Ogden Nash: I Wouldn't Have Missed It: Selected Poems (1975)•
Ogden Nash (1902-1971)Ogden Nash: I Wouldn't Have Missed It (1975)
[Hospice Shop, Birkenhead - 28/8/25]:
Ogden Nash. I Wouldn't Have Missed It: Selected Poems. Ed. Linell Nash Smith & Isabel Nash Eberstadt. Introduction by Archibald MacLeish. Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1975.
I remember that my Intermediate School form teacher Mr. Whaley was extremely keen on the verse of Ogden Nash. He had a number of quirky traits, among them the belief that we would all learn French if he constantly addressed us in that language. It was actually something of a relief to go to High School and start to learn some French grammar. All of a sudden those phrases started to make sense!
I still agree with him about Nash, though. His work might sound a bit dated in parts, but the passage of time has applied a certain patina to his New Yorker-trained notions about cocktail parties and the pitfalls of domesticity. At times he sounds like a kind of rhyming version of James Thurber; at others like a throwback to Edward Lear.
It's certainly apparent who he doesn't want to sound like:
Ouch! That one almost ranks with Dorothy Parker's infamous review of A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner: "Tonstant Weader Fwowed up."I have a funny daddy Who goes in and out with me; And everything that baby does My daddy’s sure to see. And everything that baby says My daddy’s sure to tell; You must have read my daddy’s work I hope he fries in Hell!- 'My Daddy' (1933)
"Light verse" is, to be sure, a bit of a broad church. It's come to include poems for children, nonsense verse, and virtually any rhyming poetry with overt metrical structure. Despite being originally so conceptually diverse, the overlap between these forms has grown ever larger over time.
So you'll notice, here, a certain overlap with my earlier post on classic poetry collections for children - Hilaire Belloc, Lewis Carroll, Charles Causley, T. S. Eliot, Harry Graham, Edward Lear, and A. A. Milne are all to be found in both.
In his classic Oxford anthology of light verse, W. H. Auden includes the three following types of poetry:
He goes on to admit that "a few pieces, e.g. Blake's 'Auguries of Innocence' and Melville's 'Billy in the Darbies', do not really fall into any of these categories, but their technique is derived so directly from the popular style that it seemed proper to include them."
- Poetry written for performance, to be spoken or sung before an audience [e.g. Folk-songs, the poems of Tom Moore].
- Poetry intended to be read, but having for its subject-matter the everyday life of its period or the experiences of the poet as an ordinary human being [e.g. the poems of Chaucer, Pope, Byron].
- Such nonsense poetry as, thorugh its properties and technique, has a general appeal [Nursery rhymes, the poems of Edward Lear].
When the time came to update Auden's selection a generation later, Kingsley Amis was rather scornful of his predecessor's approach:
Auden's political preoccupations in those days (1938) led him ... with what accuracy we can now judge, to foresee a planned egalitarian state of society in which light verse would flourish as never (well, hardly ever) before ... [Peter Porter] called Auden's a "revolutionary anthology" and said that it "chang[ed] the sensibilty of a generation." I wonder what generation he had in mind. My own, as far as I can tell, stayed largely untouched by it, even niggling a little at the choice of jazz and American folk lyrics ...He then goes on to outline the definitions which underlie his own choice of poems, while admitting that another generation may well "see in mine a reactionary anthology." Amis claims that:
High verse could exist without light verse, however impoverished life would be if that were the state of affairs. But light verse is unimaginable in the absence of high verse ..."'To raise a good-natured smile was the major part of this work written,' said Charles Dibdin ... We are not far from a handy short definition of light verse here", is the closest Amis comes to a declaration of principles. His introduction is, however, pithy and well-written and would certainly repay further scrutiny from anyone genuinely interested in the history of the subject.
Light verse makes more stringent demands on the writer's technique. A fault of scansion or rhyme, an awkwardness or obscurity that would damage only the immediate context of a piece of high verse endangers the whole structure of a light-verse poem ... A concert pianist is allowed a wrong note here and there; a juggler is not allowed to drop a plate.
Instead of providing my own manifesto on just what I imagine "light verse" to be, I think it might be more profitable simply to list some of the authors I haven't included in this (very subjective) list of my favourite writers in this very taxing form.
It's not that there's anything wrong with Pam Ayres' verse - there's just a certain shooting-fish-in-a-barrel air to it all. Its targets are (mostly) unadventurous and easy, and fail (for me, at least) to outlive their occasions.Yes, I’ll marry you, my dear. And here’s the reason why. So I can push you out of bed, When the baby starts to cry. And if we hear a knocking, And it’s creepy and it’s late, I hand you the torch, you see, And you investigate.
Again, it just doesn't seem to me to add a great deal to the world's thought. Tot homines quot sententiae, though - memorably paraphrased by Clint Eastwood as: "opinions are like assholes - everybody's got one."It was a dream I had last week And some kind of record seemed vital. I knew it wouldn't be much of a poem But I love the title.
There's a clear division in Walter de la Mare's work between his "verses" (composed - ostensibly - for children) and his "poems" (meant mainly for adults). My own preference is certainly for the former, but I'm not sure that I would care to label any of his poetry as "light verse" - it all seems pretty serious to me. Ghostly, gloomy, dark - occasionally charming - it's a unique body of work, but doesn't seem best placed amongst this particular set of merry wags.Hi! handsome hunting man Fire your little gun. Bang! Now the animal is dead and dumb and done. Nevermore to peep again, creep again, leap again, Eat or sleep or drink again. Oh, what fun!
Again, there seems something fundamentally serious about virtually all of Stevenson's poems, whether aimed primarily at adults or children. It's certainly as fluent in versification as any of the masters of light verse, but lacks their air of frivolity and enjoyment. Life was always a far grimmer business than that for poor tubercular, poverty-stricken RLS.... I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-hill, And sees before him, dale and plain, The pleasant land of counterpane.
Kingsley Amis, no great fan of nonsense poetry in general, admits having included a few of Edward Lear's limericks in his own anthology "with reluctance":
If such a thing as a high-class limerick were possible, the form he preferred - last line ending same as first or occasionally second - might be defended. As things are it is best avoided.I don't think it's really possible to deny the place of the limerick in any collection of light verse, however. At its best, it can be quite delightful:
There was a young lady of Riga
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger.
- Anon. (c.1874)
The clerihew, invented in an idle hour by G. K. Chesterton's old schoolmate E. C. Bentley - perhaps more famous for his classic detective yarn Trent's Last Case (1931) - doesn't even rate a mention by Amis. Auden, by contrast, was so enamoured of the form that he composed a whole book of them:
They appeal to a certain sort of mind - mine included, I'm sorry to say.My first name, Wystan, Rhymes with Tristan, But -- O dear! -- I do hope I'm not quite such a dope.- W. H. Auden (1971)
So there we are. Amis is, I think, quite right to stress that light verse exists primarily to entertain. There are moods in which I find it almost impossible to read anything else, so I remain immensely grateful to all the poets listed below for their indefatigable efforts in this form. Where on earth would I be without them?
As the great Hilaire Belloc himself once put it:
It's certainly come true in his case. Here's hoping it continues to be the case for all of the other light verse virtuosos included here.When I am dead, I hope it may be said: "His sins were scarlet, but his books were read."
- W. H. Auden (1907-1973)
- Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)
- John Betjeman (1906–1984)
- Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)
- Charles Causley (1917-2003)
- G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936)
- T. S. Eliot (1888–1965)
- Gavin Ewart (1916–1995)
- A. R. D. Fairburn (1904–1957)
- W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911)
- Harry Graham (1874-1936)
- Edward Lear (1812-1888)
- Norman Lindsay (1879–1969)
- Don Marquis (1878–1937)
- A. A. Milne (1882-1956)
- Ogden Nash (1902-1971)
- Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
- Mervyn Peake (1911–1968)
- Cole Porter (1891-1964)
- Dr. Seuss (1904–1991)
- P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)
- Anthologies & Secondary Literature
Books I own are marked in bold:
It's difficult to tell where serious poetry ends and light verse begins in Auden's work as a whole. Is there, in fact, a difference?Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'. Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good.- 'Funeral Blues' (1936)
In the introduction to his Oxford Book of Light Verse in 1938, he specified that:
Light verse can be serious. It has only come to mean vers de société, triolets, smoke-room limericks, because, under the social conditions which produced the Romantic Revival, . . . it has been only in trivial matters that poets have felt in sufficient intimacy with their audience to be able to forget themselves and their singing robes."Light verse thrives", he went on to say, "only when poets enjoy a large, general audience with whom they share a common language and a common way of looking at the world. In such cases, the poet will not be conscious of himself as an unusual person, and his language will be straightforward and close to ordinary speech.”
When Auden's 1936 funeral elegy "Stop all the clocks" was included in the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral, it established that very "common language and common way of looking at the world" with a contemporary cinematic audience.
Sales of his poetry immediately shot up, and have never really subsided since.
Hilaire Belloc, a French-English writer, politician, and historian is described by Wikipedia as "one of the most versatile authors of the 20th century": "an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist." The entry goes on to specify that:A Python I should not advise, - It needs a doctor for its eyes, And has the measles yearly, However, if you feel inclined To get one (to improve your mind, And not from fashion merely), Allow no music near its cage; And when if flies into a rage Chastise it, most severely. I had an Aunt in Yucatan Who bought a Python from a man And kept it for a pet. She died, because she never knew These simple little rules and few; - The Snake is living yet.- 'The Python' (1897)
His 1907 Cautionary Tales for Children, humorous poems with implausible morals, illustrated by Basil Temple Blackwood (signing as "B.T.B.") and later by Edward Gorey, are the most widely known of his writings. Supposedly for children, they, like Lewis Carroll's works, are more to adult and satirical tastes: "Henry King, Who chewed bits of string and was early cut off in dreadful agonies". A similar poem tells the story of "Rebecca, who slammed doors for fun and perished miserably".Belloc sounds as if he was quite a horrible man: a confirmed antisemite; opinionated, loud, and intolerant - but it's hard to hold a grudge against anyone with such a genius for light verse. "Matilda Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death" was, I think, the first of his gruesome concoctions that I ever encountered. When I first came across the illustrated album edition of his collected verses in his vein, I felt as if all my Christmases had come at once.
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Bibliography
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- Waterloo (1912)
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- Poitiers (1913)
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- The River of London. Illustrations reproduced from oil paintings by John Muirhead (1912)
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- The Free Press (1918)
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- Places (1942)
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- The Way Out. Introduction by Robert Phillips (2006)
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- Joseph Bédier: The Romance of Tristan and Iseult. 1900 (1913)
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- Joseph Bédier: The Romance of Tristan and Iseult (1945)
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- Letters From Hilaire Belloc. Ed. Robert Speaight (1958)
- Wilson, A. N. Hilaire Belloc. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1984.
Fiction:
Non-fiction:
Edited:
Translated:
Letters:
Secondary:
John Betjeman:He sipped at a weak hock and seltzer As he gazed at the London skies Through the lace of the curtains Or was it his bees-winged eyes? To the right and before him Pont Street Did tower in her new built red, As hard as the morning gaslight That shone on his unmade bed, “I want some more hock in my seltzer, And Robbie, please give me your hand — Is this the end or beginning? How can I understand? “So you’ve brought me the latest Yellow Book: And Buchan has got in it now: Approval of what is approved of Is as false as a well-kept vow. “More hock, Robbie — where is the seltzer? Dear boy, pull again at the bell! They are all little better than cretins, Though this is the Cadogan Hotel. “One astrakhan coat is at Willis’s — Another one’s at the Savoy: Do fetch my morocco portmanteau, And bring them on later, dear boy.” A thump, and a murmur of voices — (”Oh why must they make such a din?”) As the door of the bedroom swung open And TWO PLAIN CLOTHES POLICEMEN came in: “Mr. Woilde, we ‘ave come for tew take yew Where felons and criminals dwell: We must ask yew tew leave with us quoietly For this is the Cadogan Hotel.” He rose, and he put down The Yellow Book. He staggered — and, terrible-eyed, He brushed past the plants on the staircase And was helped to a hansom outside.
was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and ... a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television.His teddy-bear Archie is said to have been the model for Sebastian Flye's bear Aloysius in Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. I've said most of what I have to say about him in an earlier post here. I'll add only that 've always enjoyed his verse, which I first started reading when still in my late teens. It has some stranger and deeper aspects than is apparent in the superficial gloss of its surface pastiche. Light verse, yes, that's a fair description - but the kind that leaves a lingering disquiet and Sehnsucht behind it.
Charles Dodgson was an Oxford don who taught mathematics, he as also a pioneer photographer and a "reluctant Anglican deacon." Lewis Carroll, his more anarchic alterego, was a fantasist and poet,He thought he saw an Elephant, That practised on a fife: He looked again, and found it was A letter from his wife. 'At length I realise,' he said, The bitterness of Life!' He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: He looked again, and found it was His Sister's Husband's Niece. 'Unless you leave this house,' he said, "I'll send for the Police!' He thought he saw a Rattlesnake That questioned him in Greek: He looked again, and found it was The Middle of Next Week. 'The one thing I regret,' he said, 'Is that it cannot speak!' He thought he saw a Banker's Clerk Descending from the bus: He looked again, and found it was A Hippopotamus. 'If this should stay to dine,' he said, 'There won't be much for us!' He thought he saw a Kangaroo That worked a coffee-mill: He looked again, and found it was A Vegetable-Pill. 'Were I to swallow this,' he said, 'I should be very ill!' He thought he saw a Coach-and-Four That stood beside his bed: He looked again, and found it was A Bear without a Head. 'Poor thing,' he said, 'poor silly thing! It's waiting to be fed!' He thought he saw an Albatross That fluttered round the lamp: He looked again, and found it was A Penny-Postage Stamp. 'You'd best be getting home,' he said: 'The nights are very damp!' He thought he saw a Garden-Door That opened with a key: He looked again, and found it was A Double Rule of Three: 'And all its mystery,' he said, 'Is clear as day to me!' He thought he saw a Argument That proved he was the Pope: He looked again, and found it was A Bar of Mottled Soap. 'A fact so dread,' he faintly said, 'Extinguishes all hope!'- 'The Mad Gardener’s Song' (1889-93)
whose most notable works are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems "Jabberwocky" (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense.More recent interpretations of his work have tended to emphasise the degree to which "Alice's nonsensical wonderland logic reflects his published work on mathematical logic." Nevertheless, there's a wilder side to this pseudonymous work of his than he could ever have allowed to appear in his very cultivated public persona.
His taste for the company of young children, particularly girls, would certainly cause adverse comment today. Even at the time it was considered eccentric, but further analysis of his predilections founders on the rock of Victorian prudery and discretion and a profusion of literary bonfires over the past century or so.
He remains one of the very greatest children's writers in world literature - though whether Alice really appeals as much to children as it does to logicians and philosophers is debatable. There are odd flashes of genius even in his late work Sylvie and Bruno (1889-93), but they're few and far between. His Alice books, it's safe to say, will never be forgotten.
As a poet, he excelled in parody and pastiche. The Hunting of the Snark is his most ambitious work in this medium. It, too, is a masterpiece, but a very strange one.
Timothy Winters comes to school
With eyes as wide as a football pool,
Ears like bombs and teeth like splinters:
A blitz of a boy is Timothy Winters.
His belly is white, his neck is dark,
And his hair is an exclamation mark.
His clothes are enough to scare a crow
And through his britches the blue winds blow.
When teacher talks he won't hear a word
And he shoots down dead the arithmetic-bird,
He licks the patterns off his plate
And he's not even heard of the Welfare State.
Timothy Winters has bloody feet
And he lives in a house on Suez Street,
He sleeps in a sack on the kitchen floor
And they say there aren't boys like him any more.
Old man Winters likes his beer
And his missus ran off with a bombardier.
Grandma sits in the grate with a gin
And Timothy's dosed with an aspirin.
The Welfare Worker lies awake
But the law's as tricky as a ten-foot snake,
So Timothy Winters drinks his cup
And slowly goes on growing up.
At Morning Prayers the Master helves
For children less fortunate than ourselves,
And the loudest response in the room is when
Timothy Winters roars "Amen!"
So come one angel, come on ten:
Timothy Winters says "Amen
Amen amen amen amen."
Timothy Winters, Lord.
Amen!
- 'Timothy Winters' (1957)
90-year-old British World War II Royal Navy veteran Bernard Jordan who "broke out" of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary D-Day commemorations in France in June 2014great play is made with Charles Causley's poem 'At the British War Cemetery, Bayeux’:
Heartfelt though it undoubtedly is, I'm sorry to say that that does nothing for me at all. I note that Causley was himself an ex-serviceman, and knew what he was talking about (and to whom), but it's just not my cup of tea.I walked where in their talking graves And shirts of earth five thousand lay, When history with ten feasts of fire Had eaten the red air away. 'I am Christ's boy,' I cried. "I bear In iron hands the bread, the fishes. I hang with honey and with rose This tidy wreck of all your wishes.
As a result, I've never managed to get more than a few pages into his Collected Poems, in any of its various editions.
When it comes to his Collected Poems for Children, though, the situation is completely different. I've read it from cover to cover with the greatest of pleasure, and would agree with those (such as Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin) who rate him as one of the greatest twentieth century writers in this form. Causley himself followed "what he called his 'guiding principle', adopted from Auden and others":
while there are some good poems which are only for adults, because they presuppose adult experience in their readers, there are no good poems which are only for children.It's a conundrum. I'll have to think on it further. In the meantime, though, I thoroughly recommend the beautifully illustrated 1996 edition of his poems pictured below:
•
Bibliography
-
Fiction:
- Hands to Dance [aka "Hands to Dance and Skylark"] (1951)
- Farewell, Aggie Weston (1951)
- Survivor's Leave (1953)
- Union Street (1957)
- Johnny Alleluia (1961)
- Underneath the Water (1968)
- Secret Destinations (1984)
- Twenty-One Poems (1986)
- A Field of Vision (1988)
- Collected Poems (1975)
- Collected Poems, 1951-2000: Revised Edition. London: Picador, 2000.
- Figure of 8 (1969)
- Figgie Hobbin: Poems for Children (1970)
- 'Quack!' Said the Billy-Goat (1970)
- The Tail of the Trinosaur (1972)
- As I Went Down Zig Zag (1974)
- When Dad Felt Bad. Little Nippers Series (1975)
- The Hill of the Fairy Calf (1976)
- Dick Whittington (1976)
- The Song of the Shapes (1977)
- Twenty-Four Hours (1977)
- The Animals' Carol (1978)
- The Gift of a Lamb (1985)
- Early in the Morning: A Collection of New Poems. Music by Anthony Castro. Illustrations by Michael Foreman (1986)
- Jack the Treacle Eater. illustrated by Charles Keeping (1987)
- The Young Man of Cury and Other Poems (1991)
- All Day Saturday, and Other Poems (1994)
- Collected Poems for Children. Illustrated by John Lawrence (1996)
- Collected Poems for Children. Illustrated by John Lawrence. 1996. Macmillan Children's Books. London: Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2000.
- Collected Poems for Children. Illustrated by John Lawrence. Afterword by Ted Hughes. Macmillan Children's Books. 1996. Foreword by Roger McGough. 2016. Macmillan Classics. London: Pan Macmillan, 2020.
- The Merrymaid of Zennor (1999)
- I Had a Little Cat (2009)
- Runaway (1936)
- The Conquering Hero (1937)
- Benedict (1938)
- How Pleasant to Know Mrs. Lear: A Victorian Comedy in One Act (1948)
- The Ballad of Aucassin and Nicolette (1981)
- The Ballad of Aucassin and Nicolette: A Play in Three Acts. Kestrel Books. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1981.
- The Burning Boy (c.1980s)
- Peninsula (1957)
- Dawn and Dusk (1964)
- Modern Folk Ballads (1966)
- Rising Early (1972)
- The Puffin Book of Magic Verse (1974)
- The Puffin Book of Magic Verse. Ed. Charles Causley. Illustrated by Barbara Swiderska. Puffin Books. London: Penguin, 1974.
- The Puffin Book of Salt-Sea Verse (1978)
- The Puffin Book of Salt-Sea Verse. Ed. Charles Causley. Illustrated by Antony Maitland. Kestrel Books. London: Penguin, 1978.
- The Batsford Book of Stories in Verse (1979)
- The Sun, Dancing: An Anthology of Christian Verse (1984)
- Twenty-Five Poems by Hamdija Demirovic: Translated with the Author from the Original Yugoslavian (1980)
- Schondilie (1982)
- Kings' Children: German folk ballads (1986)
Poetry:
Children's Books:
Plays & Libretti:
Edited:
Translated:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was:When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born. With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things. The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still. Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet.- 'The Donkey' (1927)
an English author, philosopher, Christian apologist, poet, journalist and magazine editor, and literary and art critic. Chesterton's wit, paradoxical style, and defence of tradition made him a dominant figure in early 20th-century literature....
T. S. Eliot was:How unpleasant to meet Mr. Eliot! With his features of clerical cut, And his brow so grim And his mouth so prim And his conversation, so nicely Restricted to What Precisely And If and Perhaps and But. How unpleasant to meet Mr. Eliot! With a bobtail cur And a porpentine cat And a wopsical hat How unpleasant to meet Mr. Eliot! (Whether his mouth is open or shut).
a poet, essayist and playwright.[1] He was a leading figure in English-language Modernist poetry where he reinvigorated the art through his use of language, writing style, and verse structure. He is also noted for his critical essays, which often re-evaluated long-held cultural beliefs....
Gavin Ewart began his poetic journey:When a Beau goes in, Into the drink, It makes you think, Because, you see, they always sink But nobody says “Poor lad” Or goes about looking sad Because, you see, it’s war, It’s the unalterable law. Although it’s perfectly certain The pilot’s gone for a Burton And the observer too It’s nothing to do with you And if they both should go To a land where falls no rain nor hail nor driven snow — Here, there, or anywhere, Do you suppose they care? You shouldn’t cry Or say a prayer or sigh. In the cold sea, in the dark It isn’t a lark But it isn’t Original Sin — It’s just a Beau going in.- 'When a Beau Goes In' (1942)
under the aegis of Geoffrey Grigson, with his work appearing in New Verse at seventeen. Early collections such as Phallus in Wonderland and Poems and Songs (1939) showcased his wit and lyrical deftness. However, the war years stymied his poetic output, and it wasn’t until Londoners in 1964 that he published another volume. Nevertheless, he contributed the English lyrics for the “World Song” of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts during this hiatus....
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- Poems and Songs (1939)
- Londoners. Drawings by Colin Spencer (1964)
- Pleasures of the Flesh (1966)
- The Gavin Ewart Show (1971)
- No Fool like an Old Fool (1976)
- Or Where a Young Penguin Lies Screaming (1977)
- All My Little Ones (1978)
- The Collected Ewart: 1933–1980 (1980)
- The Collected Ewart, 1933-1980. 1980. London: Hutchinson, 1982.
- The Ewart Quarto (1984)
- The Gavin Ewart Show: Selected Poems 1939–1985 (1985)
- The Young Pobble's Guide to His Toes (1985)
- Late Pickings (1987)
- Penultimate Poems (1989)
- Collected Poems: 1980–1990 (1991)
- Collected Poems, 1980-1990. Hutchinson. London: Random Century Group Ltd., 1991.
- The Penguin Book of Light Verse (1980)
Edited:
A. R. D. Fairburn:There are ferries at the bottom of our garden, the Takapuna people envy us: we never have to fight the ladies for the right to sit upon a seat aboard the bus. If your arteries have not begun to harden we have a hill to climb, and boats to sail, a gold-course for the dubs, a pair of lovely pubs, a wharf where you can fish for yellowtail. Oh, I nearly overlooked - I beg your pardon - our Naval Base that's operated by the Kiwi and the Pom, a target for the bomb - now what could be a nicer way to die?
was born in Auckland in 1904. His grandfather, the surveyor, thinker and traveller Edwin Fairburn, was one of the first Pākehā born in New Zealand in 1827. His great-grandfather, William Thomas Fairburn, had come to New Zealand as a missionary for the New Zealand Church Missionary Society in 1819....
Fairburn attended Auckland Grammar School ... and worked at various jobs, including relief work on the roads. Later he tutored in English and lectured on the history and theory of Art at Elam School of Art, Auckland University College. His poetry was initially influenced by the (then unfashionable) Georgian poets.
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- He Shall Not Rise (1930)
- Dominion (1938)
- Poems 1929–41 (1943)
- Walking on My Feet (1945)
- Strange Rendezvous: Poems 1929–1941 with Additions (1952)
- Three Poems: Dominion, The Voyage, To a Friend in the Wilderness (1952)
- Collected Poems. Ed. Denis Glover (1966)
- Collected Poems. Ed. Denis Glover. Christchurch: Pegasus Press, 1966.
- The Sky is a Limpet (A Polytickle Parrotty) Also Four (4) Stories, or Moral Feebles (1939)
- The Rakehelly Man (1946)
- How to Ride a Bicycle in Seventeen Lovely Colours (1947)
- The Disadvantages of Being Dead (1958)
- [with Denis Glover] Poetry Harbinger (1958)
- The Woman Problem and Other Prose. Ed. Denis Glover & Geoffrey Fairburn (1967)
- The Woman Problem and Other Prose. Ed. Denis Glover & Geoffrey Fairburn. Auckland: Blackwood & Janet Paul, 1967.
- Edmond, Lauris, ed. The Letters of A. R. D. Fairburn. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1981.
- Johnson, Olive. A. R. D. Fairburn 1904-1957: A Bibliography of His Published Work. The University of Auckland Monograph Series, No. 3. Auckland: The Pilgrim Press, 1958.
- McNeish, James & Helen. Walking on My Feet: A. R. D. Fairburn, 1904-1957. A Kind of Biography. Auckland: Collins, 1983.
- Trussell, Denys. Fairburn. Auckland: Auckland University Press & Oxford University Press, 1983.
- Holman, Dinah, & Christine Cole Catley, ed. Fairburn and Friends. Auckland: Cape Catley, 2004.
Satirical and light verse:
Prose:
Letters:
Secondary:
William Schwenck Gilbert:The air is charged with amatory numbers - Soft madrigals, and dreamy lovers' lays. Peace, peace, old heart! Why waken from its slumbers The aching memory of the old, old days? Time was when Love and I were well acquainted; Time was when we walked ever hand in hand; A saintly youth, with worldly thought untainted, None better loved than I in all the land! Time was, when maidens of the noblest station, Forsaking even military men, Would gaze upon me, rapt in adoration - Ah me, I was a fair young curate then! Had I a headache? sighed the maids assembled; Had I a cold? welled forth the silent tear; Did I look pale? then half a parish trembled; And when I coughed all thought the end was near! I had no care - no jealous doubts hung o'er me - For I was loved beyond all other men. Fled gilded dukes and belted earls before me - Ah me, I was a pale young curate then!- 'Eheu Fugaces - !' (1872)
was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most famous of these include H. M. S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and one of the most frequently performed works in the history of musical theatre, The Mikado. The popularity of these works was supported for over a century by year-round performances of them, in Britain and abroad, by the repertory company that Gilbert, Sullivan and their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte founded, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. These Savoy operas are still frequently performed in the English-speaking world and beyond....
Gilbert's creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, and numerous short stories, poems and lyrics, both comic and serious. After brief careers as a government clerk and a lawyer, Gilbert began to focus, in the 1860s, on writing light verse, including his Bab Ballads, short stories, theatre reviews and illustrations, often for Fun magazine. He also began to write burlesques and his first comic plays, developing a unique absurdist, inverted style that would later be known as his "topsy-turvy" style.
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- The Bab Ballads (1868)
- Included in: The Bab Ballads, with which are included Songs of a Savoyard. Illustrated by the Author. 1904. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd. / New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1964.
- Songs of a Savoyard (1890)
- Included in: The Bab Ballads, with which are included Songs of a Savoyard. Illustrated by the Author. 1904. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd. / New York: St. Martin’s Press, Inc., 1964.
- Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales (1890)
- The Lost Stories of W. S. Gilbert. Ed. Peter Haining (1985)
- The Lost Stories of W. S. Gilbert. Illustrated by ‘Bab’. Ed. Peter Haining. 1973. London: Robson Books Ltd., 1982.
- The Triumph of Vice and Other Stories. Ed. Andrew Crowther (2018)
- Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack [Parody of Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore"] (1866)
- La Vivandière [Parody of Donizetti's "La figlia del regimento"] (1867)
- The Merry Zingara [Parody of Michael Balfe's "The Bohemian Girl"] (1868)
- Robert the Devil [Parody of Meyerbeer's "Robert le diable"] (1868)
- The Pretty Druidess [Parody of Bellini's "Norma"] (1869)
- No Cards (1869)
- [with Frederic Clay] Ages Ago (1869)
- Our Island Home (1870)
- A Sensation Novel (1871)
- Happy Arcadia (1872)
- Eyes and No Eyes (1875)
- The Gentleman in Black. Music by Frederic Clay (1870)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Les Brigands [English adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's operetta] (1871)
- Topsyturveydom. Music by Alfred Cellier (1874)
- Princess Toto. Music by Frederic Clay (1876)
- Thespis (1871)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Trial by Jury (1875)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Sorcerer (1877)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- H.M.S. Pinafore (1878)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Pirates of Penzance (1879)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Patience (1881)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Iolanthe (1882)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Princess Ida (1884)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Mikado (1885)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Ruddigore (1887)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Yeomen of the Guard (1888)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Gondoliers (1889)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Utopia, Limited (1893)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Grand Duke (1896)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- The Mountebanks. Music by Alfred Cellier (1892)
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Haste to the Wedding. Music by George Grossmith (1892)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- His Excellency. Music by Osmond Carr (1894)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Fallen Fairies. Music by Edward German (1909)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Harlequin Cock Robin and Jenny Wren: A Christmas Pantomime (1867)
- An Old Score [rewritten as "Quits!" in 1872] (1869)
- The Princess (1870)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- The Palace of Truth (1870)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- Included in: The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert (1932)
- Creatures of Impulse. Music by Alberto Randegger (1871)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- Pygmalion and Galatea (1871)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- Randall's Thumb (1871)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- The Wicked World (1873)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- The Happy Land (1873)
- The Realm of Joy (1873)
- The Wedding March [Farce adapted from Eugène Labiche's "Un Chapeau de Paille d'Italie"] (1873)
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern [burlesque of "Hamlet"] (1874)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Charity (1874)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 1
- Sweethearts (1874)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Tom Cobb (1875)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Broken Hearts (1875)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Engaged (1877)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- The Ne'er-do-Weel [rewritten as "The Vagabond"] (1878)
- [with others] The Forty Thieves: An Amateur Pantomime at the Gaiety (1878)
- Gretchen [a version of "Faust"] (1879)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 2
- Foggerty's Fairy (1881)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Comedy and Tragedy (1884)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 3
- Brantinghame Hall: A Drama (1888)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- The Fortune Hunter (1897)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- The Fairy's Dilemma (1904)
- Included in: Original Plays. In Four Series (1911): vol. 4
- The Hooligan (1911)
- Original Plays. In Four Series. 4 vols (1911)
- Original Plays. In Four Series. 4 vols. 1911. London: Chatto & Windus, 1917.
- First Series: The Wicked World (1873); Pygmalion and Galatea (1871); Charity (1874); The Princess (1870); The Palace of Truth (1870); Trial by Jury (1875); Iolanthe (1882)
- Second Series: Broken Hearts (1875); Engaged (1877); Sweethearts (1874); Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith (1876); Gretchen (1879); Tom Cobb (1875); The Sorcerer (1877); H.M.S. Pinafore (1878); The Pirates of Penzance (1879)
- Third Series: Comedy and Tragedy (1884); Foggerty's Fairy (1881); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (1874); Patience (1881); Princess Ida (1884); The Mikado (1885); Ruddigore (1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (1888); The Gondoliers (1889); Utopia, Limited (1893)
- Fourth Series: The Fairy's Dilemma (1904); The Grand Duke (1896); His Excellency (1894); "Haste to the Wedding" (1892); Fallen Fairies (1909); The Gentleman in Black (1870); Brantinghame Hall (1888); Creatures of Impulse (1871); Randall's Thumb (1871); The Fortune-Hunter (1897); Thespis (1871)
- Original Plays. In Four Series. 4 vols. 1911. London: Chatto & Windus, 1917.
- The Savoy Operas (1926)
- The Savoy Operas: Being the Complete Text of the Gilbert and Sullivan Operas as Originally Produced in the Years 1875-1896. 1926. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1927.
- The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert. Preface by Deems Taylor (1932)
- The Plays & Poems of W. S. Gilbert: Including the Complete Text of the Fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan Operas, Three Other Gilbert Plays, and All the Bab Ballads. With Illustrations by the Author. [Thespis (1871); Trial by Jury (1875); The Sorcerer (1877); H.M.S. Pinafore (1878); The Pirates of Penzance (1879); Patience (1881); Iolanthe (1882); Princess Ida (1884); The Mikado (1885); Ruddigore (1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (1888); The Gondoliers (1889); Utopia Limited (1893); The Grand Duke (1896); with The Palace of Truth (1870); The Mountebanks (1892); His Excellency (1894)]. Preface by Deems Taylor. New York: Random House, 1932.
- The Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan. Ed. Ian Bradley (1982)
- The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan [Trial by Jury (1875); The Sorcerer (1877); H.M.S. Pinafore (1878); The Pirates of Penzance (1879); Patience (1881); Iolanthe (1882); Princess Ida (1884); The Mikado (1885); Ruddigore (1887); The Yeomen of the Guard (1888); The Gondoliers (1889); Utopia Limited (1893); The Grand Duke (1896)]. Ed. Ian Bradley. 1982, 1984, 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- The Pinafore Picture Book (1908)
- The Story of The Mikado (1921)
- Pearson, Hesketh. Gilbert and Sullivan: A Biography. 1935. Penguin Books, 791. Harmondsworth: Penguin / London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1950.
- Baily, Leslie. The Gilbert & Sullivan Book: Revised Edition. 1952. London: Cassell & Company Ltd., 1956.
- Baily, Leslie. Gilbert & Sullivan and Their World. 1973. London: Book Club Associates / Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1974.
Short Stories:
Musical Comedies & Plays:
Operatic Burlesques:
German Reed Entertainments:
Early Comic Operas:
Gilbert and Sullivan Operas:
Later Operas:
Comedies:
Collected Editions:
Children's Books:
Secondary:
Harry Graham:Billy, in one of his nice new sashes, Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes; Now, although the room grows chilly, I haven't the heart to poke poor Billy.- 'Tender Heartedness' (1898)
was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for operettas and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in a style of grotesquerie and black humour....
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes; words by Col. D. Streamer; illustrations by G. H. Obl. (1899)
- Little Miss Nobody: A New Musical Comedy (1901)
- Ballads of the Boer War (1902)
- Baby's Baedeker (1902)
- Perverted Proverbs: A Manual of Immorals for the Many (1903)
- Misrepresentative Men (1904)
- Fiscal Ballads (1905)
- More Misrepresentative Men (1905)
- Verse and Worse (1905)
- Misrepresentative Women (1906)
- A Song-Garden for Children (1906)
- Familiar Faces (1907)
- Deportmental Ditties (1909)
- Canned Classics (1911)
- The Perfect Gentleman (1912)
- The Motley Muse (Rhymes for the Times) (1913)
- Rhymes for Riper Years (1919)
- More Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes (1930)
- When Grandmama Fell Off the Boat: The Best of Harry Graham (1986)
- When Grandmama Fell Off the Boat: The Best of Harry Graham, Inventor of Ruthless Rhymes. 1899 & 1930. Foreword by Virginia Graham. Introduction by Miles Kington. Methuen Humour Classics. London: Methuen London Ltd., 1986.
- The Cinema Star (1914)
- State Secrets (1914)
- Tina (1915)
- Sybil (1916)
- The Maid of the Mountains (1917)
- Our Peg (1919)
- A Southern Maid (1920)
- A Little Dutch Girl (1920)
- The Lady of the Rose (1921)
- Whirled into Happiness (1922)
- Head over Heels (1923)
- Madame Pompadour (1923)
- The World we Laugh in (1924)
- Our Nell (1924)
- The Buried Cable (or Dirty Work at the Crossroads) (1924)
- Toni (1924)
- Orange Blossom (1924)
- Betty in Mayfair (1924)
- Cleopatra (1925)
- Riquette (1925)
- The Grand Duchess (1925)
- Katja the Dancer (1925)
- Clo-Clo (1925)
- Merry Molly (1926)
- My Son John (1926)
- The Blue Mazurka (1926)
- Strained Relations (1926)
- Lady Mary (1928)
- By Candle Light (1928)
- The World's Workers (1928)
- Hunter's Moon (1929)
- Adams Apples (1930)
- The Good Companions (1931)
- Laiting in Waiting (1931)
- White Horse Inn (1931)
- The Land of Smiles (1931)
- Viktoria and her Hussar (1931)
- Casanova (1932)
- Rise and Shine (1932)
- Roulette (1932)
- Doctor Orders (1932)
- Happy Families (1934)
- A Group of Scottish Women (1908)
- The Mother of Parliaments (1910)
- Splendid Failures (1913)
- Lord Bellinger: An Autobiography (1911)
- The Complete Sportsman: Compiled from the Occasional Papers of Reginald Drake Biffin (1914)
- The Bolster Book: A Book for the Bedside (1910)
- Biffon and His Circle (1919)
- The Last of the Biffins (1925)
- The Biffin Papers (1933)
- The Private Life of Gregory Gorm (1936)
- Across Canada to the Klondyke. Ed. Frances Bowles (1984)
Plays:
Non-Fiction:
Fiction:
Journal:
"How pleasant ot know Mr.Lear!"
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few think him pleasant enough.
His mind is concrete and fastidious,
His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
His beard it resembles a wig.
He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,
Leastways if you reckon two thumbs;
Long ago he was one of the singers,
But now he is one of the dumbs.
He sits in a beautiful parlour,
With hundreds of books on the wall;
He drinks a great deal of Marsala,
But never gets tipsy at all.
He has many friends, lay men and clerical,
Old Foss is the name of his cat;
His body is perfectly spherical,
He weareth a runcible hat.
When he walks in waterproof white,
The children run after him so!
Calling out, "He's gone out in his night-
Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"
He weeps by the side of the ocean,
He weeps on the top of the hill;
He purchases pancakes and lotion,
And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
He reads, but he cannot speak, Spanish,
He cannot abide ginger beer:
Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,
How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!
- 'How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear' (1879)
Admirers of Edward Lear tend to see Carroll's work as mechanical and over-determined: a series of logically deducible outcomes from admittedly absurd premises. Lovers of Lewis Carroll tend to see Lear's work as repetitive and underwhelming in bulk, with only a few flashes of brilliance amidst all the self-pitying whimsy.
I was brought up on Lewis Carroll, and only started reading Edward Lear in later life. That certainly gave the former a headstart for me. Lear has grown on me over the years, though. There's a wildness and intensity to the best of his work which is not really to be found in Carroll.
As with all such "compare and contrast" exercises, though, the obvious conclusion is that it's great to have both. I do have preferences in all of the rivalries above, but much though I admire Tolstoy, Goethe, Dickens and Hemingway, I'd hate to have to give up reading any of the others. We all have moods in which only one writer will do - and it's often someone we haven't previously read much by.
Vivian Noakes' comprehensive 2001 collection The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense was a revelation to me. There's so much more to him than even Holbrook Jackson's Complete Nonsense (1947) led me to suspect. I continue to worship at the shrine of Lewis Carroll, aided considerably by the seemingly endless stream of biographies, commentaries and annotated editions, but Edward Lear has now grown in my imagination to almost equal status.
•
Bibliography
-
Nonsense:
- A Book of Nonsense (1846; rev. ed. 1855 & 1861)
- Bosh and Nonsense [illustrated ms.] (1864-65)
- Bosh and Nonsense. 1864-65. London: Allen Lane, 1982.
- History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipplepopple [illustrated ms.] (1865)
- Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871)
- Nonsense Songs and Stories. 1871. Introduction by Sir Edward Strachey. 1894. London: Chancellor Press, 1984.
- More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872)
- The Quangle-Wangle's Hat (1876)
- Laughable Lyrics: A Fresh Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, etc. (1877)
- Edward Lear's Nonsense Books (1888)
- Facsimile of "A Nonsense Alphabet". 1849 (1926)
- Edward Lear's Nonsense Omnibus (1943)
- The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. Ed. Holbrook Jackson (1947)
- The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear. Ed. Holbrook Jackson. 1947. London: Faber, 1987.
- Edward Lear's Complete Nonsense. Ed. Holbrook Jackson. 1947. Introduced by Quentin Blake. Illustrated by the Author and Hand-Coloured for This Edition. 1846, 1871, 1872, 1877, 1895. London: Folio Society, 1996.
- [with Ogden Nash] The Scroobious Pip: completed by Ogden Nash. Illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert (1968)
- The Dong with a Luminous Nose. Illustrated by Edward Gorey (1969)
- The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense. Ed. Vivian Noakes (2001)
- The Complete Nonsense and Other Verse. Ed. Vivian Noakes. 2001. Abridged ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2002.
- The Complete Nonsense and Other Verse. Ed. Vivian Noakes. 2001. Complete ed. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin, 2006.
- Journals of a Landscape Painter in Albania, etc. (1851)
- Edward Lear in Greece: Journals of a Landscape Painter in Greece and Albania. 1851. London: William Kimber, 1965.
- Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria, etc. (1852)
- Edward Lear in Southern Italy: Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria and the Kingdom of Naples. 1852. Introduction by Peter Quennell. London: William Kimber, 1964.
- Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica (1870)
- Edward Lear in Corsica: The Journal of a Landscape Painter. 1870. London: William Kimber, 1966.
- Edward Lear: The Corfu Years. A Chronicle Presented Through His Letters and Journals (1988)
- Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832)
- Views in Rome and its Environs (1841)
- Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall (1846)
- Illustrated Excursions in Italy (1846)
- Mount Timohorit, Albania (1848)
- Poems and Songs by Alfred Tennyson (1853, 1859, 1860)
- Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles (1872)
- Argos from Mycenae (1884)
- Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Illustrations by Edward Lear (1889)
- Edward Lear's Parrots. Ed. Brian Reade (1949)
- Edward Lear's Tennyson. Ed. Ruth Pitman (1988)
- Davidson, Angus. Edward Lear: Landscape Painter and Nonsense Poet, 1812-1888. 1938. Penguin Biography. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1950.
- Lehmann, John. Edward Lear and his World. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977.
- Uglow, Jenny. Mr Lear: A Life of Art and Nonsense. London: Faber, 2017.
Journals:
Illustrated Books:
Secondary:
'When I was young I used to hold
I'd run away to sea,
And be a Pirate brave and bold
On the coast of Caribbee.
'For I sez to meself, "I'll fill me hold
With Spanish silver and Spanish gold,
And out of every ship I sink
I'll collar the best of food and drink.
'"For Caribbee, or Barbaree,
Or the shores of South Amerikee
Are all the same to a Pirate bold,
Whose thoughts are fixed on Spanish gold."
'So one fine day I runs away
A Pirate for to be;
But I found there was never a Pirate left
On the coast of Caribbee.
'For Pirates go, but their next of kin
Are Merchant Captains, hard as sin,
And Merchant Mates as hard as nails
Aboard of every ship that sails.
'And I worked aloft and I worked below,
I worked wherever I had to go,
And the winds blew hard and the winds blew cold,
And I sez to meself as the ship she rolled,
'"O Caribbee! O Barbaree!
O shores of South Amerikee!
O, never go there: if the truth be told,
You'll get more kicks than Spanish gold."'
- 'Pirate Gold' (1918)
was an Australian artist, etcher, sculptor, writer, art critic, novelist, cartoonist and amateur boxer. One of the most prolific and popular Australian artists of his generation, Lindsay attracted both acclaim and controversy for his works, many of which infused the Australian landscape with erotic pagan elements and were deemed by his critics to be "anti-Christian, anti-social and degenerate"....
A vocal nationalist, he became a regular artist for The Bulletin at the height of its cultural influence, and advanced staunchly anti-modernist views as a leading writer on Australian art. When friend and literary critic Bertram Stevens argued that children like to read about fairies rather than food, Lindsay wrote and illustrated The Magic Pudding (1918), now considered a classic work of Australian children's literature.
•
Bibliography
-
Novels:
- A Curate in Bohemia (1913)
- Redheap (1930) [U.S.: "Every Mother's Son"]
- Miracles by Arrangement (1932) [U.S.: "Mr. Gresham and Olympus"]
- The Cautious Amorist (1932)
- Saturdee (1933)
- Pan in the Parlour (1933)
- Age of Consent (1938)
- The Cousin from Fiji (1945)
- Halfway to Anywhere (1947)
- Dust or Polish? (1950)
- Rooms and Houses (1968)
- The Magic Pudding (1918)
- The Magic Pudding: Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum with His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff. 1918. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1983.
- The Magic Pudding: The Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum. 1918. Afterword by Helen Glad. Angus & Robertson. Sydney: HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Limited, 2008.
- The Flyaway Highway (1936)
- The Flyaway Highway. 1936. Jilliby, Australia: Living Book Press, 2017.
-
Non-fiction:
- Creative Effort: An essay in affirmation (1924)
- Hyperborea: Two Fantastic Travel Essays (1928)
- Madam Life's Lovers: A Human Narrative Embodying a Philosophy of the Artist in Dialogue Form (1929)
- The scribblings of an idle mind (1956)
- Bohemians of the Bulletin (1965)
- My Mask: An Autobiography (1970)
- The Etchings of Norman Lindsay (1927)
- Norman Lindsay: Pencil Drawings (1969)
- Norman Lindsay's pen drawings (1974)
- Norman Lindsay's Cats (1975)
- Norman Lindsay's Cats: With an Additional Remembrance by Norman Lindsay. Introduction by Douglas Stewart. Melbourne & Sydney: The Macmillan Company of Australia Pty Ltd., 1975.
- John Hetherington. Writers and Their Work: Norman Lindsay (1962)
- Rose Lindsay. Model Wife: My Life with Norman Lindsay (1967)
- Jane Lindsay. A Portrait of Pa (1975)
- Douglas Stewart. Norman Lindsay: A Personal Memoir (1975)
Children's books:
Art:
Secondary:
Don Marquis:dear boss i dont see why you keep that ugly boston bull terrier pete hanging around eating his head off in these hard times he is nothing but a parasite and he has no morals he has tried several times to murder me archy When this ill-natured remark was read to Pete the Pup he ambled over to the typewriter, got up on his hind legs and pawed out the following reply: i coNSIder It beneath my Dignity to reply to The sLanders of a Jealous iNsect who does not have a pUnctuaTION mark in a baRRel of him he is MereLY an archy i am against anarchy I AM A CAPITALIST i wish to remind you however that ONE STORY WHICH YOU SOLD ABOUT ME BROUGHT IN ENOUGH MONEY TO FEED ME FOR FIVE YEARS AND I DENY THAT I AM A PARASITE moreover the time is coming when you have to choose between ME AND mehitabel that lousy cat and when i say LOusy i do not Mean the word in iTS sLang SENSE I mean Lousy in the sense of a CAT wHo has LICE pete the pup.- 'literary jealousy' (1936)
was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters Archy and Mehitabel, supposed authors of humorous verse. During his lifetime he was equally famous for creating another fictitious character, "the Old Soak," who was the subject of two books, a hit Broadway play (1922–23), a silent film (1926) and a talkie (1937)....
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- Dreams & Dust (1915)
- Noah an' Jonah an' Cap'n John Smith (1921)
- Poems and Portraits (1922)
- Sonnets to a Red-Haired Lady and Famous Love Affairs (1922)
- The Awakening (1924)
- archy and mehitabel (1927)
- Archy and Mehitabel. 1927. London: Faber, 1959.
- Archy and Mehitabel. 1927. Faber Paper Covered Editions. London: Faber, 1970.
- Love Sonnets of a Cave Man (1928)
- archys life of mehitabel (1933)
- Archy’s Life of Mehitabel. 1933. London: Faber, 1947.
- archy does his part (1935)
- Archy Does his Part. 1935. London: Faber, 1936.
- the lives and times of archy and mehitabel (1940)
- The Best of Don Marquis (1946)
- The Best of Don Marquis. Illustrated by George Herriman. Introduction by Christopher Morley. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1946.
- archyology. Ed. Jeff Adams. (1996)
- archyology ii. Ed. Jeff Adams. (1998)
- The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel. Ed. Michael Sims (2006)
- The Dark Hours (1924)
- Words and Thoughts (1924)
- Out of the Sea (1927)
- Master of the Revels (1934)
- Everything's Jake (1978)
- Danny's Own Story (1915)
- The Cruise of the Jasper B. (1916)
- Pandora Lifts the Lid (1924)
- Off the Arm (1930)
- Sons of the Puritans (1939)
- Hermione and Her Little Group of Serious Thinkers (1916)
- The Old Soak and Hail and Farewell (1921)
- Carter and Other People (1921)
- The Revolt of the Oyster (1922)
- When the Turtles Sing (1928)
- A Variety of People (1929)
- Chapters for the Orthodox (1934)
- Sun Dial Time (1936)
- Prefaces (1919)
- The Almost Perfect State (1927)
- Selected Letters of Don Marquis. Ed. William McCollum Jr. (1982)
Plays:
Novels:
Short Stories & Sketches:
Essays:
Letters:
Kingsley Amis, in his New Oxford Book of Light Verse (1978), comments about him:Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed, Droops on the little hands little gold head. Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers. God bless Mummy. I know that's right. Wasn't it fun in the bath to-night? The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot. Oh! God bless Daddy - I quite forgot. If I open my fingers a little bit more, I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door. It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood. Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good. Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed, And pull the hood right over my head, And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small, And nobody knows that I'm there at all. Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day. And what was the other I had to say? I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be? Oh! Now I remember it. God bless Me. Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed, Droops on the little hands little gold head. Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares! Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.- 'Vespers' (1923)
Auden said a good work in "Letter to Lord Byron" for A. A. Milne as a writer in the genre, though he was no more able than I to find a specimen worth anthologizing.Amis does, however, go on to quote approvingly from an essay of Milne's, which he calls "by far the best account of light verse I have come across":
Light verse obeys Coleridge's definition of poetry, the best words in the best order; ... it observes the most exact laws of rhythm and meter as if by a happy accident, and in a sort of nonchalant spirit of mockery at the real poets who do it on purpose.Milne goes on to distinguish "real" light verse from the "bastard poetry on a frivolous theme" sometimes produced by such poets at play. He cites as an example of the latter Cowper's "deplorable piece of doggerel, 'John Gilpin'."
I can see how fearfully witty this must have sounded to Milne and his friends - and, for that matter, Amis and his Movement buddies - but I fear that Milne's "improvement" on Cowper now sounds considerably more dated than the original. It has a distinct air of the roaring twenties about it - "what'll" rhyming with "bottle": what a scream!Of course Mrs. Gilpin quoth nothing of the sort. When recommending a wine, one advances something more in its favour than that it is "both bright and clear"; nor was it likely that Gilpin knew less about the wine in his cellar than his wife, and needed the information. What she really said (in prose) was: "A very good idea; and since all these inns, and I don't suppose the Bell is any exception, overcharge ridiculously, we'd better take our own wine with us." Cowper had to translate this into verse ... But it is not light verse. It is very heavy verse. We are told that Cowper "jotted it down during a sleepless night", 63 verses of it. It bears all the signs of having been jotted down.Quoth Mrs. Gilpin "That's well said; And for that wine is dear, We will be furnished with our own Which is both bright and clear."
I have now amused myself by making my own translation of Mrs. Gilpin's speech. Here it is. It has faults of its own, no doubt: an excess of frivolity, perhaps: but it obeys the rules. It is "light verse" in its own right; not merely light because the subject is light, or because I didn't work at it seriously.Said Mrs. Gilpin "Very well. But wait a moment! What'll They charge for claret at the Bell? We'd better take a bottle."
Cowper's stanza has the advantage of not really setting out to draw attention to itself, but instead trying to forward the narrative. Stylistically, it's an obvious parody of the ballad diction popular at the time as a result of such collections as Bishop Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) - "John Gilpin" was first published in 1782. Such locutions as "Which is both bright and clear" are (I imagine) meant to recall to us such lines as "The king sits in Dunfermline toune / drinking the blude reid wine" from the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens.
Milne certainly does have a valid point to make, though. Light verse is not failed poetry, but a form unto itself. Whether it's the natural idiom to which all poetry should eventually aspire, as Auden argues, or a kind of specialised parlour game, as Milne (and Amis) prefer to see it, is immaterial. It works or it doesn't - with the proviso that it tends to demand a very clear range of shared allusions and cultural information generally.
I've already quoted, at the head of this post, Ogden Nash's memorable skewering of the childish-prattle-dominated verses of A. A. Milne. "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" shows him in a rather different mood. It is, of course, satirical of the "all talk" ways of the other inhabitants of Belinda's house, but there's something so delightful about the whole story that one can't help being swept up by it. Later on Nash composed a sequel, "Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight", which makes much the same point at greater length. Both have been published as standalone children's books.Belinda lived in a little white house, With a little black kitten and a little grey mouse, And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon, And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon. Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink, And the little grey mouse, she called him Blink, And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard, But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard. Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth, And spikes on top of him and scales underneath, Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose, And realio, trulio daggers on his toes. Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears, And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs, Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage, But Custard cried for a nice safe cage. Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful, Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival, They all sat laughing in the little red wagon At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon. Belinda giggled till she shook the house, And Blink said Weeck! which is giggling for a mouse, Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age, When Custard cried for a nice safe cage. Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound, And Mustard growled, and they all looked around. Meowch! cried Ink, and ooh! cried Belinda, For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda. Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right, And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright, His beard was black, one leg was wood; It was clear that the pirate meant no good. Belinda paled, and she cried Help! Help! But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp, Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household, And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed. But up jumped Custard, snorting like an engine, Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon, With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm, He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm. The pirate gaped at Belinda’s dragon, And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon, He fired two bullets, but they didn’t hit, And Custard gobbled him, every bit. Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him, No one mourned for his pirate victim. Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate Around the dragon that ate the pirate. But presently up spoke little dog Mustard, I’d have been twice as brave if I hadn’t been flustered. And up spoke Ink and up spoke Blink, We’d have been three times as brave, we think, And Custard said, I quite agree That everybody is braver than me. Belinda still lives in her little white house, With her little black kitten and her little grey mouse, And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon, And her realio, trulio little pet dragon. Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears, And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs, Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage, But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.- 'The Tale of Custard the Dragon' (1936)
Nash's early life was not paricularly auspicious. Wikipedia records that:
After graduating from St. George's School in Newport County, Rhode Island, Nash entered Harvard University in 1920, only to drop out a year later.The rest is history. He published his first book of light verse in 1931, and continued to write in that form for the rest of his life.
He taught at St. George's for one year and then returned to New York. There, he took up selling bonds about which Nash reportedly quipped, "Came to New York to make my fortune as a bond salesman and in two years sold one bond — to my godmother. However, I saw lots of good movies." Nash then took a position as a writer of the streetcar card ads for Barron Collier, a company that had employed F. Scott Fitzgerald, another resident of Baltimore ... While working as an editor at Doubleday, he submitted some short rhymes to The New Yorker. The editor Harold Ross wrote Nash to ask for more: "They are about the most original stuff we have had lately." Nash spent three months in 1931 working on the editorial staff for The New Yorker.
He is, I guess, most famous for the outrageous character of some of his rhymes: "A girl who's bespectacled / May not get her nectacled", for example - or "There goes the Wapiti / Hippety-hoppity!" They can be a little irritating en masse, so he was careful not to overdo it. At his best, he's quite inimitable.
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- Hard Lines (1931)
- Free Wheeling (1931)
- Happy Days (1933)
- Four Prominent So and So's (1934)
- The Primrose Path (1935)
- The Bad Parent's Garden of Verse (1936)
- I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1938)
- The Face Is Familiar (1940)
- Good Intentions (1942)
- Many Long Years Ago: Selected Verse (1945)
- Versus (1949)
- Family Reunion: Selected Verse (1950)
- The Private Dining Room (1953)
- You Can't Get There from Here (1957)
- Verses from 1929 on (1959)
- Collected Verse from 1929 on (1961)
- Collected Verse from 1929 on. 1961. London: J. M. Dent, 1972.
- Everyone but Thee and Me (1962)
- Marriage Lines: Notes of a Student Husband (1964)
- Santa Go Home: A Case History for Parents (1967)
- There's Always Another Windmill (1968)
- Bed Riddance: A Posy for the Indisposed (1969)
- The Old Dog Barks Backwards (1972)
- Ave Ogden: Nash in Latin. Trans. James C. Gleeson & Brian N. Meyer (1973)
- I Wouldn't Have Missed It: Selected Poems. Ed. Linell Smith & Isabel Eberstadt (1975)
- I Wouldn't Have Missed It: Selected Poems. Ed. Linell Nash Smith & Isabel Nash Eberstadt. Introduction by Archibald MacLeish. Boston & Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1975.
- Pocket Book of Ogden Nash (1990)
- Candy Is Dandy: The Best of Ogden Nash. Ed. Linell Smith & Isabel Eberstadt. Introduction by Anthony Burgess (1994)
- Selected Poetry of Ogden Nash (1995)
- [with Joseph Alger] The Cricket of Carador. Illustrated by Christopher Rule (1925)
- Musical Zoo. Tunes by Vernon Duke (1947)
- Parents Keep Out: Elderly Poems for Youngerly Readers (1951)
- The Christmas that Almost Wasn't. Illustrated by Linell Smith (1957)
- Custard the Dragon. Illustrated by Linell Smith (1959)
- A Boy is a Boy: The Fun of Being a Boy (1960)
- Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight (1961)
- The New Nutcracker Suite and Other Innocent Verses (1962)
- Girls are Silly (1962)
- A Boy and His Room (1963)
- The Adventures of Isabel (1963)
- The Untold Adventures of Santa Claus (1964)
- The Animal Garden (1965)
- The Cruise of the Aardvark (1967)
- The Mysterious Ouphe (1967)
- [with Edward Lear] The Scroobious Pip: completed by Ogden Nash. Illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert (1968)
- Custard and Company (1980)
- Ogden Nash's Zoo. Illustrated by Étienne Delessert (1986)
- The Tale of Custard the Dragon. Illustrated by Lynn M. Munsinger (1998)
- Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight. Illustrated by Lynn M. Munsinger (1999)
- [with S. J. Perelman] One Touch of Venus (1944)
- Nothing but Wodehouse (1932)
- The Moon is Shining Bright as Day: An Anthology of Good-Humored Verse (1953)
- I Couldn't Help Laughing: Stories Selected and Introduced (1957)
- Everybody Ought to Know: Verses Selected and Introduced (1961)
- Douglas M. Parker. Ogden Nash: the Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse (2005)
Children's Books:
Drama:
Edited:
Secondary:
Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild):Razors pain you; Rivers are damp; Acids stain you; And drugs cause cramp. Guns aren’t lawful; Nooses give; Gas smells awful; You might as well live.- 'Resumé' (1926)
was an American poet, literary critic and writer of fiction, plays and screenplays based in New York; she was known for her caustic wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles....
•
Bibliography
-
Poetry:
- Enough Rope (1926)
- Sunset Gun (1928)
- Death and Taxes (1931)
- Not So Deep as a Well: Collected Poems by Dorothy Parker (1936)
- Not So Deep as a Well: The Collected Poems of Dorothy Parker. Decorated by Valenti Angelo. 1936. New York: The Viking Press, 1938.
- Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker [UK: "The Uncollected Dorothy Parker"] (1996)
- Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker. Ed. Stuart Y. Silverstein. Scribner. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996.
- Complete Poems. Ed. Colleen Breese (1999)
- Laments for the Living (1930) [1930]
- After Such Pleasures (1933) [1933]
- Here Lies: The Collected Stories of Dorothy Parker (1939) [1939]
- Here Lies: The Collected Stories of Dorothy Parker. 1939. Auckland: Penguin, 1944.
- The Portable Dorothy Parker (1944) [1944]
- The Portable Dorothy Parker [revised & enlarged edition] (1973) [1973]
- The Penguin Dorothy Parker. 1944. Rev. ed. Introduction by Brendan Gill. 1973. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
- Complete Stories. Ed. Colleen Breese (1995) [1995]
- The Sexes [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Mr. Durant [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Just a Little One [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- New York to Detroit [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Wonderful Old Gentleman [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Mantle of Whistler [1930] [1995]
- A Telephone Call [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- You Were Perfectly Fine [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Little Curtis [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Last Tea [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Big Blonde [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Arrangement in Black and White [1930] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Dialogue at Three in the Morning [1930] [1995]
- Horsie [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Here We Are [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Too Bad [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- From the Diary of a New York Lady [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Waltz [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Dusk Before Fireworks [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Little Hours [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Sentiment [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- A Young Woman in Green Lace [1933] [1995]
- Lady With a Lamp [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Glory in the Daytime [1933] [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Clothe the Naked [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Soldiers of the Republic [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Custard Heart [1939] [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Lovely Leave [1944] [1973] [1995]
- The Standard of Living [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Song of the Shirt, 1941 [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Mrs. Hofstadter on Josephine Street [1944] [1973] [1995]
- Cousin Larry [1944] [1973] [1995]
- I Live on Your Visits [1973] [1995]
- Lolita [1973] [1995]
- Bolt Behind the Blue [1973] [1995]
- Such a Pretty Little Picture [1995]
- A Certain Lady [1995]
- Oh! He's Charming! [1995]
- Travelogue [1995]
- A Terrible Day Tomorrow [1995]
- The Garter [1995]
- The Cradle of Civilization [1995]
- But the One on the Right [1995]
- Advice to the Little Peyton Girl [1995]
- Mrs. Carrington and Mrs. Crane [1995]
- The Road Home [1995]
- The Game [1995]
- The Banquet of Crow [1995]
- Constant Reader (1970)
- Constant Reader: The New Yorker Columns 1927–28 (2024)
- Complete Broadway, 1918–1923. Ed. Kevin C. Fitzpatrick (2014)
- [with Elmer Rice] Close Harmony (1929)
- [with Ross Evans] The Coast of Illyria (1949)
- [with Arnaud D'Usseau] Ladies of the Corridor (1953)
- [with Alan Campbell, Horace Jackson & Lenore J. Coffee] Suzy [based on a novel by Herman Gorman] (1936)
- [with William A. Wellman, Robert Carson & Alan Campbell] A Star is Born (1937)
- [with Alan Campbell, Laura Perelman & S.J. Perelman] Sweethearts (1938)
- [with Alan Campbell & Frank R. Adams] Trade Winds [story by Tay Garnett] (1938)
- [with Alan Campbell] Week-End for Three [story by Budd Schulberg] (1941)
- [with Peter Viertel & Joan Harrison] Saboteur ( (1942)
- [with Frank Cavett, John Howard Lawson & Lionel Wiggam] Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947)
- [with Walter Reisch & Ross Evans] The Fan [based on "Lady Windermere's Fan" by Oscar Wilde] (1949)
- Keats, John. You Might As Well Live: The Life and Times of Dorothy Parker. 1970. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
- Meade, Marion. Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? (1987)
- Calhoun, Randall. Dorothy Parker: A Bio-Bibliography (1993)
- Fitzpatrick, Kevin C. A Journey Into Dorothy Parker's New York (2005)
- Crowther, Gail. Dorothy Parker in Hollywood (2024)
Short story collections:
Stories:
Journalism:
Plays:
Screenplays:
Secondary:
Mervyn Peake as "one of the most versatile authors of the 20th century": "an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist." The entry goes on to specify that:She stared at him as hard as she Could stare, but not a single blush Suffused his face like dawn at sea Or roses in a bush - For crocodiles are very slow At taking hints because their hide's So thick it never feels de trop, And tender like a bride's.- 'Crocodiles' (1972)
was a British writer, artist, poet, and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. The four works were part of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle, the completion of which was prevented by his death ......
Peake also wrote poetry and literary nonsense in verse form, short stories for adults and children (Letters from a Lost Uncle, 1948), stage and radio plays, and Mr Pye (1953), a relatively tightly structured novel in which God implicitly mocks the evangelical pretensions and cosy world-view of the eponymous hero.
Peake first made his reputation as a painter and illustrator during the 1930s and 1940s, when he lived in London, and he was commissioned to produce portraits of well-known people. For a short time at the end of World War II he was commissioned by various newspapers to depict war scenes.
Cole Porter:As Dorothy Parker once said to her boyfriend, "Fare thee well," As Columbus announced when he knew he was bounced, "It was swell, Isabelle, swell," As Abelard said to Heloise, "Don't forget to drop a line to me, please," As Juliet cried in her Romeo's ear, "Romeo, why not face the fact, my dear?" It was just one of those things, Just one of those crazy flings, One of those bells that now and then rings, Just one of those things. It was just one of those nights, Just one of those fabulous flights, A trip to the moon on gossamer wings, Just one of those things. If we'd though a bit Of the end of it, When we started painting the town, We'd have been aware That our love affair Was too hot not to cool down. So goodbye, dear, and amen. Here's hoping we meet now and then, It was great fun, But it was just one of those things.- 'Just One of Those Things' (1935)
was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in Hollywood films....
Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs.
After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate. It won the first Tony Award for Best Musical.
•
Bibliography
-
Lyrics:
- Music & Lyrics by Cole Porter: A Treasury of Cole Porter. Ed. Lee Snider. Introduction by Robert Kimball (1972)
- The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter. Ed. Robert Kimball (1992)
- Selected Lyrics. Ed. Robert Kimball (1992)
- Selected Lyrics. Ed. Robert Kimball. American Poets Project. The Library of America. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2006.
- The Letters of Cole Porter (2019)
- Ewen, David. The Cole Porter Story (1965)
- Hubler, Richard G. The Cole Porter Story (1965)
- Eells, George. The Life That Late He Led: A Biography of Cole Porter (1967)
- Porter, Cole, Robert Kimball & Brendan Gill. Cole (1971)
- Schwartz, Charles. Cole Porter: A Biography (1977)
- Grafton, David. Red, Hot & Rich: An Oral History of Cole Porter (1987)
- Howard, Jean. Travels With Cole Porter (1991)
- Bowers, Dwight Blocker. From This Moment On: The Songs of Cole Porter (1992)
- Kimball, Robert. Cole Porter
- You're the Top: Cole Porter in the 1930s (1992)
- You're Sensational: Cole Porter in the '20s, '40s, & '50s (1999)
- Morella, Joseph & George Mazzei. Genius and Lust: The Creativity and Sexuality of Cole Porter and Noel Coward (1995)
- Rimler, Walter. A Cole Porter Discography (1995)
- McBrien, William (1998). Cole Porter: A Biography (1998)
- McAuliffe, Mary. When Paris Sizzled: The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends (2016)
- A Cole Porter Companion. Ed. Don M. Randel, Matthew Shaftel, & Susan Forscher Weiss (2016)
Letters:
Secondary:
Theodor Seuss Geisel:Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave? Well, she did. And that wasn't a smart thing to do. You see, when she wants one and calls out, "Yoo-Hoo! Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one. All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run! This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves' As you can imagine, with so many Daves. And often she wishes that, when they were born, She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm. And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim. And one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey. And one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey. Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face. Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face. And one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff. One Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff. And one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed. And one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed. And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate ... But she didn’t do it. And now it’s too late.- 'Too Many Daves' (1953)
was an American children's author, illustrator, animator, and cartoonist. He is known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death....
Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Lincoln College, Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications. He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, including for FLIT and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM. He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. During World War II, he took a brief hiatus from children's literature to illustrate political cartoons, and he worked in the animation and film department of the United States Army.
•
Bibliography
-
Illustrated Books:
- The Pocket Book of Boners (1931)
- And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937)
- The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (1938)
- The King's Stilts (1939)
- The Seven Lady Godivas (1939)
- Horton Hatches the Egg (1940)
- Included in: A Double Dose of Horton: Horton Hears a Who! & Horton Hatches the Egg. 1954 & 1940. London: HarperCollins, 2008.
- McElligot's Pool (1947)
- Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose (1948)
- Included in: Dr. Seuss’s Clever Creatures: Horton Hears a Who! Yertle the Turtle and Other Creatures & Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. 1954, 1958 & 1948. London: HarperCollins, 2008.
- Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949)
- If I Ran the Zoo (1950)
- Gerald McBoing-Boing (1952)
- Scrambled Eggs Super! (1953)
- Horton Hears a Who! (1954)
- Included in: A Double Dose of Horton: Horton Hears a Who! & Horton Hatches the Egg. 1954 & 1940. London: HarperCollins, 2008.
- Included in: Dr. Seuss’s Clever Creatures: Horton Hears a Who! Yertle the Turtle and Other Creatures & Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. 1954, 1958 & 1948. London: HarperCollins, 2008.
- On Beyond Zebra! (1955)
- If I Ran the Circus (1956)
- The Cat in the Hat (1957)
- The Cat in the Hat: English-Maori Edition. 1957. Trans. Hirini Melbourne. Auckland: William Collins Publishers Ltd., 1983.
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957)
- Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories (1958)
- Yertle the Turtle
- Gertrude McFuzz
- The Big Brag:
- Included in: Dr. Seuss’s Clever Creatures: Horton Hears a Who! Yertle the Turtle and Other Creatures & Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose. 1954, 1958 & 1948. London: HarperCollins, 2008.
- The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (1958)
- Happy Birthday to You! (1959)
- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (1960)
- Green Eggs and Ham (1960)
- Green Eggs and Ham. 1960. Beginner Books. London: Collins and Harvill, 1962.
- The Sneetches and Other Stories (1961)
- The Sneetches
- The Zax
- Too Many Daves
- What Was I Scared Of?
- Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book (1962)
- Dr. Seuss's ABC (1963)
- Dr Seuss’s ABC. 1963. Beginner Books. London: Collins, 1964.
- Hop on Pop (1963)
- The Cat in the Hat Beginner Book Dictionary (1964)
- Fox in Socks (1965)
- I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew (1965)
- The Cat in the Hat Song Book (1967)
- The Foot Book (1968)
- I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories (1969)
- My Book about ME (1969)
- I Can Draw It Myself (1970 )
- Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? (1970)
- The Lorax (1971)
- The Lorax. 1971. London: HarperCollins, 2009.
- Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! (1972)
- Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? (1973)
- The Shape of Me and Other Stuff (1973)
- There's a Wocket in My Pocket (1974)
- Great Day for Up! (1974)
- Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! (1975)
- The Cat's Quizzer (1976)
- I Can Read with My Eyes Shut! (1978)
- Oh Say Can You Say? (1979)
- Hunches in Bunches (1982 )
- The Butter Battle Book (1984)
- You're Only Old Once! (1986)
- I Am Not Going to Get Up Today! (1987)
- The Tough Coughs as He Ploughs the Dough. Ed. Richard Marschall (1987)
- Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
- Oh, The Places you’ll Go! 1990. London: HarperCollins, 2003.
- Daisy-Head Mayzie (1995)
- Dr. Seuss's ABC (1996)
- My Many Colored Days. Book paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (1996)
- The Big Green Book of Beginner Books (1997)
- Oh, Baby, the Places You'll Go! (1997)
- What Pet Should I Get? (1997)
- Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! (1998)
- Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! With some Help from Jack Prelutsky & Lane Smith. 1998. London: HarperCollins, 2001.
- Your Favorite Seuss (2004)
- The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories. Introduction by Charles D. Cohen (2011)
- The Bippolo Seed
- The Rabbit, The Bear, and the Zinniga-Zanniga
- Gustav, the Goldfish
- Tadd and Todd
- Steak for Supper
- The Strange Shirt Spot
- The Great Henry McBride
- My Big Book of Beginner Books about Me (2011)
- Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories. Introduction by Charles D. Cohen (2014)
- Horton and the Kwuggerbug (1951)
- Marco Comes Late (1950)
- How Officer Pat Saved the Whole Town (1950)
- The Hoobub and the Grinch 1955)
- Just What the Doctor Disordered: Early Writings and Cartoons of Dr. Seuss. Ed. Richard Marschall (2012)
- The Big Orange Book of Beginner Books (2015)
- What Pet Should I Get? (2015)
- The Big Aqua Book of Beginner Books (2017)
- Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals (2018)
- Dr. Seuss's Book of Colors (2018)
- Dr. Seuss's 123 (2019)
- Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner (2019)
- The Big Violet Book of Beginner Books (2023 )
- Dr. Seuss's If You Think There's Nothing to Do (2024)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Ten Apples Up On Top!. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1961)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] I Wish That I Had Duck Feet. Illustrated by B Tobey (1965)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Come over to My House. Illustrated by Richard Erdoes (1966)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] The Eye Book. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1968)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] I Can Write! A Book by Me, Myself. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1971)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] In a People House. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1972)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Wacky Wednesday. Illustrated by George Booth (1974)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] The Many Mice of Mr. Brice [aka "The Pop-Up Mice of Mr. Brice"]. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1974)
- [as Rosetta Stone] Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo!!. Illustrated by Michael K. Frith (1975)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Would You Rather Be a Bullfrog?. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1975)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Hooper Humperdink...? Not Him!. Illustrated by Charles E. Martin (1976)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Please Try to Remember the First of Octember!. Illustrated by Art Cummings (1977)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] Maybe You Should Fly a Jet! Maybe You Should Be a Vet!. Illustrated by Michael J. Smollin (1980)
- [as Theo. LeSieg] The Tooth Book. Illustrated by Roy McKie (1981)
- 'Neath the Bababa Tree (1931)
- Put on the Spout (1931)
- Private Snafu [series] (June 28, 1943–1946)
- Your Job in Germany (1945)
- Our Job in Japan (1945)
- Design for Death (1947)
- The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953)
- Jones, Brian Jay. Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodore Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination. 2019. Dutton. New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2020.
Pseudonymous:
Film scripts:
Secondary:
When cares attack and life seems black,
How sweet it is to pot a yak,
Or puncture hares and grizzly bears,
And others I could mention;
But in my Animals "Who's Who"
No name stands higher than the Gnu;
And each new gnu that comes in view
Receives my prompt attention.
When Afric's sun is sinking low,
And shadows wander to and fro,
And everywhere there's in the air
A hush that's deep and solemn;
Then is the time good men and true
With View Halloo pursue the gnu;
(The safest spot to put your shot
is through the spinal column).
To take the creature by surprise
We must adopt some rude disguise,
Although deceit is never sweet,
And falsehoods don't attract us;
So, as with gun in hand you wait,
Remember to impersonate
A tuft of grass, a mountain-pass,
A kopje or a cactus.
A brief suspense, and then at last
The waiting's o'er, the vigil past;
A careful aim. A spurt of flame.
It's done. You've pulled the trigger,
And one more gnu, so fair and frail,
Has handed in its dinner-pail;
(The females all are rather small,
The males are somewhat bigger).
- P. G. Wodehouse, 'Good Gnu (A Vignette in Verse)'
Well, Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern have done it again. Every time these three gather together, the Princess Theatre is sold out for months in advance. You can get a seat for Oh, Lady! Lady!! somewhere around the middle of August for just about the price of one on the stock exchange ... Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern are my favorite indoor sport. I like the way they go about a musical comedy. ... I like the way the action slides casually into the songs. ... I like the deft rhyming of the song that is always sung in the last act by two comedians and a comedienne. And oh, how I do like Jerome Kern's music. And all these things are even more so in Oh, Lady! Lady!! than they were in Oh, Boy!.One of their anonymous admirers put it rather more simply:
This is the trio of musical fame,As the times moved on, and new voices such as George and Ira Gershwin - and, a bit later, Cole Porter himself - began to come to prominence, this line started to dry up for Wodehouse. He never lost his taste for a well-turned lyric, though. The best of his efforts in the medium are collected in the volume below:
Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern.
Better than anyone else you can name
Bolton and Wodehouse and Kern.
- Amis, Kingsley, ed. The New Oxford Book of Light Verse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978.
- Auden, W. H. & John Garrett, ed. The Poet’s Tongue: An Anthology. 1935. London: Bell, 1952.
- Auden, W. H., ed. The Oxford Book of Light Verse. 1938. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
- Baring-Gould, William S. The Lure of the Limerick: An Uninhibited History. 1967. London: Granada, 1983.
- Bentley, E. Clerihew. The Complete Clerihews. 1905, 1929, 1939. Illustrated by Nicolas Bentley, G. K. Chesterton, Victor Reinganum & the Author. Introduction by Gavin Ewart. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981.
- Blishen, Edward, ed. Oxford Book of Poetry for Children. Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith. London: Oxford University Press, 1963.
- de la Mare, Walter, ed. Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of All Ages. 1923. New edition. 1928. London: Constable and Co. Ltd., 1943.
- de la Mare, Walter, ed. Tom Tiddler’s Ground: A Book of Poetry for Children. 1931. Foreword by Leonard Clark. Illustrated by Margery Gill. 1961. London: The Bodley Head, 1975.
- Heaney, Seamus, & Ted Hughes, ed. The Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry. 1982. London: Faber, 1985.
- Heaney, Seamus, & Ted Hughes, ed. The School Bag. London: Faber, 1997.
- Holbrook, David, ed. Iron / Honey / Gold: The Uses of Verse. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.
- Hugill, Stan, ed. Shanties from the Seven Seas: Shipboard Work-Songs and Songs Used as Work-Songs from the Great Days of Sail. 1961. London & Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1979.
- MacDonald, Dwight, ed. Parodies: An Anthology from Chaucer to Beerbohm – and After. 1960. London: Faber, 1964.
- Malcolm, Noel. The Origins of English Nonsense. 1997. Fontana Press. London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild’s Pocket Book. 1947. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak. London: Walker Books, 1992.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. 1951. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book. Illustrations by Joan Hassall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes. 1963. A Puffin Book. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. The Oxford Book of Children’s Verse. 1973. London: Book Club Associates, 1978.
- Opie, Iona & Peter, ed. The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse. 1983. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
- Opie, Iona. Tail Feathers from Mother Goose: The Opie Rhyme Book. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak et al. London: Walker Books Ltd., 1988.
- Philip, Neil, ed. The New Oxford Book of Children's Verse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
- Smith, Janet Adam, ed. The Faber Book of Children’s Verse. 1953. London: Faber, 1968.
- Stodart-Walker, A., ed. The Moxford Book of English Verse: 1340-1913. London: Everleigh Nash, 1913.
- Wyndham Lewis, D. B., & Charles Lee, ed. The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse. Everyman’s Library, 186. 1930. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. / New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. Inc., 1978.
- Zaranka, William, ed. Brand-X Poetry: A Parody Anthology. 1981. London: Picador, 1984.
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- category - English Poetry (since 1900): Authors
•
