Review of the poem 'The Pigtail'

Review of the poem 'The Pigtail'

The poem ‘Pigtail’ written by William Makepeace Thackeray is a humorous poem which throws sarcasm at the sage taking the wise man as a clown. The story is based on a pigtail which the sage wanted to get rid of. The way he tries to change the position of the pigtail and his effort for that make the whole story very funny and humorous. The poet does not mention anything about the wisdom or the presence of mind of the sage but confines to the pigtail how it becomes a wet blanket to him. It is quiet funny why such a wise man maintained the plaited hair and why it became a nuisance.

The poet vividly describes the displeasure the sage developed in his mind over the troublesome pigtail.

“But wondered much and sorrowed more”

“He mused upon his curious case”

“And swore he’d change the pigtail’s place”

The poet also describes the attempt the sage made incessantly to get rid of the pigtail.

“…….he turned him round”

“…….the puzzled sage did spin; in vain….”

“And right, and lift and round about, And up, and down, and in, and out

He turned”

The poet creates a picture of the pigtail using the words, ‘handsome’, ‘this curious case’, ‘hanging’, ‘dangling’. The poet creates much mock, irony and sarcasm towards this character. A sage is a person who is wise, discreet and judicious, having the wisdom of experience of or indicating profound wisdom. However the sage in the poem is entirely different. It is the natural order that a pigtail always falls down behind the head. So, in the whole story the sage is in an absurd effort to change this position.

However the poet Thackeray presents the concept of the pigtail as a metaphor. It challenges the wisdom of the sage. It can be taken as an obstacle to prove the intelligence of the sage. The sage struggles in vain. As the episodes of sages are heard from the East, the poet perhaps reflects on them in a sarcastic and satirical manner.