Great Fleas Have Little Fleas upon Their Backs
Great Fleas Have Little Fleas upon Their Backs
Poem
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves in turn have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
Notes
Original verse by Irish author Jonathan Swift. Reworded by English mathematician Augustus De Morgan (1806 – 1871). De Morgan called the verse "Siphonaptera". Flea is the common name for the order Siphonaptera.
Comments
Here's the verse the poem comes from in Jonathan Swift's long satirical poem "On Poetry: a Rhapsody" (1733):
The vermin only teaze and pinch
Their foes superior by an inch.
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum.
Thus every poet, in his kind,
Is bit by him that comes behind.
Thanks!
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Thanks to Monique Palomares for the illustrations!
