[Michael Cantor]

I write light verse. Others write doggerel.

Getting beyond that, I guess it's no different than attempting to quantify the difference between serious poetry and doggerel. It's a matter of skilled and/or clever use of language, unique application of images, using the various poet's tools in a unique way rather than throwing out a clatter of cliches. I could go on and on, but either you recognize it or you don't, and there is obviously a large area where people will disagree, but by and large accomplished poets know the difference. I sometimes see "doggerel" used here (not too often - it's not a nice thing to say) and in every case except one (when it was used to describe one of my poems) I agreed.

But if there are specifics - rather than "feel" - for drawing the line between light verse and doggerel, I'd be interested in hearing them. To me, "doggerel" is essentially a synonym for "crappy" - but "crappy" in a simplistic, cliched way, rather than an overwritten and opaque way.