To Sit in Solemn Silence
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
Where the rhyme comes from
Most tongue twisters on this site have a murky past. This one has a birth certificate. The four lines are by W. S. Gilbert, from The Mikado, the comic opera he wrote with the composer Arthur Sullivan, which opened at the Savoy Theatre in London on 14 March 1885. They are the refrain of a trio in Act I — the number is formally titled “I Am So Proud” — and the wording above is the libretto’s own, down to the hyphen in “life-long lock”, which some reprints quietly close up into one word.
The plot explains the gloom. The Mikado has decreed that the town of Titipu must keep up its quota of executions or be reduced to a village. Three officials — Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner; Pooh-Bah, the Lord High Everything Else; and Pish-Tush, a noble lord — each sing a verse explaining, with elaborate reluctance, why one of the others ought to be the one to lose his head. Then all three join in the refrain, picturing the condemned man waiting in the dock. It is often said to be Ko-Ko’s solo, but the libretto gives the refrain to all three. Nobody in The Mikado is actually beheaded: the one execution is faked on paper, and the opera ends in weddings.
How the lines left the Savoy for the drama studio and the classroom is another matter. Today they are widely used as a diction warm-up by actors and speech students, and many people meet them that way without ever hearing the opera — but nobody has documented when or how that happened, and the honest answer is that we do not know.
What does it mean?
Exactly what it says, which is the joke. It is a darkly comic description of a prisoner awaiting execution, written for laughs: Gilbert’s satire is aimed at officials more interested in saving their own necks than in anything resembling justice. There is no hidden history to decode, no secret king or lost riddle. Children who chant it today are not thinking about the plot at all — they are enjoying the pile-up of s, d, ch and b sounds, and the line is pure sound-play.
The short, sharp shock. One phrase escaped the opera and went into ordinary English. Gilbert did not quite invent it: John Conington’s 1870 translation of Horace has “One short, sharp shock, and presto! all is done”, and a version of the phrase is reportedly attributed to Mary I in 1555. But it was The Mikado that made it famous. The Conservative Party’s 1979 manifesto promised a “short, sharp shock” regime for young offenders, and in 1973 the words turned up, spoken by the roadie Roger Manifold, on Pink Floyd’s “Us and Them” — a long way from Titipu.
Sharing it with children
Take it one line at a time. Each line stacks a different set of sounds — the hissing s of “sit in solemn silence”, the thudding d of “dull, dark dock”, the p and l of the prison line, then the ch and b of the chopper and the block. Practise each until it is clean, then join them up.
Speed rounds work best on the two hardest phrases. Say “dull, dark dock” three times fast, then “big black block” three times fast, and see who gets furthest before the words collapse. The lines also have a strong, marching beat, so clap along as you speak, one clap for each stressed syllable, and keep the clapping steady as the speed creeps up. For a finale, play “whisper it, then shout it”: whisper the first two lines in solemn silence, as the words demand, and let the last two burst out at full volume. Explaining to older children that the words come from a Victorian comic opera, and that the three men are all trying to wriggle out of trouble, usually adds to the fun.
Extra verses to sing
These verses aren’t traditional — they’re ours, and Gilbert had nothing to do with them. Try them once the original runs smoothly.
To sit in soggy silence on a damp, dark dock,
By a puddle in the harbour in a stripy sock,
Awaiting the arrival of a big brass clock,
And a cheerful chirpy chappie with a chocolate block!
To sit in sunny silence on a smooth sea rock,
With a bucket and a beach ball and a bright blue frock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock
From a cold and cheeky wavelet as it soaks your sock!