Ogden Nash
Born	August 19, 1902(1902-08-19) Rye, New York
Died	May 19, 1971 (aged 68) Baltimore, Maryland
Occupation	Poet, author, lyric-writer

Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. Year 1902 ( MCMII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Light verse is Poetry that attempts to be humorous Poems considered "light" are usually brief and can be on a frivolous or serious subject and often feature 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". This article is about the poetic technique For the form of ice see Rime ice. ^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Poetry style 3 Other poems 4 Ogden Nash stamp 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

Biography

Ogden Nash was born in Rye, New York. Rye is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous His father owned and operated an import-export company, and because of business obligations, the family relocated often.

After graduating from St. George's School in Middletown, Rhode Island, Nash entered Harvard University in 1920, only to drop out a year later. St George's School is a private Episcopal Church -affiliated Coeducational Boarding school in Middletown (next to Newport) Middletown is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. He returned to St. George's to teach for a year and left to work his way through a series of other jobs, eventually landing a position as an editor at Doubleday publishing house, where he first began to write poetry. The Doubleday Publishing Group is the fifth largest Book Publishing company in the world

Nash moved to Baltimore, Maryland, three years after marrying Frances Leonard, a Baltimore native. He lived in Baltimore from 1934 and most of his life until his death in 1971. Nash thought of Baltimore as home. After his return from a brief move to New York, he wrote "I could have loved New York had I not loved Balti-more. "

His first job in New York was as a writer of the streetcar card ads for a company that previously had employed another Baltimore resident, F. Scott Fitzgerald. A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a Train Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24 1896 – December 21 1940 was an American writer of Novels and Short stories, whose works are evocative of the Nash loved to rhyme. "I think in terms of rhyme. . . and have since I was six years old," he professed. He had a fondness for crafting his own words whenever rhyming words did not exist.

In 1931 he published his first collection of poems, Hard Lines, earning him national recognition. Some of his poems reflected an anti-establishment feeling. For example, one verse, entitled Common Sense, asks:

Why did the Lord give us agility,

If not to evade responsibility?

When Nash wasn’t writing poems, he made guest appearances on comedy and radio shows and toured the United States and England, giving lectures at colleges and universities.

Nash was regarded respectfully by the literary establishment, and his poems were frequently anthologized even in serious collections such as Selden Rodman's 1946 A New Anthology of Modern Poetry.

Nash was the lyricist for the Broadway musical One Touch of Venus, collaborating with librettist S. J. Perelman and composer Kurt Weill. One Touch of Venus is a musical with music written by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and book by S Sidney Joseph Perelman, almost always known as S J Perelman ( February 1 1904 &ndash October 17 1979) was an American WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section --> Kurt Julian Weill ( March 2, 1900 &ndash April 3, The show included the notable song "Speak Low. " Speak Low " is a 1943 popular Song composed by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Ogden Nash. " He also wrote the lyrics for the 1952 revue Two's Company. A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical Entertainment that combines Music, dance and sketches. Two's Company was a musical revue with principal sketches by Charles Sherman and Peter DeVries, principal lyrics by Ogden Nash and

Nash and his love of the Baltimore Colts were featured in the December 13, 1968 issue of Life,^[2] with several poems about the American football team matched to full-page pictures. Baltimore Colts can refer to Baltimore Colts (1947–50, a franchise founded in 1947 and disbanded in 1950 Baltimore Colts (1953-83 Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with Entitled "My Colts, verses and reverses," the issue includes his poems and photographs by Arthur Rickerby. "Mr. Nash, the league leading writer of light verse (Averaging better than 6. 3 lines per carry), lives in Baltimore and loves the Colts" it declares. The comments further describe Nash as "a fanatic of the Baltimore Colts, and a gentleman. " Featured on the magazine cover is defensive player Dennis Gaubatz, number 53, in midair pursuit with this description: "That is he, looming 10 feet tall or taller above the Steelers' signal caller. Dennis Gaubatz was a Linebacker in the NFL. . . Since Gaubatz acts like this on Sunday, I'll do my quarterbacking Monday. " Memorable Colts Jimmy Orr, Billy Ray Smith, Bubba Smith, Willie Richardson, Dick Szymanski and Lou Michaels contribute to the poetry. Jimmy Orr (born October 4, 1935, in Seneca South Carolina) is a former American Football Wide receiver who played for the Billy Ray Smith Sr ( January 27, 1935 - March 21, 2001) was a National Football League Defensive lineman (1957-1970 Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith (born February 28, 1945) is an American actor and former athlete Willie Richardson (born November 17, 1939 in Clarksdale Mississippi) is a former professional American football player who played Richard "Dick" Szymanski (born October 7, 1932 in Toledo Ohio) was a center who played fourteen seasons with the Baltimore Lou Michaels is a former American football player who was a standout Defensive lineman for the University of Kentucky Wildcats and later

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. " This 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. "^[3])

Nash died of Crohn's disease at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on May 19, 1971. Crohn's disease is a Disease of the Digestive system which may affect any part of the Gastrointestinal tract from Mouth to Anus Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine|Greenspring StationThe Johns Hopkins Hospital is a Teaching hospital in Baltimore Maryland Events 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships 110 men and Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ^[1] He is interred in North Hampton, New Hampshire. North Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. His daughter Isabel was married to noted photographer Fred Eberstadt, and his granddaughter, Fernanda Eberstadt, is an acclaimed author. Fernanda Eberstadt (born 1960 in New York City) is an American Writer.

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.

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:

A girl who is bespectacled

She may not get her nectacled

But safety pins and bassinets

Await the girl who fassinets. A pun (or paronomasia) is a Phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding Words for humorous or Rhetorical Dorothy Parker (August 22 1893&ndashJune 7 1967 was an American writer and poet best known for her caustic Wit, wisecracks and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles

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:

Free from flashiness, free from trashiness

Is the essence of ogdenashiness. Morris Gilbert Bishop ( April 15, 1893 &mdash November 20, 1973) was an American scholar historian biographer author and humorist

Rich, original, rash and rational

Stands the monument ogdenational!^[4]

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 (December 6 1886 &ndash July 30 1918 was an American Journalist, poet literary critic, Lecturer,and editor. "

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree. See Billboard (Turkish magazine Billboard is a weekly American Magazine devoted to the Music industry

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

Nash was a baseball fan, and he wrote a poem titled "Lineup for Yesterday," an alphabetical poem listing baseball immortals. Baseball is a Bat-and-ball Sport played between two teams of nine players each ^[5] Published in Sport magazine in January 1949, the poem pays tribute to the baseball greats and to his own fanaticism, in alphabetical order. SPORT magazine was the original major general interest American sports magazine Here is a sampling from his A to Z list:^[6]

C is for Cobb, Who grew spikes and not corn, And made all the basemen Wish they weren't born. Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (December 18 1886 – July 17 1961 nicknamed " The Georgia Peach," was a baseball player and is regarded by historians

D is for Dean, The grammatical Diz, When they asked, Who's the tops? Said correctly, I is. Jerome Hanna "Dizzy" Dean ( January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974) was an American Pitcher in Major League Baseball

E is for Evers, His jaw in advance; Never afraid To Tinker with Chance. John Joseph Evers ( July 21, 1881 – March 28, 1947) was a Major League Baseball player and manager. Joseph Bert Tinker ( July 27, 1880 - July 27, 1948) was a Major League Baseball player and manager. Frank Leroy Chance ( September 9, 1877 &ndash September 15, 1924) was a Major League Baseball player at the turn of the 20th

F is for Fordham And Frankie and Frisch; I wish he were back With the Giants, I wish. Francis "Frankie" Frisch ( September 9, 1898 — March 12, 1973) nicknamed the Fordham Flash, or The Old Flash The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in, that currently play in the National League West Division.

G is for Gehrig, The Pride of the Stadium; His record pure gold, His courage, pure radium. Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig ( June 19 1903  – June 2 1941) born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American

H is for Hornsby; When pitching to Rog, The pitcher would pitch, Then the pitcher would dodge. Rogers Hornsby ( April 27, 1896 in Winters Texas - January 5, 1963 in Chicago Illinois) nicknamed "The Rajah"

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. Cornelius Alexander Mack ( December 22, 1862  – February 8, 1956) born Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, was an American The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of The Bronx, in New York City, New York.

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 (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and Le Carnaval des Animaux ( The Carnival of the Animals) is a Musical suite of fourteen movements by the French

Ogden Nash stamp

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. A postage stamp is an adhesive paper evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. 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 section. Four years later, the first issue took place in Baltimore on August 19th. The first day of issue is the day on which a Postage stamp, Postal card or Stamped envelope is put on sale within the country or territory of the 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

External links

• 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
• Ogden Nash at Find A Grave
• Blogden Nash - Cataloging the global reach and influence of Ogden Nash on contemporary life. Find A Grave is a Website allowing its users to access maintain and expand an online Database of Burial records

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