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Unread 07-30-2017, 09:24 AM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
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Default Light Verse and Taste

Do you tend to like your own light verse better than that of others?

I do, and I don't think it's because I write (or--given my current output--wrote) it better than others do, but because, beyond the surface technical facility, the value of light verse (usually its humor) is, more than that of other poetry, a matter of taste. Since we tend (yes?) to write to our own taste, I assume most light versers similarly prefer their own.

[I should maybe clarify that I don't mean I would fill an anthology of light verse with my own stuff but that, for instance, in most issues of Light Quarterly I didn't find many poems I liked as well as my own contributions. The same is far from true regarding other sorts of poems.]

I'm prompted now to ask by Jayne's question in Drills and Amusements: Do you like Clerihews? For me, Clerihews, maybe because most of them require less technical facility than other light verse forms, exaggerate the effect. My own Clerihews tickle me, some greatly; those of others tend to bore me. There are exceptions, of course. Because I'd hate to be misunderstood, I'll repeat myself: this doesn't lead me to believe that I write better Clerihews than others do, only that mine are better tailored to my own taste in humor.

Do you other light versers similarly prefer your own poems?

Last edited by Max Goodman; 07-30-2017 at 09:56 AM.
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