Text 81

Once there came a man

Who said,

"Range me all men of the world in rows."

And instantly

There was terrific clamor among the people

Against being ranged in rows,

There was a loud quarrel, world-wide.

It endured for ages;

And blood was shed

By those who would not stand in rows.

Eventually, the man went to death, weeping,

And those who stayed in bloody scuffle

Knew not the great simplicity.

The 20^th century, fortunately or not, was the age of mass production, poetry included. That's why it has become satirists' paradise. In modern times, too, education spread, so comic poetry has become even more allusive, based on humorous rephrasing of well-known lines. But it is very difficult, as it has always been, to distinguish one's voice among many different voices. Undoubtedly, the one voice that can hardly be mistaken is that of the American poet Ogden Nash (1902—1971).

He was born in New York State, and entered Harvard in the class of 1924 but left after one year. That was his idea and not the dean’s. Nash spent a year as a school instructor. We may as well continue in his own inimitable manner: "…lost my entire nervous system carving lamb for a table of fourteen-year-olds. Came to New York to make my fortune as a bond salesman and in two years sold one bond − to my godmother. However, I saw a lot of good movies. After two years I landed in the advertising department of Doubleday Page. That was 1925 and I double-dayed until the beginning of 1931. Then joined the editorial staff of The New Yorker…"

Nash became a truly household poet in America. For this pragmatic country, it is quite an achievement.

Yet there seem to be at least three Ogden Nashes – an experimental craftsman; the social critic; and the skylarking humourist. More often than not, Nash lets down the bars and allows the innovator, the philosopher, and the funny fellow to kick up their heels in happy unison. That's hard enough. It was Ogden Nash who first made readers aware that something new had happened to light verse in America in the 1930s. He invented lines that run blithely on without benefit of meter and rhymes. Nash uses these lines so freely and so efficiently that he has put his trademark upon it! Uniquely recognizable his lines are.

So are the rhymes. Nash is the master of surprising words that nearly-but-do-not-quite match, words which rhyme reluctantly, words which had never before had any relation with each other and which will never be on rhyming terms again. These 'distortions' of language are livelier – and much more quotable – than any prepared accuracy! But this manner is deceptive. If one looks deeper, something dateless in Nash's mockery will be seen. Nash is not the rhyming clown, he is the laughing philosopher. That's why he is still read and popular.

And he is so literary sometimes (Text 82).