[Ads-l] Request help tracing Dorothy L. Sayers quote: As years come in and years go out / I totter toward the tomb, / still caring less and less about / Who goes to bed with whom

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Dave Hause wrote:
> The antedating/sourcing thing isn't my interest but could she have
> been rather proud of the verse and used several versions at
> different times? Maybe there isn't any "definitive" version.

Yes, sometimes the creator of a saying concocts several versions. For
example, Grant Allen was so enamored with the maxim that schooling
interfered with education that he presented it in an essay and then
gave distinct variants within at least three of his novels. The four
works were published in: 1894, 1895, 1896, and 1899. The Quote
investigator entry on the topic is available here:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/25/schooling-vs-education/

For the poem attributed to Sayers, the goal is to collect different
versions together with Sayers's comments (and the comments of others).
I typically present the results chronologically, but the creator may
prefer a version that emerged after the initial instance.

Garson

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ADSGarson O'Toole
> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2018 11:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Request help tracing Dorothy L. Sayers quote: As years come in and
> years go out / I totter toward the tomb, / still caring less and less about
> / Who goes to bed with whom
>
> A list member who has access to the book below would be able to
> determine the precise wording of a humorous verse ascribed to the
> renowned mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers. An instance of the verse is
> contained in several important quotation books, e.g., The Yale Book of
> Quotations, Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations, The New Beacon
> Book of Quotations by Women, The Macmillan Dictionary of Quotations,
> Cassell's Humorous Quotations, and more.
>
> Yet, uncertainty remains because multiple versions of the verse are
> circulating. The book below apparently contains a letter written by
> Sayers clarifying the topic.
>
> Year: 2000
> Title: The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1951-1957
> Volume 4: In the Midst of Life
> Author: Dorothy L. Sayers (Dorothy Leigh Sayers)
> Editor: Barbara Reynolds
> Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, London
> Alternate Publisher: The Dorothy L. Sayers Society
> Quote Page 80
> Database: Google Books Snippet; data may be inaccurate and must be
> verified with hardcopy or scans
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> But [in] the original the first two lines are less jaunty, and the
> first rhymes with the third, giving (to my mind) a more lapidary
> effect:
>
> As years come in and years go out
> I totter toward the tomb,
> Still caring less and less about
> Who goes to bed with whom.
> [End excerpt]
>
> If you are willing to help please let me know on-list or off-list. The
> goal is to obtain a complete and accurate citation. Scans showing the
> metadata and a few pages providing context would be helpful. If the
> key text is in a letter then it would be helpful to see the full
> letter and to know these important facts: the date, the sender, and
> the recipient.
>
> FYI: Below is a different version of the verse that has achieved wide
> distribution:
>
> Year: 1976 (1975 Copyright)
> Title: Such a Strange Lady: A Biography of Dorothy L. Sayers
> Author: Janet Hitchman
> Chapter 12: Final Chapters
> Quote Page 179
> Publisher: Avon, New York.
> Verified with scans
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Her devouring interest in books continued and she was still reading
> almost everything that was published, except modern novels. When asked
> why she avoided these, she replied wearily,
>
> As I grow older and older
> And totter towards the tomb,
> I find that I care less and less
> Who goes to bed with whom.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson O'Toole
> QuoteInvestigator.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
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