"Crocodile" () is a 1916-1917 fairy tale poem for children by Korney Chukovsky about a crocodile strolling along the streets of Petrograd (the contemporary name of St. Petersburg, Russia).
It quickly became very popular, due to its utter nonsense, previously unseen in print, and skillful wordplay.David Kellogg, "The End of Crocodile Tears, or Child Literature as Emotional Self-Regulation", Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 2010, vol.6, no. 1, 75-92 Chukovsky himself said:
In 1939 Yury Tynyanov wrote that "Crocodile" opened up a completely new avenue for the development of poetry for children, whose new sounds of "a quick verse, a change of meters, a rushing song, a chorus" were cancelling "the previous weak and motionless fairy tale of icicle candies, cotton snow, flowers on weak legs".Yury Tynyanov, Корней Чуковский, Детская литература. 1939, as cited by Ekaterina Romanova Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature characterized "Crocodile", along with other Chukovsky's verse tales as follows, "clockwork rhythms and air of mischief and lightness in effect dispelled the plodding stodginess that had characterized pre-revolutionary children's poetry."Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, 1995, p. 242
During the surge of the Soviet ideological censorship, known as Zhdanovshchina, Crocodile, was severely criticized along with other children's fantastic tales of Chukovsky in an ideological campaign known as "the struggle with Chukovshchina". "Crocodile" was accused of "propagating misconceptions about the animal world". It addition, the critics tried to find counter-revolutionary undertones in the poem. As Chukovsky wrote:
English translations "Crocodile" was translated into English in 1931 by Babette Deutsch in 1931 and by Richard Coe in 1964.Reference Guide to Russian Literature, p. 232 The two authors gave substantially different renderings of the poem.
Russian original with line-by-line literal translation: RussianEnglishЖил да был There livedКрокодил. Crocodile.Он по улицам ходил, He walked along the streets,Папиросы курил. Smoked cigarettesПо-турецки говорил,- Spoke in TurkishКрокодил, Крокодил Крокодилович! Krokodil, Krokodil Krokodilovich
DeutschCoeOnce a haughty crocodileOnce there was a crocodileLeft his home upon the Nile Croc! Croc! Crocodile!To go strolling off in style A crocodile of taste and styleOn the Ave-e-nue! And elegant attireHe could smoke and he could speak He strolled down PiccadillyTurkish in a perfect streak Singing carols in SwahiliAnd he did it once a week Wearing spats he'd bought in ChileThis most haughty, green and warty And a-puffing at a briar!Very sporty Crocodile! Crocodile! Croc! Croc! Croc!Crocodile! Alexander Crocodile, Esquire!
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