Ogden Nash Books

This short board-book consists of less than 50 words, but they are special words by one of the funniest poets who ever lived.

Kids delight in the 14 pages of colorful Mark Corcoran watercolors, that illustrate the "moments dark and grim" of "how we look to him" and the fact that hippos probably "delight the eye/ Of other hippopotami."

This literary feast for babies and toddlers is totally terrific! Alyssa A. Lappen

The struggle with my totally unique high school insecurities was confined by my introduction to Ogden Nash's "The Hippopotamus." In the early days of "60 Minutes," Harry Reasoner and Andy Rooney compiled a presentation entitled, "An Essay on Ugly." Their work provided a profound (but light) insight into the feelings of physical inferiority. At the end, they appropriately encapsulated their presentation with "The Hippopotamus." Their 10-minute offering had a surprisingly strong influence for years to come. For example, I never understood poetry in my high school literature classes until "The Hippopotamus" induced me to read other of Nash's work. My interest in Nash's writing prompted me to appreciate poetry in general. I would have never survived reading T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland" without the influence of Nash. As a result (and 30 years later), I was excited to learn about David Stuart's THE LIFE AND RHYMES OF OGDEN NASH.

Anyone who has ever smiled after reading a Nash poem will enjoy Stuart's offering. Stuart has a vivid writing style that might be considered overly sophisticated for a Nash biography. Upon reading the first 10 pages, I thought the book was appalling shabby. I soon realized the problem was not Stuart's writing, but Nash's early life. His early life was uneventful (understatement)! Nash's life becomes more interesting during his persistent courtship with his beloved Frances. Stuart offers an unflattering portrayal of Frances. With his lifestyle, the reader will wonder how Ogden was able to remain devoutly faithful to her. He was. Frances wasn't a "witch," but might have been a word that rhymes with it. Frances' personality and influence on Ogden will remain undocumented. I get the impression that she is still alive, but was not interviewed as part of Stuart's research. In addition, Mrs. Nash requested that the Curtis Brown collection be unavailable to Stuart. Perhaps all of Ogden's dirt is housed with Curtis Brown collection?

Readers under the age of 30 might find sections of this biography difficult to follow. Today's generation of poets use a word processor. I doubt that Ogden ever saw one. Yet, the word processor has had a profound effect on the composition of poetry. I wish Stuart would have addressed or described Nash's writing process. Nash didn't have a database to seek out rhymes as today's writers. In addition, younger readers will have difficulty in understanding poetry payments and cost of living during and after the Great Depression. A footnote about the value of the dollar during Nash's life would have been most helpful.

David Stuart's THE LIFE AND RHYMES OF OGDEN NASH is a wonderful contribution. Anyone who likes Nash's work will thoroughly enjoy this volume.

Another series of classic Nashisms that give a hearty bellow from the gut from the surprise word-play that makes Ogden's work such a treasure. 'There's Always Another Windmill' is a collection of poems printed in 1972 (originally 1969) from Penguin Publishers, divided into two parts: Songs of Innocence and How Pleasant to Ape Mr Lear. The first a remark upon Blake, while the other Edward Lear as the has been many comparisons between the two. This being the third book of Nash's poetry I have read, and I have never been let down by anything he has written. Unfortunately this book is out of print, howevever, what is left in print is worth getting. Highly reccomended.

I purchased this book as a holiday gift for "tween" members of the family.
At this time, no feedback has come from the kids, so all I can say about it is that the book was accurately described and shipped promptly.

My son and I read it and laugh and giggle every time !!!

Spoiler alert: So many apparently gullible readers have reviewed this poem, that I'm going to tell you the entire plot. If you want to be surprised, then just move on to the next review.

(1) Belinda and three other pets *say* that they're very brave. Custard the Dragon *says* that he'd rather live some place safe. Based on what they *say* about themselves, the four "brave" characters tease the one "cowardly" character.

(2) When a pirate breaks into the house, the four "brave" characters instantly turn tail and run away. Cowardly Custard, however, stands his ground during the attack and ends up eating the pirate.

(3) Once the danger is past, all the so-called brave characters come back and thank Custard.

(4) Ultimately, however -- and this is more like the real world than a fairy tale -- Belinda and the "brave" pets go back to their habit of saying that they're really brave, and Custard goes back to saying that he'd really rather live in a nice safe place.

This poem is an interesting bit of commentary on our own willful blindness to our faults, our narcissistic dependence on erroneous self-talk, and one of our stupider working definitions of bravery.

This book is an excellent opportunity for you to talk to your kids about the difference between what people *say* and how they behave. Who's really the brave character after all? Is it always safe to trust a person's self-description? Is there anything wrong with Custard preferring security to danger? If you were there, would you want to tease Custard, or to tell that self-deceived Belinda to put a sock in it? If you saw someone picking on another person on the playground just because they're different, then should you be ganging up with the Belindas of the world, or sticking up for the Custards?

If you're at all familiar with the parable of the two sons in the vineyard (see Matthew 21:31's "Which of the two did his father's will?" question), then you won't have any trouble figuring out the difference between Belinda's brave words and Custard's brave actions. This poem may be beyond the ken of a two year old, but it shouldn't have been so confusing for so many adult reviewers. Just repeat after me: "Actions speak louder than words," and "Do not believe everything you hear."

It is wonderful poem of bravery and adventure for children.

I enjoy the poetry of Ogden Nash -- he has a fun style, which is well-apparent in this book. The pictures are delightful also. I felt a little let down by the author's ending because I expected the dragon to rise above his fears. However, I used the story as an opportunity to discuss with my child how she thought the story should finish. Together we wrote in a new ending line and are happy with the result. It probably turned out better with her getting involved in the story this way.

Loved the book. Ogden Nash? Not so much. As a little boy I loved his verses and would browse through THE NEW YORKER slapping the pages from left to right to see if they were carrying a new Nash poem that week. Often as not, they were, then I'd be happy, crawling away toward my treehouse to memorize his goofy sense of humor and his sophisticated attitude towards marriage. I can see how, without Ogden Nash, there might never have been a Stephen Sondheim. Parker is his ideal biographer. Obviously he had a lot of assistance from Nash's two enigmatic daughters, Linell and Isabel, whose photographs make them look like two grave Snow Whites. And yet he is not afraid to call a spade a spade, and we get the picture that the mother of these two girls, Frances, was often a Xanthippe for reasons unknown.

It's great that Parker did so much work towards reconstructing Nash's other life as a Broadway lyricist, and I'm sure that his account of Nash's work with Kurt Weill and with Vernon Duke will never be excelled.

He doesn't really pay much attention to the Hollywood work, however, and I don't know if he even bothered screening the Jeanette MacDonald starrer THE FIREFLY (co-written with Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett), which is nothing short of excellent.

The story gets grim as Nash ages and his career takes a nosedive. You get to despise Roger Angell, Nash's editor at THE NEW YORKER, for being such an obseqious Uriah Heep, even when he's rejecting Nash's latest efforts. It's like he delights in kicking Nash's butt while kissing it at the same time. Nash seems aware of Angell's double nature, but doesn't really know what to do about it. THE NEW YORKER seems like a velvet trap--can't live without it, but it tears you to pieces inside. I also enjoyed reading the parodies or pastiches of Nash's verse that Parker has collected from all different sources, from Dorothy Parker to Scott Fitzgerald, everyone wanted a piece of the man.

To top it all off, Dorothy Lamour got upset with Nash and laid into him with both barrels, when he wrote a poem for her to read on the air that contained the word "conundrum." She thought it risque, perhaps confusing it with "condom," and refused to save her reputation. Furious, she lashed out, "If you don't think I know what that word means--and that I'll be fool enough to say it on the air--you're crazy! I wasn't born yesterday!" Nash wrote to Frances, "she's very pleasant but as dumb as you would imagine." (Not as bad as his opinion of poor Ginger Rogers: "coarse, painted, dyed.")

The philosopher poet, Ogden Nash,
Though born and wed to privilege,
was throughout his lifetime frightfully far from bogged in cash
(Or at least he so lamented).
Doug Parker says,
while assuring us his penury never quite prevented
Nash from keeping house or houses
Servant-staffed while traveling
in luxury with wife and kids and friends with kids and spouses.
Though his efforts yielded flops
In Hollywood and Broadway ventures,
rhymes he wrote for glossies and anthologies and his hops
Around the lecture circuit
(Which, though ruinous
To his fragile health, he never would quite shirk it)
Kept his ledger black enough.
Indeed, couplets comparing
the speed of bonbons versus bourbon and similar wacky stuff
(Like rhymes that ridiculed
A bluenosed "Ut" named Smoot
whose Senate stint by tariff acts and smiting smut was fueled)
Consistently kept Mr. Nash `n'
Fran `n' Lin `n' Isabel
(his wife and daughters) living in quite comfy fashion.
Nash's life was not a bore,
But Parker's grand obsession
With minutia made me often want to holler "Less is more!"
And, moreover, many others'
In the story, though tangential,
Had lives of greater interest were I to voice my `druthers.

:-)
- stanwhjr -

Mr. Parker has written a terrific biography of a fasinating man. The book is meticulously researched and beautifully written. I was very impressed with this scholarly work and I am anxious to read Mr. Parker's next endeavor. Highly recommended!

When I think of Ogden Nash, I think first of a poem I read in school a long time ago titled "The Purist." I have read it too many times to actually laugh out loud again, but I still smile when I read it. I become the kid I once was somehow, happy to hear the joke over and over again.

I think Ogden Nash brings back memories for many older Americans. When I was reading the new biography Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse by Douglas M. Parker, while eating a sweet roll in Panera last week, an older man noticed. As he passed my table he said, "Ah, Ogden Nash, he was a wonderful man." I noticed the older man, who looked like a retired executive, having a look of competence and industry, was cleaning tables. Was he laid off by a corporation, replaced by someone young? Was he working at Panera because he was unable to find a management job in the new economy, which disvalues the older, experienced worker? Is Nash for him a link to a happier time, his time?

Nash has often been a bright spot in a dark time. He became popular for his humorous poetry during the Great Depression when his works began to appear regularly in The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, and other magazines. Because he was never paid much for his poems, he had to write and sell a lot of them, which he continued to do into the 1960s, when changing tastes made his work harder to sell. By the time of his death in 1971, he had published over a thousand poems.

Nash did not only write poetry. He tried his hand as a book editor, magazine editor, screen writer, playwright, lyricist, and game show panelist. He was valued as an editor at Doubleday and other publishers, but the pay was poor and he left the profession to write fulltime. His efforts in Hollywood and on Broadway always started with lots of promise but usually fizzled. Radio and television appearances eventually paid fairly well, but poetry was his steady income.

Being a writer, he often worked from home. Unlike many men of his era, he seems to have spent much time with his two daughters. On several occasions, he was the primary parent as his wife took long European vacations. It may not have been difficult to do, as the family always had servants. His wife had her own money inherited from her "old family" Baltimore ancestors. She and Nash were always able to live the country club and martini life.

I think readers will enjoy learning how involved Nash was in the literary scene of the 1920s and 1930s. He knew Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. B. White, and many others. Douglas M. Parker also tells much about mid-twentieth century world of publishing. Fans of The New Yorker will especially want to read this book.

Some will enjoy the book for their own memories. There are many Nash verses scattered throughout the text.

Read "The Purist." The punch line ends with a word that rhymes with "smile."

Many of us probably recognize Ogden Nash as the creator of humorous poetry, but he was a man of far greater accomplishments than might be generally known.In this biography, Doug Parker gives a very complete and fascinating overview of Nash and the diversity of his works, which included movie scripts and--much to my surprise--song lyrics. Parker relates his story in manageable sequences, interspersing just enough famous lines from Nash to lure the reader into wanting to read more of the man's work. One would think that Parker knew Nash personally because of the skillful manner in which he discreetly discusses the poet's health problems, his devotion to his family, his dislike of confrontation, and the entire span of his creative life.

It took an impressive amount of research to create this interesting account of Nash's life, and Parker made much use of Nash's personal letters. He does not overwhelm the reader with excessive detail, rather, he leaves the reader feeling like one who has enjoyed a great meal but has not overeaten, and who knows he can come back for seconds by reading more of Nash's work. This is an enjoyable and informative book that gives the reader a real appreciation for the talents of Ogden Nash.

This book is the perfect complement to martini hour. It's filled with interesting historical tidbits, quotes, and photos of famous martini drinkers and the beverage in question. It's a great gift for any martini fan.

This beautiful "coffee table" style book is dedicated to that most beautiful and perfect of cocktails, the inestimable martini.

Conrad's informative text, colorful anecdotes, and lavish illustrations make this book a wonderful addition to the great miracle it celebrates.

Mix yourself a martini, (two olives, shaken -- not stirred) relax in an easy chair, and enjoy this book!

A coffee table book, defined as one where the picture to text ratio is 1:1 or greater. That doesn't diminish the collection of text and images that Barnaby Conrad has put together in this slim volume, but as an exhaustive work on the mixture of gin and vermouth garnished with an olive this is not. Conrad does manage to bring together some things that I hadn't seen or read before in my cocktail explorations, including a very dry (heh heh) bit of humor from Christopher Buckley on a presidential debate between George "Pappy" Bush and Bill Clinton called "The Three Martini Debate," derived from a Tom Brokaw quote in The New York Times that serving the two a martini and having an exchange at his house would be a good alternative format. None of the pictures made my list of favorites, although the old advertisements and movie stills were interesting, and the cartoons, mainly from The New Yorker, were fun. Only two poems, one of which I was already intimately familiar with (the Dorothy Parker), but the other was one which I will endeavor to memorize, Ogden Nash's "A Drink with Something In It."

The single thing that I learned about the cocktail itself from the book was that the original recipe called for orange bitters in a 2:1 gin and vermouth combination. Since I actually have a bottle or orange bitters after having searched for a year for one, I can give this a try.

This book is great--it has history, humor, and lots of glamorous pictures, and manages to keep the cheese factor very low. A great gift for the drinkers in your life!

Now HERE is a hip coffee-table book. It's true that it isn't as colorful (or fundamentally healthy in subject) as Drew Kampion's "Stoked: A History of Surf Culture" (ISBN 1575440628). Nor as vividly gothic as David King's "The Commissar Vanishes," containing photographs re-touched during the Stalin regime so that unpersons might become unremembered, while the old women with the thick glasses and awkward sheaves of the forbidden-book registry (updated monthly) made the rounds of the bookshops and libraries to preen the inventory (ISBN 0805052941). Nor again is it as deeply, internationally hip as Conrad's earlier "Absinthe: History in a Bottle" (1988, reprinted 1997, ISBN 0811816508). As a European-émigré acquaintance recalled, for example: "It was 1950, we had just been married, we were driving through this little town in Switzerland. It was a Sunday after church, and the place seemed deserted. But there was a large inn, where we stopped. Most of the town was there, having a glass of wine. There was also a little private room, and the local leaders were there, the mayor, the bishop, the chief of police, and the innkeeper, who had come out to see who we were. While the rest of the people were having a glass of wine, they were off to themselves, having an absinthe, a little furtively. All perfectly illegal, and totally charming. I made a witty remark about this, a little off-color. The bishop laughed heartily, and they welcomed us in and gave us each an absinthe and toasted our marriage." (See also my separate recommendation posted for the Conrad "Absinthe.")

These are all interesting coffee-table books, and they all deal with some kind of history. But none of the others starts with lines like "I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry Martini." Conrad's Martini book is the most US-pop-culture-hip of this bunch. It is light-hearted and loaded with trivia, from old magazine advertisements to collectible cocktail shakers to an unforgettable movie photo on page 53 of Joan Crawford in high-contrast black-and-white, Martini in one hand, cigarette in the other. It is an instructive history as well as a very funny narrative.

By the late 1970s the Martini was dying out, as Conrad mentions; it was unhip, old-fashioned. By 1990 (Conrad doesn't mention but I do) a character in Eric Kraft's contemporary novel "Reservations Recommended" (ISBN 0517572338) was so out-of-it that he "ordered a martini without irony." You wouldn't have guessed it by the late 1990s when a suburban Crate-and-Barrel store was selling seemingly little else but Martini glasses and 1930s-reproduction cocktail shakers, and the Libbey Glass website offered numerous Martini models including with Z-stems. The Martini did not stay unhip for long.

it is a fun read

Being poem-illiterate, this book came by as a pleasant surprise to me.
This book is a collection of light, humurous poems. Most of the poems are about children, but there are poems on other subjects too, like marriage. Children rule the roost though.

Its the kind of book when you glance through your book rack, spot this book, pick it up to read just one poem, but can't put it down until you have re-read all the poems. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to sit back and enjoy a humurous poem peppered with puns. And if you dislike children, this book is written for you.

Its a book that you got to have on your shelf.

Nash's verse blends sense and nonsense in a way that all makes sense--with odd observations, words made up or transformed just to make the rhyme scheme, and idiosyncratic metaphors and analogies. Read them aloud, to your parents, your children, your students, your teachers, your friends. You get the idea.

Nash's work is too often regarded as light and meaningless; admittedly some of the work is very much "of it's time" now, but it is largely rich, diverse, insightful and wonderfully clever.
The rhymes are complex and intriguing and form great volumes of biting social comment. They are deliciously constructed and achingly funny at times.
Yet he seems to be an almost forgotten "Children's" poet, even if this were the case, are not some writers for Children so good as to far exceed the virtues of those who write for adults?
Rhold Dahl, J K Rowlins, Lewis Carrol and E Nesbitt spring to mind, Nash needs also to be on that hallowed list.
He really should be regarded as an American National treasure!

Ogden Nash is a poet
But he doesn't noet

If you love lines that do not bother too much about archaic rules of spelling and poetry, and are out to have fun, then here is a world you cannot miss.

This book is best enjoyed read aloud, with a few friends, with a few drinks:-)

"Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel didn't care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear's big mouth was cruel and cavernous."

Thus begins Mr. Nash's poem about brave little Isabel. A girl who is not put off or frightened even when she faces fierce bears, wicked old witches, hideous giants, troublesome doctors, AND horrible dreams!

In each case, Isabel uses her imagination and conquers. For example:

The bear said, "Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I'll eat you!"

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,
Isabel didn't scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.

Four Stars. Great, not-scary artwork by James Marshall that is colorful and fun. As a read-aloud it is a little challenging, but practice draws out the proper cadence. My two kids like this book (they are boy and girl; 4 and 6); and I like that it suggests to them that they can solve their own problems, even scary ones.

I'm fourteen and I still remember this book so clearly. Its a classic. Everyone should own this book.

My son is 4 and loves this book! We have read it every night this week, at his request. It is a wonderful book for learning new words (cavernous, scurry). It taps into my son's sense of the absurd. The theme of a child conquering big, scary things is very age appropriate. I highly recommend this book!

We got this book because we thought it was WRITTEN by James Marshall. Oops. Was told it was a good "positive book for girls" etc. kind of stuff. Yeah. Its okay. The rhymes just aren't very in-sync. Sorry, but its just okay. Some of the phraseology is not easy for younger children to understand. Since this book apparently is supposed to flow, by rhyme, taking time to explain (why Isabel gave the doctor a cure by giving him his own shot in the butt, for example) each new rhyme on each new page of Isabel's weird adventures makes it unappealing. I haven't been asked to reread this book since I bought it. PS. James Marshall does a great job illustrating, though! :)

This is absolutely my favorite children's book. Every little girl should read and enjoy it. I recommend it for big girls too. It's the best!

The writings of Ogden Nash have a unique rhythm and tempo. The humor, and style, coupled with subtle sagacity makes for a wonderful read, both aloud and to oneself. This should be required reading at all levels of education, so that students can see and hear what can really be done with words.
TONY HOROWITZ

The Best of Ogden Nash

An excellent book which comprehensively covers the USAs wittiest writer and poet's work.

Over five hundred verses gathered from a wide collection of Nash's poems results in this, a definitive Nash anthology suitable not just for college-level poetry libraries, but for general-interest lending collections. While published works comprise the bulk of this anthology, some are lesser-known works which came to light in the Nash collection at the University of Texas at Austin, and from family letters and papers, making for an outstanding, rare collection of works essential for any definitive poetry library.

Often unheard of poet, Ogden Nash, serves as a reminder that poetry itself does not need to be mushy, polite or romantic. Or for that matter psychological, philisophical or religious. Nash's poetry, written from the early 20's to the late 50's is remark on the social niceties. A critique of the love-hate relationship of men and women. A funny peek into the lives of animals. And silly stories for the sake of being silly. The uniqueness in Nash's work is not the poetry itself, but his play with words. Its clear he does not take language seriously at all which allows him to mix and maneuver words to create new ones that will create a genuine laugh. Such as: "Well I have learned that life is something about which you can't conclude anything except that it is full of vicissitudes. And when you expect logic you only come across eccentricitudes." The other aspect of Nash's writing is his outlaw verse where, although things rhyme, the rythm is thown askew.

"I know that a year has rolled around once more

When I find myself thumbing a crisp new cigarette lighter just like the coven of other cigarette lighters strewn on a shelf in the garage along with the broken tire chains and the license plates for 1934."

Nash's work was surely ahead of its time and I am dleighted to have come across such remarkable work. I highly reccomend this, not just to poetry lovers, but also to those that appreciate language and humor.

This was an excellent book if u are in the dumps and want to laugh, I sure did, it pulled me out of my 12 year depression, after i read this book i decided to go after my life long dream of becoming...

I don't really enjoy reading poetry, and I don't suggest reading volumes of poetry at a time. I do, however, suggest reading this book of Ogden Nash, reading the poems individually instead of as a collection. Some may find his verse stupid, some simple, but I find it charming.