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

Gross, John J.

ISBN 10: 0199561613 / ISBN 13: 9780199561612

Published by Oxford University Press, 2009

This copy has clearly been enjoyedâ expect noticeable shelf wear and some minor creases to the cover. Binding is strong, and all pages are legible. May contain previous library markings or stamps. Seller Inventory # DBV.0199561613.A

Synopsis:

From limericks to social satire, The Oxford Book of Comic Verse offers a remarkable collection of outstanding light poetry. John Gross has brought together the finest writers in the history of the English language - from Chaucer and Skelton to Shakespeare and Swift, Lord Byron to Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson to John Updike, as well as witty song lyrics from such artists as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter - offering delightful examples of their comic verse. Drawing on many different types of verse, including epigrams, street ballads, advertising jingles, clerihew, music-hall lyrics, and the doubledactyl of the calypso, this highly entertaining collection offers an exceptionally wide range of comic pleasures. The poems 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. Compiled by one of our finest critics and anthologists, this reissue boasts a stylish new design and a fresh contemporary feel.

About the Author: John Gross is a writer and reviewer. He was editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1974 to 1981, on the staff of the New York Times from 1983 to 1988, and theatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph from 1998 to 2005. His books include The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters (1969; new edn 1991), Shylock: A Legend and Its Legacy (1992), and a memoir A Double Thread (2002). He has edited the Oxford Books of Aphorisms (1983), Essays (1991), and Literary Anecdotes (2006), and The New Oxford Book of English Prose (1998). His most recent anthology is After Shakespeare (2002).

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Oxford Book of Comic Verse (Oxford Books...
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 2009
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: acceptable
Edition: 2nd Edition