[Janice D. Soderling]

Oh, we should have thought of that wild one when Duncan's clever rendition was up at Translations.

[Steve Bucknell]

Just for comparison, here's Ian reading his "The Meaning of Life."

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetrya....do?poemId=364

And this link might help you reference the humour.

http://monologues.co.uk/You_Do_Look_Queer.htm

[Jayne Osborn]

What a great thread, Maryann.

Steve,

I didn't find "Professional Yorkshireman" (derog.) Ian McMillan's 'The Meaning of Life' funny at all, unlike "My Word, You Do Look Queer". The former doesn't rhyme and I've yet to see or hear a free verse poem that really made me laugh (sorry, Bill, but what on earth 'cracks you up' about the poem in post 30?); rhymed verse lends itself far better to laughter IMO.

A couple of daft ones that amuse me:

Said a boy to his teacher one day,
"Wright has not written 'rite' right, I say."
And the teacher replied,
As the error she eyed,
"Right! Wright: write 'write' right, right away."

THE TIRED WOMAN'S EPITAPH

Here lies a poor woman who always was tired
She lived in a house where help was not hired
Her last words on earth were: 'Dear friends, I am going
Where washing ain't done, nor sweeping, nor sewing;
But everything there is exact to my wishes;
For where they don't eat there's no washing of dishes.
I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing,
But, having no voice, I'll be clear of the singing.
Don't mourn for me now; don't mourn for me never -
I'm going to do nothing for ever and ever.' (Anon)

Hmm, I think I might get that one read at my funeral

[Roger Slater]

I like those a lot, Jayne, and I definitely think they are funny. But I don't howl out loud or shake or make loud mirthful noises from which I need to calm down or collect myself when it's over. Do you? Do any poems produce that sort of reaction for you?

[Julie Steiner]

Emily Dickinson has made me laugh out loud, on occasion.

[Maryann Corbett]

Ah, bathos! Julie, what a way to wreck a Dickinson poem ;D

I meant to say earlier that bathos is the Main Funny Thing in the poem Mary posted above. The tone of the first speaker is so stiff and correct that he can be punctured just by the lowbrow pronunciation "da." That one does crack me up.

And putting the superego and the id together like that is part of the action in the John Berryman poem that Bill posted, too. I do think you have to know something about the characters--that Henry is the speaker and main character, that Mr. Bones is a sort of alter ego--to glom on to the situation. Even Lowell was none too sure what Berryman was saying in the Dream Songs: "At first the brain aches and freezes at so much darkness, disorder and oddness. After a while, the repeated situations and their racy jabber become more and more enjoyable, although even now I wouldn't trust myself to paraphrase accurately at least half the sections."

[Ann Drysdale]

I'm sorry. I changed my mind. It was a silly idea. You didn't see me, right?

[Chris Childers]

Orwn's posting of the Ewart 'For Translation Into Latin' has given both fellow teachers and students in our classics department some serious LOLs. A kid in Latin 1 (not my class) apparently laughed till he cried. I LOLed, but didn't ROFLOL, which I've never done in response to a poem.

(Thanks Orwn!)

[W.F. Lantry]

Jayne,

Desperate passion in a hopeless doofus always cracks me up, perhaps because it reminds me of myself...

"The restaurant buzzes. She might as well be on Mars. Where did it all go wrong?"

One time, he goes fishing with a friend: "They caught nothing. It is in the nature of Henry to catch nothing..."

And in mine as well...

Thanks,

Bill

[W.F. Lantry]

I haven't yet figured out how to cut and paste from google books, but this one, wherein Ovid tells two different and very complicated lies, to two very different women, about the same event, is priceless. It's one of his pairs, so you must read *both* VII and VIII:

http://books.google.com/books?id=X_nz4SZje5IC&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=%22Am+i+ forever+to+be+put+on+trial%22&source=bl&ots=rOlgJZ irnC&sig=ygjGj1tehZz-Z1qTv4_e0sZKz3c&hl=en&ei=TlqjTPPOLoKKlwfXgpnmAw&sa =X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEw AA#v=onepage&q=%22Am%20i%20forever%20to%20be%20put %20on%20trial%22&f=false

"But as things are, your credulous invective
Becomes both wearisome, and ineffective!"

Ovid was such a cad! Worse than Horace, even, and that's saying something!

Thanks,

Bill