Format:
Book
Title:
The fireside book of humorous poetry / edited by William Cole ; with the original illustrations by Tenniel [and others].
Author:
Cole, William, 1919-2000.
Call Number:
808.81 C676fi
Publisher, Date:
New York : Simon and Schuster, 1959.
Description:
xix, 522 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Subjects:
Humorous poetry.
Contents:
The Other Animals (in which the poet dwells on the denizens of field, water, and air disclosed a strange fixation on llamas) -- Eccentrics and Individualists (portraits of some free souls who stand far from the maddening crowd) -- Edibles, Potables and Smokeables (mostly in praise) -- Juveniles (poems about, but not for, children) -- The Soul of Wit (an onmium-gatherum of clerihews, epigrams and other pithy pieces) -- Stories (most improbable) -- Bores and Boobs (in which some foolish and familiar types get their poetic comeuppance) -- Races, Places and Dialects (in which the poet shows that although it is one world there is still room for variety) -- Parody and Spoof (in which the poet mimics his betters and lessers, and happily points up the pretentious) -- Words on Music (in which the poet considers a sister art) -- Primitive (poems that are so bad but they're good) -- In Praise and Dispraise of Love (in which the poet, quite properly, dwells on kissing and courtship, marriage and remembrance) -- The Literary Life (in which the critics are disemboweled, and we have various views on writing, the press and literary affectations) -- No Sense At All (in which the poet lets himself go and creates a world that makes more sense than this one) -- Women (in which they are looked at with a sometimes skeptical eye) -- Playful and Tricky (strange verse forms, tricky meter and fun with the pliable English language) -- Our Time Is Out of Joint (in which the poet considers atoms, advertising, analysis and other things he never had to think about before) -- Harangue and Misanthropy (in which the poet impales with the pen and crowns wit the typewriter) -- The Way of the World (philosophic ruminations and observations on the throes of living, most of which go to prove that 'twas ever thus).
Partial contents: Limberick / Conrad Aiken -- Grandmamma's birthday / Hilaire Belloc -- Sir Joshua Reynolds / William Blake -- Bookworms / Robert Burns -- Elegy on the loss of U.S. submarine S4 / Congressman H.C. Canfield -- Song of the seaweed (excerpt) / Eliza Cook -- To my friends / Peter De Vries -- Jacobean ; Theological / Clifton Fadiman -- Song of Mr. Toad / Kenneth Grahame -- Traveler's curse after misdirection / Robert Graves -- Mrs. Judge Jenkins / Bret Harte -- Breathes there a man with hide so tough / Samuel Hoffenstein -- Jack the Ripper / Allan M. Laing -- Fragment from "Clemo Uti-the water lilies" / Ring Lardner -- To a small boy standing on my shoes while I am wearing them / Ogden Nash -- Options / O. Henry -- Thomas Carlyle ; Observation ; One perfect rose / Dorothy Parker -- Gentle echo on woman / Jonathan Swift -- Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec'd / Mark Twain -- Fashions in dogs / E.B. White -- Song about whiskers / P.G. Wodehouse.