The Oxford Book of Comic Verse (Oxford Books of Verse)

The Oxford Book of Comic Verse (Oxford Books of Verse)

by JohnGross (Editor)

Synopsis

From Chaucer to Vikram Seth and Victoria Wood; from Byron to John Updike; from Augustan satire to advertising jingles; from G. K. Chesterton to Wendy Cope - this superb anthology is notable above all for its breadth. It is truly international in scope, bringing together poets from far beyond the British Isles. Drawing on many different types of verse, from epigrams to street ballads, from clerihew to music-hall lyrics, from the double-dactyl of the calypso, it offers an exceptionally wide range of comic pleasures. The poems in this collection are by turns subtle, down-to-earth, macabre, ingenious, acerbic, ribald, and cheerful; written to amuse, they call forth laughter and delight in equal measure. The established classics of comic verse, writers such as Tom Hood, W. S. Gilbert, and Ogden Nash, are represented in force, but many unfamiliar or unexpected names are also included; so are many recent writers - the classics of the future. This collection undoubtedly contains matter of great historical interest, but the emphasis throughout is firmly on enjoyment.

$3.29

Save:$10.03 (75%)

Quantity

2 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 558
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Published: 21 Feb 2002

ISBN 10: 019284086X
ISBN 13: 9780192840868

Author Bio

John Gross is the author of 'The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters' (1973) and editor of 'The Oxford Book of Aphorisms' (1983), among other publications. He was editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1974 to 1981, and is currently theatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph.