Willard R. Espy

Willard R. Espy. Courtesy Sydney of Oysterville.

Willard Richardson Espy (December 11, 1910 - February 20, 1999) was an American poet, editor, prose writer, and philologist.

Life

Espy is particularly remembered for his anthology of light verse and word play, An Almanac of Words at Play, and its 2 sequels. His writing and poetry regularly appeared in Punch, Reader's Digest, and Word Ways.

His daughter Freddy Medora Espy was the 1st wife of writer and editor George Plimpton.

Publications

• Bold New Program. New York: Harper, 1950.
• The Game of Words. Devon, UK: Readers Union, 1971; New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1972.
• Oysterville – Roads to Grandpa's Village (1976) (ISBN 0-517-52196-2)
• The Game of Words (1972) (ISBN 0-448-01196-4)
• Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State (1993) (ISBN 0-9634294-1-8)
• An Almanac of Words at Play (1975) (ISBN 0-517-52463-5)
• The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous (1977) (ISBN 0-380-45047-X)
• O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun (1978) (ISBN 0-517-53511-4)
• Say it My Way: How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell) (1980) (ISBN 0-14-005733-1)
• Another Almanac of Words at Play (1981) (ISBN 0-233-97288-9)
• The Wars of the Words (1980)
• Have A Word on Me: A Celebration of Language (1984) (ISBN 0-671-25255-0)
• Espygrams: Anagram Verse (1982) (ISBN 0-517-54598-5)
• Word Puzzles: Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile (1983) (ISBN 0-934878-31-5)
• The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary (1983) (ISBN 0-06-181256-0)
• Espygrams II: 80 New Anagram Verses (1984) (ISBN 0-517-54757-0)
• Words to Rhyme With (1986) (ISBN 0-8160-4313-2)
• The Word's Gotten Out (1989) (ISBN 0-517-07940-2)
• Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay (1998)
• The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1999. ISBN 0-87779-145-7

Juvenile

• A Children's Almanac of Words at Play. New York: C.N. Potter, 1975; London: Deutsch, 1981; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1984.

See also

Words to Rhyme with by Willard R. Espy

• List of U.S. poets

External links

Poems

• "The Skateboard"
• Three poems from A Children's Almanac of Words at Play

Books

• Willard R. Espy at Amazon.com
• Willard R. Espy (1910-1999) at LibraryThing.

About

• Willard Espy, Who Delighted In Wordplay, Is Dead at 88, New York Times

Etc.

• Willard R. Espy Literary Foundation