Consider Pope's line that cannot exist orally:

To give up Cicero to C or K.

However you read it, the nature of the scholarly dispute is hidden.

Carrol

Terry Traynor wrote:
> 
>      >At school one afternoon, little Johnny put his hand up and
>      asked,
> 
>      >"Miss, Miss, what does the expression "Tore his leather"
>      mean?"
> 
>      >The teacher replied, "I'm sorry, Johnny, what's the
>      context?"
> 
>      >"Well, Miss, it says here 'Robin Hood tore his leather
>      jerkin off.'"
> 
> Rick, thanks for the laugh.
> 
> It's pretty evident that the humor relies partially on the confusion
> about whether "off" belongs to "tore" (tore off) or to "jerkin"
> (jerkin off), and partially on the use of a homonym ("jerkin" the noun
> in the phrase "leather jerkin" and "jerkin" the verb in the phrase
> "jerkin off"). But would the humor work orally? I'm thinking of the
> difference between saying "Ice cream" and "I scream." You can't say it
> both ways simultaneously.  Similarly, the vocal intonation in the
> wordplay above would either be as little Johnny would do it -
> 
>         Robin Hood tore his leather       jerkin off.
> 
> or the other way -
> 
>         Robin Hood tore     his leather jerkin     off.
> 
> I wonder about the different ways one could orally deliver the last
> four lines of "The Hollow Men."
> 
> Terry