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Light poetry, also called light verse, is poetry that is less serious than other poetry to which it could be compared. Poems considered "light" are usually brief, on a less serious subject, and feature wordplay, including puns. Light poetry is sometimes condemned as doggerel, or thought of as poetry composed casually or on the fly, without much thought to convention; it sometimes is used to label tasteless or amateur verse. Much such poetry is given to satirical or erotic topics; much of it is love poetry .
While light poetry, by definition, is less serious than other poetry, a number of important poets are well known for light poetry. In classical antiquity, authors who were well known for light poetry include Anacreon and Callimachus, who wrote in Greek; their Latin counterparts include Catullus and Martial.
In English, poets who are well known for light poetry include:
- Ben Jonson
- many of the Cavalier poets
- Alexander PopeAlexander Pope ( May 21, 1688 May 30, 1744) was a well known English poet and writer. Born to a Catholic family in 1688, Alexander was educated mostly outside "normal" schools and colleges as a result of the penal laws that were in force at the time to up
- Henry Austin DobsonHenry Austin Dobson ( January 18, 1840 September 2, 1921) was an English poet and essayist. He was born at Plymouth, the eldest son of George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, of French descent. When he was about eight, the family moved to Holyhead, and
- Edward LearEdward Lear, 1812-1888 Eagle Owl, Edward Lear, 1837 Another Edward Lear owl, in his more familiar style Edward Lear ( 12 May 1812 29 January 1888) was an artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and his limericks, a form which he po
- Ogden NashFrederic Ogden Nash ( August 19, 1902 May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy, funny, light verse. Nash was born in Rye, New York. His father owned and operated an import-export company, and because of business obligations Nash's f
- Dorothy ParkerDorothy Parker (born Dorothy Rothschild) ( August 22, 1893 June 7, 1967) was an American writer and poet best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century urban foibles. Born in West End, New Jersey, Parker first sold some poems t
See also:
- ClerihewA clerihew is a humorous verse, rather similar to a limerick, that generally uses the name of a well known person at the end of the first or second line. The form was invented by and is named for Edmund Clerihew Bentley. The clerihew is usually whimsical,
- Double dactylA dactyl is a poetic foot of the form (ON-off-off). For example, interstate, realize, microphone, cereal, limerick, etc. A double dactyl is two dactyls in a row. A double dactyl is also a verse form, otherwise known as "Higgeldy piggeldy". Like a limerick
- Epigram
- Limerick (poetry)
- McWhirtle
- Nonsense verse
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Poetic form
