The Duck

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The Duck

by Ogden Nash

Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.

_________________________

This short eight line humorous poem contains no stanza breaks. Nash uses an AABBCCDD rhyme scheme. The first four lines are concerned wit the sound a duck makes. Lines five through eight focus on where a duck lives and how it eats.

In line seven, Nash describes the duck as performing typical human activities – “dines” and “sups.”

Line eight is Nash’s punch line. Nash carries on with describing a duck’s behavior in terms typically reserved for humans. Humanity might say “bottoms up” while enjoying a drink. Nash connects line eight back to line five and reminds us that the term can mean something more literal when applied to a duck on the water.