[cgaver]

While the Frost-Hemingway-Shakespeare thread continues to unravel ;-D, I thought I'd provide the first stitch for a different quilt/query -- what are some of the lines of the greats that have made you laugh out loud?

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.

Dorothy Parker

[momdebomb]

Yes, yes, yes, Dorothy Parker,
She's the bomb.

NINON DE L'ENCLOS,
<u>ON HER LAST BIRTHDAY</u>

So let me have the rouge again,
&#160&#160 And comb my hair the curly way.
The poor young men, the dear young men--
BANNED POSTBANNED POST They'll all be here by noon today.

And shall I wear the blue, I think--
BANNED POSTBANNED POST They beg to touch its rippled lace;
Or do they love me best in pink,
BANNED POSTBANNED POST So sweetly flattering the face?

And are you sure my eyes are bright,
BANNED POSTBANNED POST And is it true my cheek is clear?
Young what's-his-name stayed half the night;
BANNED POSTBANNED POST He vows to cut his throat, poor dear!

So bring my scarlet slippers, then,
BANNED POSTBANNED POST And fetch the powder-puff to me.
The dear young men, the poor young men--
BANNED POSTBANNED POST They think I'm only seventy!

Dorothy Parker


[This message has been edited by momdebomb (edited April 26, 2001).]

[MacArthur]

One of the things that annoys me about Comical Verse (and I mostly can't abide Verse-Lite) is the Punch-Line syndrome...the necessity to concentrate the reward for the entire poem into one line. If a poem is truly an accomplished piece of comic writing, it should either work as a burlesque throughout (after all, we don't say a novel or even a short-story is effectively funny for a mere gag-ending) or the line that bears the entire weight of the satire should work nearly as well (if not better) placed elsewhere than at the end. The above is an interesting example:

SO (And) shall I wear the blue, I think--
They beg to touch its rippled lace;
Or do they love me best in pink,
So sweetly flattering the face?

So bring my scarlet slippers, then,
And fetch the powder-puff to me.
The dear young men, the poor young men--
They think I'm only seventy!

And are you sure my eyes are bright,
And is it true my cheek is clear?
Young what's-his-name stayed half the night;
He vows to cut his throat, poor dear!

So let me have the rouge again,
And comb my hair the curly way.
The poor young men, the dear young men--
They'll all be here by noon today.

Although it would take a little more reworking of the lines to make it completely smooth, if anything the poem works better reorganised this way-- more pathos, and a sinister hint that the young men might be fortune-hunters. High Art works this way...in Shakespeare, Milton, Keats, Eliot, Auden and even Frost. Like the "dawning realisation" in Browning's "My Last Duchess". And it works in High Comedy, too.

[Tim Murphy]

For all her fame in the Twenties and Thirties, Parker is now vastly underestimated. With Cunningham one of the two best epigrammatists of the century.

Oh hard is the struggle and sparse is
The gain of the one at the top,
For art is a form of catharsis,
And love is a permanent flop.

In one of her brilliantly venemous reviews she said something like "A book is a substantial object. An object with heft. It can be thrown with great force. And this book should be." For my part, I think anyone who doesn't adore Dorothy Parker (and appreciate the deliciously layered, inevitable progression of hackneyed images in Sharon's posting) should be thrown with great force.

[A. E. Stallings]

I adore Dorothy Parker. Actually, she reminds me a bit of Housman in some of his wryer moods (which I mean as high praise). But I suspect some of their similarity lies in both being strongly influenced by Heine.

Here is one of my favorite Parker verse:

FIGHTING WORDS

Say my love is easy had,
Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
Say I am too often sad--
Still behold me at your side.

Say I'm neither brave nor young,
Say I woo and coddle care,
Say the devil touched my tongue
Still you have my heart to wear.

But say my verses do not scan,
And I get me another man!

To which I reply, Amen!

As for Mac's comment, I think I understand his concern. And yet, and yet, many a SERIOUS poem is also a set up, in many ways, for a "punch line." (As Winters and others have complained about "Richard Corey," for example, but I can think of many another that might fall into that category.) But the difference between a poem and a joke, is that it can be re-read again and again, even if you know the line that is coming. Particularly in formal verse, much of the pleasure lies in the meter and rime for their own sake. KNowing the punchline doesn't detract from my enjoyment in rereading these Dorothy Parker gems, or E. A. Robinson. It is true that much of the set-up LOOKS easy and simple, but such simplicity is harder to achieve than you might think. And I think you'll find even on looking closer at "Fighting Words" that there is much art here, great care with diction. Is not "bitten raw with pride," for instance, a fine line in its own right? And the curious image "still you have my heart to wear"? (As on a sleeve, perhaps?)

[cgaver]

Oh, Alicia and Mondebomb, thanks for those glorious additions to this thread, and Tim, I agree that Parker has been terribly underestimated, and Mac, did I read you write something nice about Frost...

Ok, what other lines of the greats have made you laugh out loud?

"I would to Heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling --
Because at least the past were passed away,
And for the future--(but I write this reeling,
Having got drunk exceedingly to-day,
So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)
I say--the future is a serious matter--
And so--for God's sake---hock and soda-water!"

Byron, Don Juan

[Robert J. Clawson]

"But the difference between a poem and a joke, is that it can be re-read again and again, even if you know the line that is coming." AE Stallings.

Don't short-sell the good joke. They may get re-cast, but they remain funny.

Try any Israeli Prime Minister calling any modern Pope to advise, "Cancel Easter, we found the body."

Bob

[Robert J. Clawson]

Writing poetry to provoke laughter is extraordinarily risky. Most writers consider poetry a difficult genre; most readers grant such. Because so much poetry is SERIOUS STUFF, the writer of comedy probably ought to break through early enough to alter expectations. I’ve no problem with a poem ending with a funny punch line: we can always re-read and appreciate the build. But I like best those comic poems that charm us from the start and build to out-loud laughter and applause.

I’m mystified that Billy Collins has so many detractors. He’s made me laugh so often.

“Bonsai

All it takes is one to throw a room
completely out of whack.”

What an opening!

Bob

Bob

[graywyvern]

"cueballs invented insomnia in an attempt to forget eyelids"
--Bill Knott.

(that's the whole poem!)

[Robert J. Clawson]

(that's the whole poem!)

I'm crying...can't stop.

Knott's a great example, often stupifying.

Thomas Lux calls Knott, "America's Finest Poet."

Bob