The Yak
By Oliver Herford
Annotations by Karen Kilcup
This is the Yak, so neg-li-gée:[1] His coif-fure’s like a stack of hay; He lives so far from Any-where, I fear the Yak neg-lects his hair, And thing, since there is none to see, What mat-ter how un-kempt he be. How would he feel if he but know That in this Pic-ture-book I drew His Phys-i-go-no-my un-shorn, For chil-dren to de-ride and scorn?
Herford, Oliver. “The Yak.” A Child’s Primer of Natural History. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899.xt goes here.
[1] The yak is a type of large ox native to the Tibetan plateau. Himalayan people rely on domesticated yaks for carrying loads.
Contexts
When Herford published his book, natural history was an obsessive subject for children’s writers. Popular magazines like St. Nicholas led the way, creating study groups like the St. Nicholas League and advocacy for bird protection through its Bird Defenders. Exotic animals seemed to particularly fascinate American children. Contributors to St. Nick included prominent scientists like William T. Hornaday, who became the director of the New York Zoological Park (commonly known as the Bronx Zoo), and who founded the National Zoo in Washington, DC; famous naturalist John Burroughs; and Ernest Thompson Seton, founder of the Boy Scouts of America.
Herford’s poems, as well as their accompanying images, presented more fanciful accounts of animals but sometimes offered short natural history lessons. In this case, Herford emphasizes sloths’ upside-down lifestyle. All the poems in this book hyphenate some words, presumably to instruct children—and their parents—how to read.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
coiffure: style or fashion of dressing the hair
deride: to laugh at in contempt or scorn; to mock
negligée (in this context): dressed informally, dressed as if in a nightgown
physiognomy: The study of features of the face . . . or the body generally . . . the art of judging character from such study
unkempt: of hair, a beard: not combed, well-maintained; untidy, scruffy
unshorn: not cut or cropped
Resources for Further Study
Contemporary Connections
“Talking Yak.” National Geographic, March 26, 2019.
“Tibetan Yak.” The Alaska Zoo.
