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A review by littleredhat
The Nation's Favourite: Comic Poems by Griff Rhys Jones
4.0
This was a charming collection of various humorous poems from a range of writers and historical periods, with some more prolific comedic poets having more than one entry.
Allow me to pick out a few personal highlights. Spike Milligan, whose surreal comic writing for the Goons I greatly admire, naturally made an appearance. I was also very pleased to see Victoria Wood's song "Saturday Night" - which, being a Northern English woman, I particularly relish, and which resulted in a little acapella karaoke session. An extract from Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", which I studied at university and which is often overshadowed by Alice, is another treasure in mock-epic form.
Interestingly, the book also opened my eyes to how little of Edward Lear I've read, which I now intend to remedy. "The Owl and the Pussycat" has been a favourite from childhood, and I've seen one or two of his distinctive limericks, but here, I found myself enchanted by "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bó", where nonsense verse is perfectly utilised to convey a rather tragic and touching tale of love.
This book is a great introduction to comic verse in general, and with such a wide range, there's bound to be one or two pieces to tickle the funny bones of any reader.
Allow me to pick out a few personal highlights. Spike Milligan, whose surreal comic writing for the Goons I greatly admire, naturally made an appearance. I was also very pleased to see Victoria Wood's song "Saturday Night" - which, being a Northern English woman, I particularly relish, and which resulted in a little acapella karaoke session. An extract from Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", which I studied at university and which is often overshadowed by Alice, is another treasure in mock-epic form.
Interestingly, the book also opened my eyes to how little of Edward Lear I've read, which I now intend to remedy. "The Owl and the Pussycat" has been a favourite from childhood, and I've seen one or two of his distinctive limericks, but here, I found myself enchanted by "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bó", where nonsense verse is perfectly utilised to convey a rather tragic and touching tale of love.
This book is a great introduction to comic verse in general, and with such a wide range, there's bound to be one or two pieces to tickle the funny bones of any reader.