Light verse

SS undefined

Light verse (sometimes called light poetry) is poetry (usually written in verse) that attempts to be humorous. Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play, including puns, adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration. Typically, light verse in English is formal verse, although a few free verse poets, such as Billy Collins, have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse tradition.

A favourite form for light verse is the limerick. Some poetic forms have been invented specifically for light verse, an example being the double dactyl.

While light verse is sometimes condemned as doggerel, or thought of as poetry composed casually, humor often makes a serious point in a subtle or subversive way. Many of the most renowned "serious" poets, such as Horace, Swift, Pope and Auden, have also excelled at light verse.

Selected notable English poets in this genre
In English, poets who are well known for their light verse include:


 * Franklin P. Adams
 * Hilaire Belloc
 * John Betjeman
 * Lord Byron
 * C. S. Calverley
 * Lewis Carroll
 * Charles E. Carryl
 * Brian P. Cleary
 * Wendy Cope
 * Henry Austin Dobson
 * T. S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats)
 * Willard R. Espy
 * Gavin Ewart
 * Charles Ghigna
 * W. S. Gilbert
 * Thomas Hood
 * Frank Jacobs
 * Ben Jonson
 * X. J. Kennedy
 * Edward Lear
 * J. Patrick Lewis
 * Phyllis McGinley
 * Ogden Nash
 * Dorothy Parker
 * Alexander Pope
 * Shel Silverstein
 * Jonathan Swift
 * John Whitworth
 * }