The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel

by Don Marquis, George Harriman (Illustrator)

Of all the literary genres, humor has the shortest shelf life—except for Archy and Mehitabel, that is. First published in 1916, it is a classic of American literature. Archy is a cockroach, inside whom resides the soul of a free-verse poet; he communicates with Don Marquis by leaping upon the keys of the columnist’s typewriter. In poems of varying length, Archy pithily describes his wee world, the main fixture of which is Mehitabel, a devil-may-care alley cat.

Genres: Poetry, Humor, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy, Animals, Comics

477 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1916

About the author

Donald Robert Perry "Don" Marquis was a newspaper columnist as well as a playwright, novelist, and poet, best known for his "Archy and Mehitabel" free verse and his "Old Soak" anti-Prohibition play.

Reviews

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

i've only read this once
archy used to be a vers
libre poet but he
transmigrated
into a cockroach and
writes poems for no pay
some people think
mehitabel is his friend
but that cat can't be
trusted and so sometimes
archy has to hide
in the typewriter keys
you can google early twentieth
century typewriters if you
don't know what those are
archy had to throw
himself from key to key
and couldn t do capitals
or punctuation

mehitabel says she was
cleopatra but has transmigrated
many times always
great ladies and now
is a cat and still always
a lady wotthehell wotthehell
she still has a few moves in her
but keeps having kittens
whenever she marries

archy wrote poems for
free for marquis who had them
printed in his column for decades
and no matter how much
archy asked for money
in the 1930s he never
got any just crumbs

this copy has illustrations too
and is still worth reading
if you can find one like
i did at the library
don't get any of the modern
compilations but get one
that was first printed
when archy was still
writing by throwing
himself on the keys

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you have not read any of don marquiss
books written by archy the cockroach
you are missing a great deal in
your life archy is the reincarnated
soul of a vers libre poet
who discovered a piece
of paper in a journalists typewriter one night
and writes him a note thus began the long friendship between the two
archy has a friend
the moraless alley cat
mehitabel
who claims she is the reincarnation
of cleopatra her motto is toujour gai
as they live their lives in
new york city
archy comments archly on
social and political issues
of the early
twentieth century how does he type he jumps off a
key to hit another with his head
one time he asked the journalist for a football
helmet to protect his head he cannot do punctuation
or upper case it is fun to read without
them even though the political and social issues are
not current many of the ideas relate to similar
current issues you should find a book
like this one and read it archy and mehitabil will take
over your life
archy

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don Marquis was eerily ahead of his time.

I imagine Archy would have loved Twitter.

[Emma Fredgant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books. Clever, fresh, and a fascinating look at news cycles and reactions from a long time ago, this book surprised me and charmed me. I highly recommend it if you're looking for something a little different from your normal fare.

Basic premise: a cockroach named Archy and a cat named Mehitabel, who claims to be the reincarnated spirit of Cleopatra, live in the basement of the a New York newspaper. They comment on current events and the culture of the time in verse form.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes thoughtful often wacky stories written by a cockroach (Archy) on a publishers home typewriter. Mehitabel the cat lives a colorful life but is "toujours gai" and "always a lady" From the 1000 books to read etc.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even with recommendation, I'm unsure why I picked up a 100+ year old newspaper story/poem.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

p.95 "archy and mehitabel"
the lesson of the moth

i was talking to a moth
the other evening
he was trying to break into
an electric light bulb
and fry himself on the wires

why do you fellows
pull this stunt i asked him
because it is the conventional
thing for moths or why
if that had been an uncovered
candle instead of an electric
light bulb you would
now be a small unsightly cinder
have you no sense

plenty of it he answered
but at times we get tired
of using it
we get bored with the routine
and crave beauty
and excitement
fire is beautiful
and we know that if we get
too close it will kill us
but what does that matter
it is better to be happy
for a moment
and be burned up with beauty
than to live a long time
and be bored all the while
so we wad all our life up
into one little roll
and then we shoot the roll
that is what life is for

p.117 "archy and mehitabel"
archy declares war

...
come come come
come in your billions
tiny small feet
and humming little wings
crawlers and creepers
wigglers and stingers
scratchers borers slitherers
little forked tongues
man is at your mercy
one sudden gesture
and all his empires perish
rise
strike for freedom
curses on the species
that invented roach poison
curses on the stingy
beings that evolved
tight zinc covers
that you can t crawl under
for their garbage cans
come like a sandstorm
spewed from the mouth
of a great apocalyptic
desert making devil
come like the spray
sooty and fiery
snorted from the nostrils
of a sky eating ogre
let us have a little
direct action is the
sincere wish of
archy

p.130 "archy and mehitabel"
mehitabel dances with boreas

...
whirl mehitabel whirl
leap shadow leap
you gotta dance till the sun comes up
for you got no place to sleep
archy

p.130-131 "archy and mehitabel"
archy at the zoo

the centipede adown the street
goes braggartly with scores of feet
a gaudy insect but not neat

the octopus s secret wish
is not to be a formal fish
he dreams that some time he may grow
another set of legs of so
and be a broadway music show

oh do not always take a chance
upon an open countenance
the hippopotamus s smile
conceals a nature full of guile

human wandering through the zoo
what do your cousins think of you
...

pp.144-145 "archy and mehitabel"
some natural history

the patagonian
penguin
is a most
peculiar
bird
he lives on
pussy
willows
and his tongue
is always furred
the porcupine
of chile
sleeps his life away
and that is how
the needles
get into the hay
the argentinian
oyster
is a very
subtle gink
for when he s
being eaten
he pretends he is
a skink
when you see
a sea gull
sitting
on a bald man's dome
she likely thinks
she s nesting
on her rocky
island home
do not tease
the inmates
when strolling
through the zoo
for they have
their finer feelings
the same
as me and you
oh deride not
the camel
if grief should
make him die
his ghost will come
to haunt you
with tears
in either eye
and the spirit of
a camel
in the midnight gloom
can be so very
cheerless
as it wanders
round the room
archy

[Jude · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, first ya gotta buy the concept, which is not entirely new. And then, as coherant cockroaches go, i am personally more likely to re-read this one than that heartbroken one Kafka gave us. That's not a lit'ry assessment, mind you.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a gift many years ago - I think I remember who gave it, though not exactly when. There were some poems I really enjoyed, that still seemed totally fresh and relevant today. On the other hand, I think many aspects of life were just slower and simpler back when it was written (unlike the rates of 21st century obsolescence, meme expirations, etc.) as some of the running gags that must have felt familiar and comforting (perhaps the "Easter eggs" of 50-100 years ago for dedicated readers) began to feel really tedious, which is why I took an extended break and read a few other things before coming back and finishing. There's really only so many labor disputes between a newspaper man and an imaginary cockroach a person will find funny before wanting to move on. ;)
Still, I have shared a few particularly poignant bits with friends as I've gone along, bookmarked many pages, and will probably keep coming back to it again in the future. :)

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a favorite of mine when I was growing up. The copy in our family was given to to my mother by her college roommate. Inside the cover was the quote from mehitabel the alley cat. Yes, in the book there are no capital letters (you'll have to read it to see why). "i look back on my life and it seems to be just one damned kitten after another." We also had an LP record of a narration of the book and Carol Channing did an outstanding performance as mehitabel. Read the other reviews about this book to get more of an idea about the characters and story. The illustrations are superb. I found out that a copy of the book as a PDF can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. I found this out by accident when I googled for information about the book and found a link to the Internet Archive. When I clicked the link, the PDF book downloaded! The scan looked like the original book with the illustrations and formatting; the whole story is there uncut.

[Charlieabstrusination · Rating 5 out of 5]

For over a hundred years the creation of Don Marquis has remained a gold standard for humorous poetry. Not always "funny," but humorous, often times darkly smiling. I return to reading pieces from this collection often. These pieces were culled fro the authors' daily newspaper column, and along with recurring timeless themes such as "what is the nature of humanity?" Marquis also handles justice, poverty, relationships, and issues of the day like no one else. The illustrations by the great George Herriman (creator of Krazy Kat) are worth the price of the book all by themselves. The introducrion by E.B. White (author of one of the greatest children's books of all time: "Charlotte's Web") is an added bonus. A book to keep in your bedside stack of books, for reading over and over.

[David Sterritt]

Returning to an interest of my long-ago schooldays, I’ve just finished reading “The Lives and Times of Archy and Mehitabel” by Don Marquis, a New York newspaper columnist who was pleased to realize that, as E.B. White points out in his introduction to the collection, writing free verse was a great way to fill a great many column inches with a minimum of labor. Although the results of his efforts range from delightful to dull, the poems are usually fun to read, and I’m as impressed as ever by Marquis’s inspired idea of writing in the persona of a free-verse poet reincarnated as a cockroach whose best friend is an alley cat with her own history of past lives. And this edition's George Herriman pictures are a fine bonus. Good stuff. Definitely recommended.

[Holly Gravel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the literary genres, humor has the shortest shelf life—except for Archy and Mehitabel, that is. First published in 1916, it is a classic of American literature. Archy is a cockroach, inside whom resides the soul of a free-verse poet; he communicates with Don Marquis by leaping upon the keys of the columnist’s typewriter. In poems of varying length, Archy pithily describes his wee world, the main fixture of which is Mehitabel, a devil-may-care alley cat.
Genres
Poetry

[TJ Guiney · Rating 4 out of 5]

archy my beautiful verse libre bard
it was a delight to get to read
the entirety of your collection
i wish you could rate with
a point five since this is a
four point five of a book
the archy on strike stuff plus
the pete the pug stuff is
woolly at best

but on the whole i
wish that i could write
half as thoughtfully
or as entertainingly
as you

[Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an old book but so many of the messages still apply to today. The author uses animals to bring up things humans might get in trouble for saying which is brilliant in my opinion. I never wanted it to end. Instant favorite.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty thoroughly charming! And despite many of the writings being about 100 years old, really doesn’t feel very dated. A lot of the humour and the themes still resonate, especially around class and labour.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

100-year-old stories that are still entertaining and relevant.

[NanClair Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice dark glimpse into yester-years!

[Nathanael Greene Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Herriman drawings of Archy and Mehitable, as well an E.B. White intruduction.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A favorite when I was little; a favorite now. (And far less of the political verse went over my head this time.)

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archie is a free-verse cockroach.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never would have found this gem if E.B. White hadn’t done the foreword

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another delicious find from the Mustich list!

[Ricky Foos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An under appreciated classic. Give a wonderfully satiric view of the U.S. during the 20s and 30s.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book after encountering E.B. White's introduction to it (in a collection of E.B. White's work), and still it managed to surpass my expectations.

The premise is that a cockroach is possessed by the transmigrated soul of a free verse poet named Archy, and Archy types poems every night in the office of a newspaper columnist (Don Marquis) by hopping and pounding each typewriter key with his head. Don Marquis first employed the Archy character in 1916. The column remained popular throughout the 1920s, and collections of the popular column entries began to appear in the 1930s.

Since he can't hold down the shift key, Archy's works are free of capitalization and punctuation. His sidekick is a dancing alley cat named Mehitabel (who claims to be possessed by the transmigrated soul of Cleopatra, among others). Together, they cover a broad number of subjects, including politics, the arts, economics, and alcohol...they have lots to say about alcohol.

These are a few of my favorite Archyisms:

an optimist is a guy
that has never had
much experience

* * *

prohibition makes you
want to cry
into your beer and
denies you the beer
to cry into

[Robu-sensei · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I was a little kid we had two frogs in a terrarium: a tree frog named Archy and a bullfrog named Mehitabel. I'd always wondered about their namesakes, and it's astonishing that I waited nearly four decades to explore further.

I really wanted to like Archy & Mehitabel. Anything with such a strong connection to my early childhood really ought to be liked. Also, it's such a perfect fit for me: weird poetry written by a Blatella germanica with illustrations by the immortal George Harriman (of Krazy Kat fame). I'd always imagined it as humorous and light-hearted. Was astonished to find Archy's writings so philosophical. And dark—very dark. Mehitabel is even worse: a criminally irresponsible nihilist, without even the saving grace of being funny like Space Moose. By reading The Lives and Times of archy & mehitabel I lost some of the innocence of youth I'd carefully preserved from ages ago.

I guess it's fitting that one morning we checked in on our frogs just in time to see the last of Archy's feet disappearing down Mehitabel's gullet.

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been in my TBR for over 15 years and I figured that as I'm home and need a break from cleaning, organizing, & moving furniture that I'd take the time to read it... Also I haven't been to the Library in about a week, so I'm out of my current interests.

Archy is a cockroach (who in another life was a famous poet) that writes poetry & a journal of sorts..... he does this by using a typewriter, jumping on the keys in order to strike a letter. Because he is only able to hit one key at a time, there is not punctuation or capital letters used in his prose.

Archy has a friend, Mehitabel, an stray cat who in a previous life was Cleopatra. Archy write a lot about his friendship w/ Mehitable and her life as well as writing about rats, other insects, people, and other cats.

I'm not going to say that I "liked" this, but considering when it was written it is extremely clever & entertaining.... Therefore the number of stars.

[Valerie]

One of the best gifts I got from my grandmother was a subscription to Children's Digest. Therein I made the acquaintance of people like Tintin, and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats--and archy and mehitabel.

I won't say I always agreed with the sentiments expressed. There's a point where archy rebukes bridge players, because they put excessive effort into achieving nothing. As opposed to? What does he recommend as an alternative? I think of it as like the British king who is said to've tried to outlaw golf, because it was distracting people from archery practice. There're people who would consider BOTH a waste of time. Who's setting the priorities?

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an old favorite. It begins with a beautiful introduction by E.B. White and leads into a hilarious account of a cockroach named Archy, the reincarnation of a free verse poet. He needs to throw himself onto the typewriter keys, head first, in order to communicate with Don Marquis (journalist/author). Other characters include Freddy the rat, a reincarnated poet, as well, and Mehitabel the cat, who believes she was once Cleopatra. This is a hoot and a half. Interesting factoid...these characters were originally appeared in Marquis's Sun Dial column in 1916-18. Can't imagine these whimsical columns in today's newspapers, and that is a darned shame.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

for some reason a copy of this was in my parents home forever though i don't think they ever read it and probably never knew it was there. i discovered it one day when i was in my late teens. i read it and loved it and eventually just took it when i left home because nobody else even knew it was there. i still have it. and i bought another copy with a dust jacket so now i own two.

this is a real classic of early 20th century newspaper columnar poetry. it's definitely worth looking into for anyone who has a bit of nostalgia for the days when real cockroaches used manual typewriters and pounded out work by the serious sweat of their little brows, night after night.