Customer Reviews

Selected Poetry of Ogden Nash

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After an especially hideous day at work--11 hours of constant pressure--I stopped by a bookstore on the way to the Washington Metro (subway) last night and bought this book. Talk about "Comic Relief!" I pored over the book in the Metro for my entire 45-minute ride and found myself captivated by some of the greatest humor of all time. This is indeed a book that is laugh-out-loud funny. Nash's odes to the perils of everyday existence as well as his clever but succinct characterizations of everything from exotic animals to unusual people--and his occasionally tortured but still delightful rhymes--are certainly unique. No other poet or humorist even comes close. Those of you who are Nash fans will find many favorites in the volume, and some enjoyable obscure surprises, too. Some of Nash's references are a bit dated, especially those related to once-famous people--and the book would have benefited from some annotation to explain the references. But most of the humor is impressively timeless. The book also needs an index, which it completely lacks--neither titles nor first lines. But forget those minor deficiencies and buy the book!! You WON'T regret it. I plan to keep it handy for a welcome laugh when I need one, and look forward to dipping into it often in the future.

Don't let the lack of an index dissuade you from buying this book. If you love the tongue twisting, funny work of this great humorist poet, this book is for you. You will read it cover to cover, then you will read it again, aloud.

the humer in this one was definately a collection of Nash's greatest. it's no fun reading them to yourself--throw an Ogden Nash party (besides laughing at Nash's great poems, you'll have a blast laughing at the people trying to say them up to tempo--without stumbling over words or cracking themselves up.)

This book seems to contain all of Ogden Nash's best verses. But good luck finding them: there is no index of titles or first lines. With so many verses, many of them titled counter-intuitively, you will only find the verse you seek by sheer luck, if at all.

This large book contains hundreds of Nash's brilliant poems, but somebody seems to have removed the index, making the book useless. I sent it back

This is a completely enjoyable collection that keeps me smiling as I read. Unfortunately, it seems the proof reader relied on a computer's spell-checker program. It let him down.

The spelling errors surprised me. I guess I may have spotted an error or two in other books, but I seem to keep stumbling on them in this book. They're distracting and it seems almost sinful to have let them appear in this wonderful collection.

Mr. Nash's insight, humor and unique form are well represented here in the 650 rhymes, verses, lyrics and poems. They are grouped by general subject matter. Thumb through the contents and see what you're in the mood for. Nash will make you smile or even laugh out loud.

I can't remember how I found this guy, but he is a riot. You cannot help but smiling when you read his stuff. The tounge in cheek verses, the wordplay, it is all so original and funny. I wanted to bookmark so many poems and underline so much that rechecking out again and again the library copy wasn't going to work anymore. Buying this book is like buying a smile for the rest of your life.

Don't trash
Ogden Nash.
His words
ain't turds
His swirls
Are pearls.

If you like this book, and the sweetly subversive worlds of George Booth, Ogden Nash or Shel Silverstein, then you should pick up Nick Bantock's (of Gryphon & Sabine fame), "Averse to Beasts," a book with cassette whose dangerous little ditties rival Nash's in their hilarity with a dose of arsenic.

Ogden Nash should probably be considered more of a humorist than a poet. After all, he makes up words and sometimes totally disregards any sense of meter. Maybe "rhyming humorist" would be most accurate (even though there is some real poetry here, too). In my opinion, his strongest poems are his shortest. I particularly enjoy his poems about animals. Some of his humor seems a little dated and, unlike a previous reviewer, I found little here that, for me, was laugh-out-loud funny. One of my favorite poems in the book is actually a serious poem, "A Carol for Children". But, hey, if you want serious poetry, get some Emily Dickinson. Ogden Nash is good if you need a lighthearted chuckle.