The Purple Cow!

"The Purple Cow!" by Gelett Burgess is a whimsical poem that first gained popularity in the late 19th century, specifically during the 1890s. As a light-hearted work of children's literature, it embodies an imaginative and playful spirit. The poem humorously expresses the narrator's fanciful musings about a mythical purple cow, reflecting themes of uniqueness and the absurd. In this playful piece, the narrator shares their bemusement over the idea of a purple cow and expresses a desire to see such a creature. The poem concludes with a catchy twist, indicating a preference for witnessing a purple cow rather than becoming one themselves. Through its charming simplicity and catchy rhyme, "The Purple Cow!" captures the imagination of readers, inviting them to embrace the joy of whimsical thinking and the beauty of the fantastical over the mundane. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Frank Gelett Burgess was an American artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist. An important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s, particularly through his iconoclastic little magazine, The Lark, and association with The Crowd literary group. He is best known as a writer of nonsense verse, such as "The Purple Cow," and for introducing French modern art to the United States in an essay titled "The Wild Men of Paris." He was the illustrator of the Goops murals, in Coppa's restaurant, in the Montgomery Block and author of the popular Goops books. Burgess coined the term "blurb."