American Wits: An Anthology of Light Verse

edited by john hollander

Irreverent, playful, and inventive, the American light verse of the past century offers a brimming feast of urbane pleasures. Bubbling over with engaging parodies, sparkling aphorisms, and wisecracking asides, the poems gathered here display a sure-footed handling of the poet's art. The foremost practitioners of light verse "took delight not only in what they had to say but in their precise manner of saying it," writes John Hollander in his introduction. "What makes it mean something is... the unique pleasure that poets and readers alike can take in that craft."