Jumbo Jet
Jumbo Jet - meaning Summary
Absurd Journey Home
This whimsical poem narrates an absurd encounter with a lost elephant in England. The elephant insists he belongs in Africa and embarks on a comically failed journey across buses, trains and city landmarks, only to vanish from a police guard post. The final lines wryly suggest animals in airplanes are trying to return home. The tone mixes childlike imagination with gentle satire of urban confusion and misplaced belonging.
Read Complete AnalysesI saw a little elephant standing in my garden, I said 'You don't belong in here', he said 'I beg your pardon?', I said 'This place is England, what are you doing here?', He said 'Ah, then I must be lost' and then 'Oh dear, oh dear'. 'I should be back in Africa, on Saranghetti's Plain', 'Pray, where is the nearest station where I can catch a train?'. He caught the bus to Finchley and then to Mincing lane, And over the Embankment, where he got lost, again. The police they put him in a cell, but it was far too small, So they tied him to a lampost and he slept against the wall. But as the policemen lay sleeping by the twinkling light of dawn, The lampost and the wall were there, but the elephant was gone! So if you see an elephant, in a Jumbo Jet, You can be sure that Africa's the place he's trying to get!
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