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The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe By: James Parton (1822-1891) |
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THE HUMOROUS POETRY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FROM CHAUCER TO SAXE.
Narratives, Satires, Enigmas, Burlesques, Parodies, Travesties,
Epigrams, Epitaphs, Translations, Including the Most Celebrated Comic
Poems of the Anti Jacobin, Rejected Addresses, the Ingoldsby Legends,
Blackwood's Magazine, Bentley's Miscellany, and Punch. With More Than Two Hundred Epigrams, and the Choicest Humorous Poetry
of Wolcott, Cowper, Lamb, Thackeray, Praed, Swift, Scott, Holmes,
Aytoun, Gay, Burns, Southey, Saxe, Hood, Prior, Coleridge, Byron,
Moore, Lowell, Etc. WITH NOTES, EXPLANATORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL, BY JAMES PARTON. PREFACE. The design of the projector of this volume was, that it should
contain the Best of the shorter humorous poems in the literatures
of England and the United States, except: Poems so local or cotemporary in subject or allusion, as not to be
readily understood by the modern American reader; Poems which, from the freedom of expression allowed in the healthy
ages, can not now be read aloud in a company of men and women; Poems that have become perfectly familiar to every body, from their
incessant reproduction in school books and newspapers; and Poems by living American authors, who have collected their humorous
pieces from the periodicals in which most of them originally appeared,
and given them to the world in their own names. Holmes, Saxe, and Lowell are, therefore, only REPRESENTED in this
collection. To have done more than fairly represent them, had been to
infringe rights which are doubly sacred, because they are not
protected by law. To have done less would have deprived the reader of
a most convenient means of observing that, in a kind of composition
confessed to be among the most difficult, our native wits are not
excelled by foreign. The editor expected to be embarrassed with a profusion of material for
his purpose. But, on a survey of the poetical literature of the two
countries, it was discovered that, of really excellent humorous
poetry, of the kinds universally interesting, untainted by obscenity,
not marred by coarseness of language, nor obscured by remote allusion,
the quantity in existence is not great. It is thought that this volume
contains a very large proportion of the best pieces that haveappeared. An unexpected feature of the book is, that there is not a line in it
by a female hand. The alleged foibles of the Fair have given occasion
to libraries of comic verse; yet, with diligent search, no humorous
poems by women have been found which are of merit sufficient to give
them claim to a place in a collection like this. That lively wit and
graceful gayety, that quick perception of the absurd, which ladies are
continually displaying in their conversation and correspondence,
never, it seems, suggest the successful epigram, or inspire happy
satirical verse. The reader will not be annoyed by an impertinent superfluity of notes.
At the end of the volume may be found a list of the sources from which
its contents have been taken. For the convenience of those who live
remote from biographical dictionaries, a few dates and other
particulars have been added to the mention of each name. For valuable
contributions to this portion of the volume, and for much
well directed work upon other parts of it, the reader is indebted to
Mr. T. BUTLER GUNN, of this city. There is, certainly, nothing more delightful than the fun of a man of
genius. Humor, as Mr. Thackeray observes, is charming, and poetry is
charming, but the blending of the two in the same composition is
irresistible. There is much nonsense in this book, and some folly, and
a little ill nature; but there is more wisdom than either. They who
possess it may congratulate themselves upon having the largest
collection ever made of the sportive effusions of genius.
INDEX. MISCELLANEOUS. SUBJECT. AUTHOR. To my Empty Purse Chaucer
To Chloe Peter Pindar
To a Fly Peter Pindar
Man may be Happy Peter Pindar
Address to the Toothache Burns
The Pig Southey
Snuff Southey
Farewell to Tobacco Lamb
Written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos Byron
The Lisbon Packet Byron
To Fanny Moore
Young Jessie Moore
Rings and Seals Moore
Nets and Cages Moore
Salad Sydney Smith
My Letters Barham
The Poplar Barham
Spring Hood
Ode on a Distant Prospect of Clapham Academy Hood
Schools and School fellows Praed
The Vicar Praed
The Bachelor's Cane bottomed Chair Thackeray
Stanzas to Pale Ale Punch
Children must be paid for Punch
The Musquito Bryant
To the Lady in the Chemisette with Black Buttons Willis
Come out, Love Willis
The White Chip Hat Willis
You know if it was you Willis
The Declaration Willis
Love in a Cottage Willis
To Helen in a Huff Willis
The Height of the Ridiculous O... Continue reading book >>
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Genres for this book |
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Humor |
Literature |
Poetry |
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