stuffed owl

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | 2006 | 332 words | Copyright

stuffed owl referring to poetry which treats trivial or inconsequential subjects in a grandiose manner. The phrase comes from the title of Wyndham Lewis's The Stuffed Owl: an anthology of bad verse (1930), and ultimately alludes to Wordsworth's lines ‘The presence even of a stuffed owl for her Can cheat the time.’

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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "stuffed owl." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "stuffed owl." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-stuffedowl.html

ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "stuffed owl." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-stuffedowl.html

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