Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".^[1] is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Rye, New York is the name of two places in Westchester County, New York. ... This article is about the state. ... is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Baltimore redirects here. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday [1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Sappho and Alcaeus of Mytilene, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1881). ... Light poetry, also called light verse, is poetry that is less serious than other poetry to which it could be compared. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ...

Among his most popular writings were a series of animal verses, many of which featured his off-kilter rhyming devices. Examples include "If called by a panther / Don't anther"; "You can have my jellyfish / I'm not sellyfish"; and "The Lord in His wisdom made the fly / And then forgot to tell us why." The most frequently quoted of these poems is his ode to the llama:

The one-L lama, he's a priest

The two-L llama, he's a beast

And I would bet a silk pyjama

There isn't any three-L lllama

(Nash appended a footnote to this poem: "The author's attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer. Pooh."^[2]

Nash died of Crohn's disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on May 19, 1971.^[1] He is interred in North Hampton, New Hampshire. His daughter Isabel was married to noted photographer Fred Eberstadt, and his granddaughter, Fernanda Eberstadt, is an acclaimed author. Crohns disease (also known as regional enteritis) is a chronic, episodic, inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by transmural inflammation (affecting the entire wall of the involved bowel) and skip lesions (areas of inflammation with areas of normal lining between). ... The Dome of the Johns Hopkins Hospital as seen from Broadway. ... is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Seal of North Hampton, New Hampshire North Hampton is a town located in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. ... Fernanda Eberstadt (born 1960 in New York City, New York) is an American writer. ...

Bed Riddance, 1970 collection

A biography, Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse, was written by Douglas M. Parker, published in 2005 and in paperback in 2007. The book was written with the cooperation of the Nash family and quotes extensively from Nash's personal correspondence as well as his poetry. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (499x701, 729 KB) Summary Bed Riddance, poetry collection by Ogden Nash, illustrated by Milton Glaser, 1970 Little Brown and Company edition. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (499x701, 729 KB) Summary Bed Riddance, poetry collection by Ogden Nash, illustrated by Milton Glaser, 1970 Little Brown and Company edition. ...

Poetry style

Nash was best known for surprising, pun-like rhymes, sometimes with words deliberately misspelled for comic effect, as in his retort to Dorothy Parker's dictum, Men seldom make passes/At girls who wear glasses: Dorothy Parker (August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. ...

A girl who is bespectacled

She may not get her nectacled

But safety pins and bassinets

Await the girl who fassinets.

He often wrote in an exaggerated verse form with pairs of lines that rhyme, but are of dissimilar length and irregular meter.

The critic Morris Bishop, when reviewing Nash's 1962 Everyone But Thee and Me, offered up this lyrical commentary on Nash's style: Morris Gilbert Bishop (1893-1973) was a Professor of Romance Literature, University Historian, and an alumnus of Cornell University. ...

Free from flashiness, free from trashiness

Is the essence of ogdenashiness.

Rich, original, rash and rational

Stands the monument ogdenational!^[3]

Nash's poetry was often a playful twist of an old saying or poem. He expressed this playfulness in what is perhaps his most famous rhyme. Nash observed the following in a turn of Joyce Kilmer's words "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree." Alfred Joyce Kilmer (6 December 1886 – 30 July 1918) was an American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer and editor. ...

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,

I'll never see a tree at all.

Similarly, in Reflections on Ice-Breaking he wrote:

Candy

Is dandy

But liquor

Is quicker.

He also commented:

I often wonder which is mine:

Tolerance, or a rubber spine?

His one-line observations are often quoted.

People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.

Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.

Other Poems

ref>Tim Wiles. "Who's on Verse?", The New York Times, 1996-03-31. Retrieved on 2008-01-23. </ref> Published in Sport magazine in January 1949, the poem pays tribute to the baseball greats and to his own fanaticism, in alphabetical order. Here is a sampling from his A to Z list:^[4] The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The inaugural issue of SPORT magazine, September, 1946, depicting New York Yankees centrefielder Joe DiMaggio together with his son Joe Jr. ...

C is for Cobb, Who grew spikes and not corn, And made all the basemen Wish they weren't born.

D is for Dean, The grammatical Diz, When they asked, Who's the tops? Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers, His jaw in advance; Never afraid To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham And Frankie and Frisch; I wish he were back With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig, The Pride of the Stadium; His record pure gold, His courage, pure radium.

H is for Hornsby; When pitching to Rog, The pitcher would pitch, Then the pitcher would dodge.

I is for Me, Not a hard-hitting man, But an outstanding all-time Incurable fan.'

Q is for Don Quixote Cornelius Mack; Neither Yankees nor years can halt his attack.

Nash wrote about the famous baseball players of his day, but he particularly loved Baltimore sports.

Nash wrote humorous poems for each movement of the Camille Saint-Saëns orchestral suite The Carnival of the Animals, which are often recited when the work is performed. Charles Camille Saint-Saëns () (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, known especially for his large-scale orchestral works The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre, Samson et Dalila, and Symphony No. ... Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) is a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. ...

Ogden Nash Stamp

2002 USPS stamp of Ogden Nash with six of his poems in the background

The US Postal Service released a stamp featuring Ogden Nash and six of his poems on the centennial of his birth on 19 August 2002. The six poems are "The Turtle," "The Cow," "Crossing The Border," "The Kitten," "The Camel" and "Limerick One." It was the first stamp in the history of the USPS to include the word "sex," although as a synonym for gender. It can be found under the "O" and is part of "The Turtle". The stamp is the 18th in the Literary Arts series. Image File history File links 2002_USPS_ogden_nash. ... Image File history File links 2002_USPS_ogden_nash. ... A USPS Truck at Night A U.S. Post Office sign The United States Postal Service (USPS) is the United States government organization responsible for providing postal service in the United States and is generally referred to as the post office. ... A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ...

First day of issue took place in Baltimore on August 19th. The ceremony was held at the home that he and his wife Frances shared with his parents on 4300 Rugby Road, where he did most of his writing.

Bibliography

• Bed Riddance by Ogden Nash. Little Brown & Co, 1969. ASIN B000EGGXD8
• Candy is Dandy by Ogden Nash , Anthony Burgess, Linell Smith, and Isabel Eberstadt. Carlton Books Ltd, 1994. ISBN 0233988920
• Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight by Ogden Nash and Lynn Munsinger. Little, Brown Young Readers, 1999. ISBN 0316599050
• I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Ogden Nash. Buccaneer Books, 1994. ISBN 1568494688
• Many Long Years Ago by Ogden Nash. Little Brown & Co, 1945. ISBN B000OELG1O
• The Old Dog Barks Backwards by Ogden Nash. Little Brown & Co, 1972. ISBN 0316598046
• Ogden Nash's Zoo by Ogden Nash and Etienne Delessert. Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1986. ISBN 0941434958
• Pocket Book of Ogden Nash by Ogden Nash. Pocket, 1990. ISBN 0671727893
• Private Dining Room by Ogden Nash. Little Brown & Co, 1952. ASIN B000H1Z8U4
• Selected Poetry of Ogden Nash by Ogden Nash. Black Dog & Levanthal Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1884822308
• The Tale of the Custard Dragon by Ogden Nash and Lynn Munsinger. Little, Brown Young Readers, 1998. ISBN 0316590312
• There's Always Another Windmill by Ogden Nash. Little Brown & Co, 1968. ISBN 0316598399

References

The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... is the 140th day of the year (141st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 24th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 23rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ogden Nash

• American Poems: Ogden Nash - Includes a list of over a hundred Ogden Nash poems. Most or all are under copyright and therefore not available online.
• A Tribute to the Poet selected poems, and a brief bibliography
• Smoot smites smut Online text of Nash's poem relating how "Senator Smoot, Republican (Ut.)/is planning a ban on smut."
• Reelyredd's Poetry Pages- Custard the Dragon
• The Verse of Ogden Nash (on animals)
• Ogden Nash at Find A Grave
• Perspectives on Gossip The theme of gossip in three literary pieces, including a voice reading (mp3) of "I Have It On Good Authority" by Ogden Nash
• Blogden Nash - Cataloging the global reach and influence of Ogden Nash on contemporary life.