tone. Nash does not use any formal language
here, and the inclusion of the wordreally; implies
that the speaker is talking informally, using an
expression that is unnecessary to the sense of
what he is saying but is standard in the use of
slang. This use of an everyday idiom helps to
promote the idea that the speaker is giving an
honest, candid assessment of what humans think
of each other, and it inverts the standard order of
expectations: the hippopotamus is referred to
with the lofty wordthou; in line 5, while humans
are discussed with humble diction in line 6.
LINE 7
Although the poem states early on that the
looks of the hippopotamus can evoke laughter,
in this line the animal’s looks are considered
delightful. Readers can guess where this line is
leading because the speaker, who has spoken on
behalf of the human race throughout the poem
by using the first-person plural pronoun ‘‘we,’’
does not claim to know whether what he is say-
ing is actually true but is instead offering just a
guess; if the hippopotamus were a delight to the
human eye, he would say so, but since he is only
guessing, then the eye delighted by the hippopot-
amus is clearly nonhuman.
LINE 8
In the end, the poem reaches a happy reso-
lution. The fact that humans like the looks of
each other is assumed to be mirrored in the
emotions of hippopotamuses. Early on, the hip-
popotamus was spoken of in a derogatory way,
with its appearance being mocked as humorous,
but that, the poem implies, is really no problem
as long as within their own species the hippo-
potamuses enjoy the looks of each other. The
human race’s opinion of them is implicitly
declared irrelevant. It is the fact that they can
transcend their ungainliness that makes hippo-
potamuses so remarkable and worthy of the bold
exclamation that the speaker blurted out in the
first line.
Nash underscores the happy resolution of
the concern over the hippopotamus with a clever
word twist. The preferred plural of ‘‘hippopota-
mus’’ is ‘‘hippopotamuses,’’ but the speaker, in a
spirit of playfulness, chooses the more seldom
used plural form because it is funnier and also
completes the rhyme structure. This plural form
follows the rule that changes the ‘‘us’’ ending of
some words from Latin origins into an ‘‘i,’’ as
seen when pluralizing ‘‘alumnus’’ to ‘‘alumni,’’
‘‘focus’’ to ‘‘foci,’’ or ‘‘radius’’ to ‘‘radii.’’ Ending
the poem with a rarely heard and comically
sounding word leaves readers with a sense of
lightheartedness.Themes
Self-Image
‘‘The Hippopotamus’’ is concerned with the
images that people (and animals that have
human emotions attributed to them) have of
themselves. From the very first line, when the
speaker instructs readers to take a close, serious
look at the animal, the poem immediately begins
to make implicit comparisons between the
human and hippopotamus species. The poem
indicates that it is a natural tendency to mock
those that look unfamiliar to us. Mockery is not
meant to be taken as a sign of self-confidence;
though: when human beings think what the
unfamiliar species that they have mocked might
think of them, the moment is described as a dark
and fearful one.
The idea that each species should have a
secure self-image is enforced in the last half of
the poem. In line 6, Nash makes clear the notion
that human beings perceive their own looks as
the standard of what is normal. He goes on to
say, though, that regardless of humans’ opin-
ions, the hippopotamus would find another hip-
popotamus’s features delightful. The desire to
belittle those who look different might imply a
lack of confidence, but the poem also shows that
the ability to ignore the mockery of others can
lead to a peaceful existence.Pride
One aspect that this poem touches on but does
not examine at length is the human inclination to
view unfamiliar things as being flawed. The idea
expressed in line 6 of this poem, stating that
human beings look all right to themselves, belies
a larger truth that the poem covers in its earlier
lines: that people generally consider things they
are unfamiliar with to be substandard. The
laughter that Nash describes at the beginning
of the poem is based on the way the hippopot-
amus looks, but the animal’s looks would not be
amusing if people did not somehow see them as a
shortcoming. The hippopotamus is derided for
failing to reach the physical standards set by
human existence.The Hippopotamus