[Pp. 358-64.] A. C. Hilton. The parodies by Hilton appeared in the two numbers of The Light Green. They are reprinted here by permission of Messrs. Metcalfe, Cambridge.
The original of 'Octopus' was clearly 'Dolores,' which appeared in Poems and Ballads, First Series, 1866. The fourth stanza of this, with which may be compared the fifth stanza of 'Octopus,' runs:
O lips full of lust and of laughter,
Curled snakes that are fed from my breast,
Bite hard lest remembrance come after
And press with new lips where you pressed.
For my heart, too, springs up at the pressure,
Mine eyelids, too, moisten and burn;
Ah, feed me and fill me with pleasure,
Ere pain come in turn.