Candy is dandy,

But Liquor Is Quicker.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) was one of the great writers of American humorous poetry, noted for couplets or other poems that rhyme, but the lines are of different length and irregular meter. He lived in Baltimore most of his life, and included several paeans to it in his work. Also noted are his series of poems set to Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival Of The Animals".

He was also verified by the Guinness Book Of World Records as having composed the shortest published poem: On the Antiquity of Fleas, which consists of merely "Adam/Had'em."

Tropes in Ogden Nash's work:

  • Analogy Backfire: The poem The Romantic Age, about a lovestruck teenage girl who:

 Presses lips and tosses head,

Declares she's not too young to wed.

Informs you pertly you forget

Romeo and Juliet.

Do not argue, do not shout;

Remind her how that one turned out.

 We might love the people upstairs wonderous

If, instead of above us, they lived just underus.

 There are no rhymes for orange or silver,

Unless liberties you pilfer.

 More than a catbird hates a cat,

Or a criminal hates a clue,

Or the Axis hates the United States,

That's how much I love you....

 The Self-Effacement of Electra Thorne:

As for egocentricity, good heavens!

What's egocentric about wanting the marquee to read







 Some singers sing of ladies' eyes

And some of ladies' lips,

Refined ones praise their ladylike ways,

And coarse ones hymn their hips.

 Some primal termite knocked on wood

Tasted it, and found it good

And that is why your Cousin May

Fell through the parlor floor today.

  • The So-Called Coward: Custard the Dragon is about a woman named Belinda who lived with a kitten, a mouse, a dog, and a dragon. Counter-intuitively, the kitten, mouse, and dog were all described as being very brave, while the dragon was a coward. However, when a pirate broke into the house and threatened Belinda, the three supposedly 'brave' animals ran and hid, and Custard stood his ground, fought the pirate, and ate him.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Polterguest, My Polterguest[1].
  • Wendigo:

 The Wendigo, the Wendigo

I saw it just a friend ago

Last night it lurked in Canada

Tonight on your veranda!
