American wits: an anthology of light verse

Light verse, editor Hollander says, is a phenomenon of a cultural moment that has passed. "The writers gathered here came to literate maturity at a time when the ability to read and write accentual-syllabic verse was part of what it meant to be literate." The rise of free verse in American literature and, more important, literature classes exiled light verse from daily newspapers--in which columnists Franklin P. Adams and Don Marquis (who managed to write light free verse) published it--to specialty micro-magazines. So the youngest poet Hollander samples is 73! That poet, George Starbuck, is as funny, as culturally literate, and as willing to make light of it as any others in the book. (Try to be frivolous about the things that matter and the powers that be today--and it's PC court for you, buster!) The still-glimmering stars of light verse include Dorothy Parker, of course, who breaks your heart as well as your sobriety with her wit and acerbity; the nonpareil Ogden Nash; and Phyllis McGinley. But opera-flouting Norman Levy, love-deflating Samuel Hoffenstein, poetic chestnut-parodying Morris Bishop--these and other now-obscure names demand to be lit anew, to be read. --Ray Olson Copyright 2003 Booklist

/*Starred Review*/ Light verse, editor Hollander says, is a phenomenon of a cultural moment that has passed. "The writers gathered here came to literate maturity at a time when the ability to read and write accentual-syllabic verse was part of what it meant to be literate." The rise of free verse in American literature and, more important, literature classes exiled light verse from daily newspapers--in which columnists Franklin P. Adams and Don Marquis (who managed to write light free verse) published it--to specialty micro-magazines. So the youngest poet Hollander samples is 73! That poet, George Starbuck, is as funny, as culturally literate, and as willing to make light of it as any others in the book. (Try to be frivolous about the things that matter and the powers that be today--and it's PC court for you, buster!) The still-glimmering stars of light verse include Dorothy Parker, of course, who breaks your heart as well as your sobriety with her wit and acerbity; the nonpareil Ogden Nash; and Phyllis McGinley. But opera-flouting Norman Levy, love-deflating Samuel Hoffenstein, poetic chestnut-parodying Morris Bishop--these and other now-obscure names demand to be lit anew, to be read. ((Reviewed October 15, 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews