The Purple Cow
(most common name)

(transboundary/brand name):
• Purple Cow
(local/other name):
• The Purple Cow: Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who’s Quite Remarkable, at Least
• The Gelett Burgess gee-I-wish-I-had-never-written-this Nonsense Verse

Purple Cow, a spare poem if ever there was one, was first published on May 1, 1895 in a humorous magazine called The Lark.

Its author, Gelett Burgess, also drew a picture of a cow to go with his verse. The cow he drew is jumping over either a fancy fence, or a row of very symmetrical plants — and his illustrated cow was black, not purple. (This probably had more to do with the cost of color printing at that time.)

The Purple Cow

I never saw a purple cow.
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow
I’d rather see than be one.

— Gelett Burgess

Purple Cow gained such notoriety that by April 1, 1897, Burgess couldn’t stand hearing it repeated to him anymore, so he published:

Confession: and a Portrait Too,
Upon a Background that I Rue

Ah, yes, I wrote the “Purple Cow”—
I’m Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I’ll Kill you if you Quote it!

— Gelett Burgess

This page was last updated on: 2023-05-19

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