Harmon, William (ed);
The Oxford book of American light verse
Oxford University Press, 179, 540 pages
ISBN 0195025091, 9780195025095
topics: | poetry | humour
The axolotl Looks a littl Like the ozelotl, Itl "Drink a greatl More than whatl Fill the fatl Whiskey bottl. "The food it eatsl Be no morsl: Only meatsl Drive its dorsl. "Such an awfl Fish to kettl!" "You said a mawfl Pop'epetl!"
I know a little man both ept and ert. An intro-? extro-? No, he's just a vert. Sheveled and couth and kempt, pecunious, ane, His image trudes upon the ceptive brain. When life turns sipid and the mind is fraught, The spirit soars as I would sist it ought. Chalantly then, like any gainly goof, My digent self is sertive, choate, loof.
By and by God caught his eye.
Charles Follen Adams, 1842-1918 John Barley-corn, My Foe, John Misplaced Sympathy My Infundibuliform Hat Repartee To Barry Jade Franklin Pierce Adams (F.P.A.), 1881-1960 Composed In The Composing Room The Double Standard If - The Rich Man Where Beauty Lingers John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848 The Wants Of Man George Ade, 1866-1944 Il Janitoro The Microbe's Serenade R-e-m-o-r-s-e Conrad Aiken, 1889-1973 Animula Vagula Blandula Obitaury In Bitcherel Sighed A Dear Little Shipboard Divinity There Was Once A Wicked Young Minister Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 1836-1907 At A Reading Fannie Archie Randolph Ammons, 1926-2001 Auto Mobile Chasm Cleavage Coward First Carolina Said-song Needs Second Carolina Said-song George Arnold, 1834-1865 Beer Wystan Hugh Auden, 1907-1973 The Aesthetic Point Of View Henry Adams T.s. Eliot Joel Barlow, 1754-1812 Canto: 1 Canto: 3. The Pudding Prepared And Eaten John Barth, b.193O The Minstrel's Last Lay (from 'annonymiad') Michael Benedikt, b.1935 Fate In Incognito Stephen Vincent Benet, 1898-943 American Names Hymn In Columbus Circle A Nonsense Song John Berryman, 1914-1972 American Lights, Seen From Off Abroad The Dream Songs: 4 Helen Smith Bevington, 1906-2001 Mr. Rockefeller's Hat Mrs. Trollope In America Penguins In The Home Ambrose Bierce, 1842-1914 Body-snatcher Corporal Egotist Elegy Lead Nose Orthography Prospect Safety-clutch Morris Gilbert Bishop, 1893-1973 Bishop Orders His Tomb In St. Praxed's Gas And Hot Air How To Treat Elves Who'd Be A Hero (fictional)? Roy Blount, Jr., b.1941 For The Record Gryll's State Song Against Broccoli Maxwell Bodenheim, 1893-1954 Upper Family Fred Emerson Brooks, 1850-1923 Barnyard Melodies Foreigners At The Fair Henry Cuyler Bunner, 1855-1896 'home, Sweet Home' With Variations Poetry And The Poet Robert Jones Burdette, 1844-1914 Orphan Born 'soldier, Rest!' Frank Gelett Burgess, 1866-1951 Cinq Ans Apres The Purple Cow Kenneth Burke, 1897-1993 Civil Defense Frigate Jones, The Pussyfooter Know Thyself Nursery Rhyme Samuel C. Bushnell, 1852-193O Boston William Allen Butler, 1825-1902 Miss Flora Mcflimsey, Of Madison Square Hughie Cannon, 1877-1912 Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home? Bliss Carman, 1861-1929 A More Ancient Mariner Charles Edward Carryl, 1841-192O A Nautical Ballad Guy Wetmore Carryl, 1873-1904 The Domineering Eagle And The Inventive Bratling How Girl Was Too Reckless Of Grammar Phoebe Cary, 1824-1871 The Day Is Done Jacob Samuel Brown Thomas Holley Chivers, 1809-1858 Lily Adair The Moon Of Mobile John Ciardi, b.1916 Ballad Of The Icondic Dawn Of The Space Age Goodnight On Evolution To A Reviewer Who Admired My Book Charles Heber Clark ("Max Adeler"), 1841-1915 Mr. Slimmer's Funeral Verses ...: Alexander Mcglue Mr. Slimmer's Funeral Verses ...: Johnny Smith Mr. Slimmer's Funeral Verses ...: Mrs. Macfadden Obituary Samuel Langhorne Clemens ("MARK TWAIN"), 1835-1910 The Aged Pilot Man Emmeline Grangerford's 'ode To Stephen Dolwing Bots, Dec'd' Imitation Of Julia A. Moore J. Gordon Coogler, 1865-19O1 Alas! Carolina! Alas! For The South! Byron In Memorial A Mustacheless Bard A Pretty Girl To Amy Gregory Corso, b . 193O Marriage Stephen Crane, 1871-19OO Tell Me Not In Joyous Numbers War Is Kind: 21 Robert Creeley, b.1926 Ballad Of The Despairing Husband The Man She Went To Stay Countee Cullen, 1903-1946 For A Lady I Know For A Mouthy Woman Edward Estlin Cummings, 1894-1962 1x1 (one Times One): 10 50 Poems: 6 New Poems: 6 One: 20 Poem, Or Beauty Hurts Mr. Vinal Sonnet - Realities: 1 Two: 10 Xaipe: 47 James Vincent Cunningham, 1911–1985 Doctor Drink: 3 Doctor Drink: 4. Epitaph For Someone Or Other Epigram: 2 Epigram: 5 Epigram: 9 Thomas Augustine Daly, 1871-1948 Pennsylvania Places Peter De Vries, 1910-1993 Beth Appleyard's Verses: Bacchanal Beth Appleyard's Verses: Loveliest Of Pies Beth Appleyard's Verses: Psychiatrist Reuel Denney, b.1915 Fixer Of Midnight Emily Dickinson, 183O-1886 His Mansion In The Pool In The Garden (1) The Railway Train Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge, 1831–1905 The Zealless Xylographer Alan Dugan, b.1923 On A Seven-day Diary Richard Ghormley Eberhart, 1904–2005 I Went To See Irving Babbitt Thomas Stearns Eliot, 1888-1965 Aunt Helen Cousin Nancy Lines For Cuscuscaraway And Mirza Murad Ali Beg Lines To Ralph Hodgson, Esqre. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882 Fable: The Mountain And The Squirrel Prudence Solution The Test Anthony Euwer, 1877-1955 The Face The True Facts Of The Case Lawrence Ferlinghetti, b.1919 Underwear Eugene Field, 1850-1895 The Duel Little Boy Blue The Little Peach Wynken, Blynken And Nod James Thomas Fields, 1817-1881 Jupiter And Ten The Owl Critic Richard Harter Fogle, b.1911 A Hawthorn Garland; Scarlet Letter Sam Walter Foss, 1 8 5 8 - l OH Husband And Heathen A Philosopher Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864 Gwine To Run All Night; or, De Camptown Races p.104 Oh! Susanna! Robert Frost, 1874-1963 A Considerable Speck Departmental For Travelers Going Sidereal The Hardship Of Accounting Pride Of Ancestry The Rose Family Hamlin Garland, 1860-1940 Goin' Back T'morrer; In The City Ira Gershwin, b.1896 Blah, Blah, Blah It Ain't Necessarily So Allen Ginsberg, b.1926 Bop Lyrics (1) Bop Lyrics (2) Bop Lyrics (3) Bop Lyrics (4) Bop Lyrics (5) Bop Lyrics (6) Yolande Cornelia (Nikki) Giovanni, b.1943 Master Charge Blues Poem For Unwed Mothers Edward Gorey, b.1925 The Babe, With A Cry Brief And Dismal From The Bathing Machine Came A Din A Lady Who Signs Herself 'vexed' Some Harvard Men, Stalwart And Hairy There Was A Young Woman Named Plunnery Edgar Albert Guest, 1881-1959 Home (2) Lemon Pie Sausage Arthur Guiterman, 1871-1943 Brief Essay On Man Everything In Its Place Heredity Song Of Hate For Eels Donald Hall, b.1928 Breasts Professor Gratt To A Waterfowl Fitz-greene Halleck, 179O-1867 Fanny: 137 Fanny: 138 Fanny: 46 Fanny: 47 Fanny: 48 Fanny: 49 Fanny: 50 Fanny: 51 Fanny: 52 Fanny: 53 Fanny: 54 Fanny: 55 Fanny: 56 Fanny: 57 Fanny: 58 Fanny: 59 Fanny: 60 Fanny: 61 Fanny: 62 Fanny: 63 Fanny: 64 Fanny: 65 Fanny: 66 Fanny: 67 Fanny: 68 Song Oscar Hammerstein 11, 1895-1960 Kansas City Money Isn't Everything There's Nothin' Like A Dame William Harmon, b.1938 Bureaucratic Limerick Ben Harney, 1872-1938 Mister Johnson You've Been A Good Old Wagon, But You've Done Broke Down Lorenz Milton Hart, 1895-1943 The Blue Room The Lady Is A Tramp Manhattan The Most Beautiful Girl In The World Mountain Greenery Francis Bret Harte, 1836-1902 Colenso Rhymes For Orthodox Children Plain Language From Truthful James Schemmelfennig The Society Upon The Stanislaus John Milton Hay, 1838-1905 The Pledge At Spunky Point Good And Bad Luck (after Heinrich Heine) Anthony Hecht, b.1923 The Dover Bitch; A Criticism Of Life Firmness From The Grove Press Improvisations On Aesop Vice Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961 The Ernest Liberal's Lament Neo-thomist Poem Valentine; For Lee Wilson Dodd And Any Of His Friends Oliver Brook Herford, 1863-1935 Eve (2) Robert Silliman Hillyer, 1895-1961 Moo! George Parks Hitchcock, b.1914 Three Found Poems: 1. Distinquishing Rhu From Chu Three Found Poems: 2. The Call Of The Eastern Quail Three Found Poems: 3. What To Say To The Pasha Samuel Hoffenstein, 189O-1947 Love-songs, At Once Tender And Informative John Hollander, b.1929 Appearance And Reality Heliogabalus Historical Reflections Last Words No Foundation To The Lady Portrayed By Margaret Dumont Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1899 Aestivation The Deacon's Masterpiece The Height Of The Ridiculous Ode For A Social Meeting A Sea Dialogue Francis Hopkinson, 1737-1791 The Battle Of The Kegs George Moses Horton, ?1797-?1883 New Fashions Snaps For Dinner, Snaps For Breakfast, And Snaps For Supper Richard Hovey, 1864-19OO Barney Mcgee Eleazar Wheelock James Langston Hughes, 1902-1967 Bad Morning Ennui Hope Little Lyric (of Great Importance) Situation Wake What? Wallace Irwin, 1876-1959 The Constant Cannibal Maiden Randall Jarrell, 1914-1965 The Blind Sheep X. J. Kennedy, b.1929 In A Prominent Bar In Secaucus One Day Japanese Beetles (1) Japanese Beetles (10). To A Young Poet Japanese Beetles (2) Japanese Beetles (4). Parody: Herrick Japanese Beetles (5). The Minotaur's Advice Japanese Beetles (7). Translator Japanese Beetles (8). To A Now-type Poet Japanese Beetles (9). At A Sale Of A Manuscript Last Lines: 1. From The Greek Anthology Last Lines: 2. On A Boxer Last Lines: 3. On A Wrestler Last Lines: 4. Teutonic Scholar Last Lines: 5 Francis Scott Key, 1780-1843 To My Cousin Mary, For Mending My Tobacco Pouch Written At The White Sulphur Springs Benjamin Franklin King (Ben King), 1857-1894 The Cultured Girl Again The Hair-tonic Bottle If I Should Die Tonight The Mermaid The Pessimist Stoddard King, 1889-1933 Breakfast Song In Time Of Diet The Difference Hearth And Home Carolyn Kizer, b.1925 One To Nothing Kenneth Koch, b.1925 A Poem Of The Forty-eight States Stanley Jasspon Kunitz, b.1905 The Summing-up Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (Ring Lardner), 1885-19 3 3 Abner Silver's 'pu-leeze! Mr. Hemingway!' Hail To Thee, Blithe Owl Hardly A Man Now Alive Parodies Of Cole Porter's 'night And Day' Quiescent, A Person Sits Heart And Soul Charles Godfrey Leland, 1824-1903 Breitmann In Politics: 7 Hans Breitmann's Party Newman Levy, 1888-1966 Rigoletto Tannhauser (Nicholas) Vachel Lindsay, 1879-1931 The Little Turtle Two Old Crows Frank Loesser, t>. 1910 Guys And Dolls Russell Hillard Loines, 1874-1922 On A Magazine Sonnet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882 The Children's Hour Tales Of A Wayside Inn: 1. Paul Revere's Ride The Village Blacksmith Amy Lowell, 1874-1925 Epitaph On A Young Poet Who Died Before ... Achieved Success The Painted Ceiling James Russell Lowell, 1819-1891 The Biglow Papers. 2d Series: Rev. H. Wilbur's Festina Lente The Boss In An Album A Misconception Archibald Macleish, b.1892 Corporate Entity Critical Observations The End Of The World Mother Goose's Garland Norman Mailer, b.1923 Devils Donald Robert Perry Marquis (Don Marquis), 1878-1937 Archy At The Zoo Certain Maxims Of Archy (1) Thomas Lansing Masson, 1866-1943 He Took Her My Poker Girl State For State, With All Attendants, Who Would Change? Not A Tragedy Edgar Lee Masters, 1868-1950 Spoon River Anthology: Jonathan Swift Somers Spoon River Anthology: The Spooniad David Mccord, b.1897 The Axolotl Gloss To A Certain Most Certainly Certain Critic Mantis Baccalaureate History Of Education Epitaph On A Waiter Phyllis Mcginley, 1905-1978 About Children Evening Musicale Publisher's Party Herman Melville, 1819-1891 The Attic Landscape The Bench Of Boors In A Garret The Lover And The Syringa Bush The New Ancient Of Days John H. Mercer (Johnny Mercer), 19O9-1976 The Glow-worm 1'm An Old Cowhand Jubilation T. Cornpone James Ingram Merrill, b.1926 Tomorrows Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1892-195O From A Very Little Sphinx: 1 From A Very Little Sphinx: 2 From A Very Little Sphinx: 3 From A Very Little Sphinx: 4 From A Very Little Sphinx: 5 From A Very Little Sphinx: 6 From A Very Little Sphinx: 7 Clement Clarke Moore, 1779-1863 A Visit From St. Nicholas Julia A. Moore (from Following the Equator), 1847-1920 The Ashtabula Disaster Grand Rapids Little Libbie Sketch Of Lord Byron's Life Marianne Moore, 1887-1972 Hometown Piece For Messrs. Alston And Reese I May, I Might, I Must W.s. Landor Christopher Darlington Morley, 189O-1957 Elegy Written In A Country Coal-bin Forever Ambrosia Howard Moss, b.1922 Cats And Dogs Vladimir Nabokov, 1899-1977 A Literary Dinner Ogden Nash, 19O2-1971 Adventures Of Isabel The Ant Genealogical Reflection Invocation Lines To A World-famous Poet Who Failed To Complete ... Poem The Panther Reflections On Ice-breaking The Rhinoceros Song Of The Open Road They Don't Speak English In Paris The Turtle Howard Nemerov, b . 192O Epigram: 1. Invocation Epigram: 2. Lucilius Epigram: 3. An Old Story Epigram: 4. Mythological Beast Epigram: 5. The Hunt Goes By Epigram: 6. Political Reflexion Epigram: 7. A Spiral Shell Epigram: 8. April Epigram: 9. Absent-minded Professor Robert Henry Newell ("ORPHEUS C. KERR"), 1 8 3 6 - 1 9 O1 The American Traveller Columbia's Agony, By Martin Farquhar Tup-r Dear Father, Look Up The Editor's Wooing National Anthem, By Dr. Oliver Wendell H---. National Anthem, By General George P. M---. National Anthem, By H.w.l. Of Cambridge National Anthem, By John Greenleaf W---. National Anthem, By N.p.w. National Anthem, By The Hon. Edward E--, Of Boston The Neutral British Gentleman O, Be Not Too Hasty, My Dearest Tuscaloosa Sam When Your Cheap Divorce Is Granted Kathleen Norris, b.1947 Memorandum - The Accountant's Notebook Stomach Jack Norworth, 1879-1959 Take Me Out To The Ball Game Frank O'Hara, 1926-1966 To The Film Industry In Crisis Elder James Olson, b.1909 Childe Roland, Etc. John F. Palmer, ?1870-? The Band Played On Dorothy Parker Comment News Item One Perfect Rose Partial Comfort Resume Samuel Minturn Peck A Kiss In The Rain Edgar Allan Poe The Bells Cole Porter Anything Goes Brush Up Your Shakespeare Let's Do It My Heart Belongs To Daddy Well, Did You Evah? You're The Top Ezra Pound Ancient Music Cantico Del Sole An Immorality Meditatio Tame Cat Keith Preston Effervescence And Evansescence Lapsus Linguae Quintus Horatius Flaccus To Sally Innes Randolph The Rebel John Crowe Ransom Amphibious Crocodile Dog Her Eyes Our Two Worthies Philomela Survey Of Literature Kenneth Rexroth Aarvark Ant Bear Cat Coney Cow Deer Eagle Fact Fox Goat Herring Horse 1 Jackal Kangaroo Lion Man Mantis Monkey N Observations In A Cornish Teashop Okapi Quagga Raccoon Seal Trout Uncle Sam Unicorn Vulture Wolf You Zebra James Whitcomb Riley, 1849-1916 Craqueodoom Little Orphant Annie A Rose In October A Session With Uncle Sidney When The Frost Is On The Punkin Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869-1935 Variations Of Greek Themes: 2. A Mighty Runner Variations Of Greek Themes: 3. The Raven Variations Of Greek Themes: 4. The Raven Theodore Roethke, 1908-1963 Academic The Cow Dinky A Rouse For Stevens The Sloth Billy Rose, 1899-1966 Barney Google Does The Spearmint Lose It Flavor On My Bedpost Overnight? Carl Sandburg, 1878-1967 The People, Yes: 32 The People, Yes: 42 On A Flimmering Floom You Shall Ride One Modern Poet Max Shulman, b.1919 Honest Abe Lincoln Lydia Huntley Sigourney, 1791-1865 God Save The Plough Charles Simic, b.1938 Watermelons Louis Simpson, b.1923 New Lines For Cuscuscaraway And Miza Murad Ali Beg On The Lawn At The Villa Elizabeth Smith (Bessie Smith), 1894-1937 Empty Bed Blues William Jay Smith, b.1918 Dachshunds Random Generation Of English Sentences Or, Revenge Of Poets Stephen Sondheim, b . 193O Gee, Officer Krupke John Philip Sousa, 1854-1932 The Feast Of The Monkeys Have You Seen The Lady? William Edgar Stafford, b.1914 Religion Back Home George Starbuck, b.1931 Chip High Renaissance Monarch Of The Sea On First Looking In On Blogett's Keats's 'chapman's Homer'. Said (J. Alfred Prufrock) p.517 Said (Agatha Christie) p.517 Sonnet With A Different Letter At The End Of Every Line Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1833-1908 The Ballad Of Lager Bier Gertrude Stein, 1874-1946 Sacred Emily Andrew B. Sterling, 1874-1955 Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis Under The Anheuser Bush What You Goin' To Do When The Rent Comes 'round? Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955 Depression Before Spring The Pleasures Of Merely Circulating Joseph W. Stilwell, 1883-1946 Lyric To Spring Ruth Mcenery Stuart, ?1849-1917 The Endless Song Robert Sward, b.1933 American Heritage John Banister Tabb, 1845-19O9 Foot-soldiers Bicycles, Tricycles! Close Quarters A Rub The Tryst James Tate, b.1943 Conjuring Roethke My Great Great Etc. Uncle Patrick Henry The President Slumming Bayard Taylor, 1825-1878 The Ballad Of Hiram Hover Nauvoo Palabras Grandiosas Bert Leston Taylor (B.L.T.), 1866-1921 Aprilly Doxology Upon Julia's Arctics Ernest Lawrence Thayer, 1 8 6 3 - 1 9 4O Casey At The Bat (2) John Townsend Trowbridge, 1827-1916 Darius Green And His Flying Machine Filling An Order Recollections Of 'lalla Rookh' St. George Tucker, 1752-1827 The Cynic The Discontented Student; A True Story The Judge With The Sore Rump Royall Tyler, 1757-1826 Anacreontic To Flip Original Epitaph On A Drunkard The Widower Anonymous Yankee Doodle The Little Brown Jug Sweet Betsy [or Betsey] From Pike Clementine Starving To Death On A Government Claim (2) The Factory Girl's Come-all-ye An Ode On Gas The Young Woman from Aenos p.145 Two Appeals To John Harralson: 1 Two Appeals To John Harralson: 2. A Yankee View Willie The Weeper No More Booze The Drunkard And The Pig Kentucky Moonshiner Roy Bean The Big Rock Candy Mountains (3) The Four Nights' Drunk The Frozen Logger Mademoiselle From Armentieres The Heavyweight Champ Of Seattle The Virtues Of Carnation Milk Louis Untermeyer, 1885-1977 Edgar A. Guest Song Tournament: New Style John Updike, b.1932 The Amish I Missed His Book, But I Read His Name Recital; Roger Bobo Gives Recital On Tuba Peter Viereck, b.1916 1912-1952, Full Cycle: 1. Love Song Of Prufrock Junior 1912-1952, Full Cycle: 2. Inscribed For Bedside Glossary ... 1912-1952, Full Cycle: 3. From Sublime To The Meticulous ... 1912-1952, Full Cycle: 4. Epitaph For Nouveaux New Critics Robert Penn Warren, b.1905 Garland For You: 3. Man In The Street Nixon Waterman, 1859-1944 Cheers For The Consumer If We Didn't Have To Eat Charles Henry Webb ("John Paul"), 1834-1905 At The Ball! Autumn Leaves Carolyn Wells, 1869-1942 Diversions Of The Re-echo Club Elwyn Brooks White (E. B. White), b.1899 Marble-top Window Ledge In The Atom Age John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892 Barbara Frietchie The Barefoot Boy The Haschish Skipper Ireson's Ride Jonathan Williams, b.1929 The anthropophagites see a sign on NC highway 177 that looks like heaven The hermit Cackleberry Brown, on human vanity Mrs. Sadie Grindstaff, weaver & factotum, explains Three sayings from highlands, North Carolina: Uncle iv Surveys His Domain From His Rocker... Tennessee Williams, b.1914 Carrousel Tune Gold Tooth Blues Kitchen Door Blues Sugar In The Cane William Carlos Williams, 1883-1963 Apres Le Bain Ballad Of Faith The Intelligent Sheepman And The New Cars Proletarian Portrait These Purists To To A Poor Old Woman To Greet A Letter-carrier Nathaniel Parker Willis, 1806-1867 1, 19 1, 20 1, 21 1, 22 1, 91 To Helen In A Huff To The Lady In The Chimsette With Black Buttons Edmund Wilson, 1895-1972 Drafts For A Quatrain Fun In The Balkans Something For My Russian Friends Septimus Winner, 1827-1902 The Coolie Chinese Lilliputian's Beer Song Ten Little Injuns James Wright, b.1927 Love In A Warm Room In Winter Elinor Wylie, 1885-1928 Simon Gerty