Shel Silverstein

They've Put a Brassiere on a Camel

They've Put a Brassiere on a Camel - meaning Summary

Enforcing Arbitrary Decency Rules

A comic, satirical poem that lampoons social prudery by imagining animals being dressed to satisfy human ideas of modesty. The absurd image of a camel in a brassiere—passive and voiceless—exposes how arbitrary and invasive moral norms can be when imposed without regard for nature or common sense. The repeated refrain and escalating examples (pigs, ducks, cows) emphasize the poem’s critique of overbearing social conformity.

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They've put a brassiere on a camel, She wasn't dressed proper, you know. They've put a brassiere on a camel, So that her humps wouldn't show. And they're making other respectable plans, They're even even insisting the pigs should wear pants, They'll dress up the ducks if we give them the chance Since they've put a brassiere on a camel. They've put a brassiere on a camel, They claim she's more decent that way. They've put a brassiere on a camel, The camel had nothing to say. They squeezed her into it, i'll never know how, They say that she looks more respectable now, Lord knows what they've got in mind for the cow, Since they've put a brassiere on a camel.

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