The Joyous Malingerer
The Joyous Malingerer - meaning Summary
Domestic Incompetence as Charm
Ogden Nash lampoons a domestically inept husband whose fumbling and avoidance turn routine household tasks into comic disasters. The poem catalogs failed attempts at jewelry, zippers, cooking, washing up, electrical work, and decorating, suggesting his incompetence is both harmless and habitual. Nash’s tone is playful, portraying the wife’s growing realization that his skills lie elsewhere and that his absence is often preferable to his help.
Read Complete AnalysesWho is the happy husband? Why, indeed, 'Tis he who's useless in the time of need; Who, asked to unclasp a bracelet or a neckless, Contrives to be utterly futile, fumbling, feckless, Or when a zipper nips his loved one's back Cannot restore the zipper to its track. Another time, not wishing to be flayed, She will not use him as a lady's maid. Stove-wise he's the perpetual backward learner Who can't turn on or off the proper burner. If faced with washing up he never gripes, But simply drops more dishes than he wipes. She finds his absence preferable to his aid, And thus all mealtime chores doth he evade. He can, attempting to replace a fuse, Black out the coast from Boston to Newport News, Or, hanging pictures, be the rookie wizard Who fills the parlor with a plaster blizzard. He'll not again be called to competition With decorator or with electrician. At last it dawns upon his patient spouse He's better at his desk than round the house.
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