Complainsong

Maggie Butt

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 2011, vol. 24, issue 5, 674-675

Abstract: Purpose - This poem was written as a protest after I had been told that my staff team complained too much. I wanted to reflect the positive qualities of complaining. Design/methodology/approach - Complainsong is written in ballad form – in quatrains of loose iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with a refrain or chorus. It has the narrative quality of a ballad, but with unusual direction. As it developed, I realised I had in my mind Pastor Martin Niemoller's Second World War poem which begins “First they came for the Jews.” Findings - The rather jolly ballad rhythm sets up expectations of a humorous poem, which is undermined by the very serious “message” of the ending. The nonsensical images of doormats blowing whistles and sheep rocking boats in the chorus, take familiar phrases to create tongue in cheek humour that heightens the contrast with the final stanza. Originality/value - This poem uses an unexpected form to come to a “twist in the tale” ending that, hopefully, is strengthened by the surprise. The title is a play on the “plainsong” of monks and complaining.

Keywords: Whistle blowing; Appeasement; Complaints; Poetry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:aaajpp:v:24:y:2011:i:5:p:674-675

DOI: 10.1108/09513571111139166

Access Statistics for this article

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal is currently edited by Prof James Guthrie and Prof Lee Parker

More articles in Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().