A melancholy jester [Frederick Locker]
1873
![A melancholy jester [Frederick Locker] by Frederick Waddy, 1873](https://www.thequadro.com/api/storage/artworks/thumb/l/frederick-waddy/frederick-waddy_a-melancholy-jester-frederick-locker_74c8a665)
Meet Frederick Locker, a Victorian poet who looks like he's having an identity crisis in this 1873 caricature by Frederick Waddy. With a serious, bearded face grafted onto a jester's body, he rides a hobby horse labeled 'London Lyrics'—his most famous book of light verse. The labels 'Discretion' and 'Humour' on the horse suggest the careful balance he tried to strike in his writing. The poem at the bottom sums it up perfectly: he wears the fool's cap and bells, but there are 'tears in my verses,' making him the ultimate melancholy jester of the literary world.