This document provides examples of different poetic forms and styles, including nonsense verse, limericks, clerihews, parodies, and advertising jingles. It discusses poets such as Lewis Carroll, Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, and e.e. cummings who used unconventional styles. It also summarizes Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" to illustrate a more traditional poem structured through schemes, and analyzes e.e. cummings' "love" as an example of a poem structured through tropes. The document concludes by providing lyrics to children's songs and advertising slogans as additional examples of poetic forms.

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POETRY
by Don L. F. Nilsen and
Alleen Pace Nilsen

2. Unconventional Poetry:
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4. Alleen’s Poetry Day at A.S.U.
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• Poems are for sharing
out loud.
• The difference between
prose and poetry is
rhetorical density:
schemes and tropes.
• Poems are emotional
and sensual.

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EDMUND CLERIHEW BENTLEY
• Edmund Clerihew Bentley invented a satiric
verse form called the “clerihew.”
• When their lordships asked Bacon
• How many bribes he had taken
• He had at least the grace
• To get very red in the face.

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GELETT BURGESS
• In 1901, Burgess wrote a playful parody of
Emily Dickenson’s “I Never Saw a Moor.”
Burgess’s poem went as follows:
• I never saw a Purple Cow,
• I never Hope to See one.
• But I can Tell you Anyhow,
• I’d rather see than Be one!

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• Burgess was forced to recite this ditty
so often that in desperation he wrote a
new poem:
• Oh Yes, I wrote “The Purple Cow.”
• I’m Sorry now I Wrote it.
• But I can Tell you Anyhow,
• I’ll Kill you if you Quote it.”

8. George Carlin: “I’m a Modern Man”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZGzmKjsAoA
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LEWIS CARROLL
• Lewis Carroll wrote parodies and
nonsense verse:
• ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
• Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
• all mimsy were the borogroves,
• And the mome raths outgrabe.

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ALLEN GINSBERG
• When Allen Ginsberg ushered in the age of
“Beat” poetry with “Howl,” people were
amazed that a poem about depression and
suffering could also be exuberant and
exciting and filled with such fresh and
humorous images as “angel-headed
hipsters,” from “Zen New Jersey,” eating
“the lamb stew of the imagination,” and
being “run down by the drunken taxicabs of
Absolute Reality.”

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EDWARD LEAR
• Edward Lear wrote “learics.” The name of
the genre was later changed to “limericks.”
• There is a young lady whose nose,
• Continually prospers and grows;
• When it grew out of sight,
• She exclaimed in a fright
• “Oh! Farewell to the end of my nose!”

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JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
• Lowell was a Harvard professor who was
opposed to the Mexican War. He invented a
character by the name of Birdofredum Sawin
as a satiric spokesperson for his anti-war
sentiments.
• Birdofredum had lost an arm, a leg, and an
eye in the war, so he planned to go into
politics as a way of cashing in on his
“disfigurements.” His political speeches
went like this:

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• If, while you’re lectioneerin round,
some curious chap should beg
• To know my views o’ state affairs, just
answer WOODEN LEG!
• If they ain’t satisfied with that, and
kinda pry and doubt,
• And ax for somethin’ definite, just say
ONE EYE PUT OUT!
• In talking about his “platform”
Birdofredum continues:

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• Then you can call me
“Timbertoes”—that’s what the
people likes!....
• “Old Timbertoes,” you see, ‘s a
creed it’s safe to be quite bold on,
• There’s nothin in’t the other side
can any ways get hold on.

15. Edna Saint Vincent Millay:
A Very Poetic Name
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JULIA MOORE
• Julia Moore, the “Sweet Singer of Michigan” wrote
funeral poems:
• One morning in April, a short time ago.
• Libbie was alive and gay;
• Her Savior called her, she had to go,
• Ere the close of that pleasant day.
• While eating dinner, this dear little child
• Was choked on a piece of beef.
• Doctors came, tried their skill awhile,
• But none could give relief.

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• Mark Twain confessed to studying Julia
Moore’s poetry to learn the art of
writing “funny” poems. He is said to
have used Moore as the model for
Emmaline Grangerford, who wrote
“Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec’d,”
in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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MATTHEW PRIOR
• Matthew Prior was a 17th
-century poet who
wrote epigrams:
• Sir, I admit your general rule,
• That every poet is a fool:
• But you yourself may serve to show it,
• That every fool is not a poet.

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DR. SEUSS
• Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote under the
names of Theo LeSieg, Rosetta Stone,
and Dr. Seuss.
• When Dr. Seuss was awarded an
honorary doctorate at a college
graduation, the entire audience stood
up and recited Green Eggs and Ham.

20. Alliteration: Jack Webb and Johnny Carson: “Kleptomania”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjquGpmgwOo
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COL. D. STEAMER
• Col. D. Steamer was the pen name of Harry
Graham, an English soldier who produced a
book of “Little Willie” or “Little Billie”
poems.
• Billy, in one of his nice, new sashes,
• Fell in the fire and was burned to ashes.
• Now, although the room grows chilly,
• I haven’t the heart to poke poor Billy.

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ENGAGEMENT AND TRANSCENDENCE
• Good poetry usually contains much
sensual imagery. Poetry is usually
about the interaction between a human
being and the human being’s senses of
smell, taste, touch, sound, and sight.
• But good poetry is also often
transcendent.

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Synesthesia

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The Jasmine Lightness of the Moon
by William Carlos Williams
To a Solitary Disciple
Rather notice, mon cher,
that the moon is tilted above
the point of the steeple
than that its color
is shell-pink
Rather observe
that it is early morning
than that the sky is smooth
as a turquoise.

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Rather grasp
how the dark
converging lines
of the steeple
meet at the pinnacle—
perceive how
its little ornament
tries to stop them--

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See how it fails!
See how the converging lines
of the hexagonal spire
escape upward—
receding, dividing!
--sepals
that guard and contain
the flower!

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Observe
how motionless
the eaten moon
lies in the protecting lines
It is true:
in the light colors
of morning
brown-stone and slate
shine orange and dark blue.

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But observe
the oppressive weight
of the squat edifice!
Observe
the jasmine lightness
of the moon.

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POETIC LICENSE,
SCHEMES AND TROPES
• The syntax of poetry is just as structured as is the syntax of prose, but
it follows different rules.
• Poetry is usually structured in terms of end-rhyme, internal rhyme,
scansion, alliteration, assonance, and rhythm. These surface-
structure repetitions are called “schemes.”
• Robert Frost writes poetry that is based on schemes.
• In addition, poetry might have metaphor, paradox, enigma, symbolism,
double entendre, parody, irony, satire, deadpan, or antithesis. These
deep-structure meaning-based concepts are called “tropes.”
• e. e. cummings writes poetry that is based on “tropes.”

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the wood and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

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He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.

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POETRY STRUCTURED BY TROPES
• In “love,” e. e. cummings breaks almost all of
the rules not only of grammar but of poetry.
• He also uses Irony, Antithesis and Enigma to
exploit the paradoxes and contradictions of
“love.”
• Note that cummings also uses slant rhyme in
order to break normal poetic conventions.

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love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more frequent than to fail
it is most mad and moonly
and less it shall unbe
than all the sea which only
is deeper than the sea

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love is less always than to win
less never than alive
less bigger than the least begin
less littler than forgive
it is most sane and sunly
and more it cannot die
than all the sky which only
is higher than the sky

35. Humorous poetry is based on tropes.
Here are some examples from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Jimmy Jet and His TV Set (28-29)
• Smart (35)
• Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (70-71)
• The Dirtiest Man in the World (96-97)
• Lazy Jane (87)
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36. “Three Blind Mice”
Featuring Taryn Nilsen, Our Grand Daughter
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37. The Best Poetic Trope: Deadpan Humor
Mary Maxwell’s Deadpan Prayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFCn3itBFE
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38. In Conclusion, Here are Some Examples of
Nonsense Verse, Often in the form of Song Lyrics
99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer,
If one of those bottles should happen to fall,
98 bottles of beer on the wall….
99 people lying in the bed,
99 people, and one of them said, “Roll over.”
They all rolled over, and one rolled out.
98 people lyling in the bed….
I went up one set of stairs Just like me.
I went up another set of stairs Just like me.
I went up a third set of stairs Just like me.
And I saw a monkey Just like me.
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39. I saw a rotten banana.
I one it. I two it.
I three it. I four it.
I five it. I six it.
I seven it. I eight it.
(or I jumped over it and you ate it)
I belong to a secret organization, and I can authorize you to join.
But you must chant with me the secret incantation:
“Owaa taagoo Siam.”
There are also jump-rope rhymes,
And counting rhymes,
Can you think of other types of folk poetry?
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40. “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss
I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like green eggs and ham.
Would you like them here or there?
I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like lGreen eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse?
I do not like them in a house. I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there. I do not like them Anywhere
I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam-I-am.
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41. “Would you like to swing on a star?”
Would you like to swing on a star,
Carry moonbeams home in a jar,
And be better off than you are,
Or would you rather be a mule.
A mule is an animal with long funny ears.
He kicks up at anything he hears.
His back is brawny, but his brain is weak.
He’s just plain stupid with a stubborn streak,
And by the way, if you hate to go to school,
You may grow up to be a mule.
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42. Or would you like to swing on a star,
Carry moonbeams home in a jar,
And be better off than you are,
Or would you rather be a pig?
A pig is an animal with dirt on his face.
Its feet are a terrible disgrace.
He has no manners when it eats its food.
He’s fat and sloppy, and extremely rude,
But if you don’t care a feather or a fig,
You may grow up to be a pig.
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43. Or would you like to swing on a star,
Carry moonbeams home in a jar,
And be better off than you are,
Or would you rather be a fish?
A fish won’t do anything but swim in a brook.
He can’t write his name, or read a book.
To fool the people is his only thought
And though he’s slippery, he still gets caught,
But then if that sort of life is what you wish,
You may grow up to be a fish
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44. Mairzy Doats
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you.
Now if the words sound queer and funny to your ear,
Just a little bit jumbled up and jivey,
Sing, “Mares eat oats, and does eat oats,
And little teeny lambs eat ivy.
Oh, Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you.
Say! A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you.
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45. Ditties and Jingles in Advertising
Oh I’d love to be an Oscar Meyer Wiener.
That is what I really want to be,
Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener,
Then everyone would be in love with me.
Everybody doesn’t like something,
But nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.
Call Roto Rooter, that’s the name,
And away goes trouble, down the drain.
I’m a Pepper; she’s a Pepper;
Wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper too?
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46. Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow
Meow Meow Meow Meow Meow.
Meow Mix: Cats ask for it by name.
M’m M’m Good, M’m M’m Good.
That’s what Campbell’s Soups are,
M’m M’m Good.
I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony,
I’d like to bye the world a Coke and keep it company.
It’s the real thing. Coca Cola is Coke.
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47. Double your pleasure. Double your fun,
With double good, double good, Doublemint
Doublemint gum.
Two all beef patties, special lettuce,
Cheese, pickles, onions
On a sesame seed bun.
Big Mac, I’m lovin’ it.
Like a good neighbor,
State Farm is there.
When You say Budweiser,
You’ve said it all.
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