Nonsense Poetry, Nautical/Maritime Fiction
- Length: 64 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
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- Work identity for Latitudes and Longitudes by Hugh Lofting
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