How to Compose Funny Poetry – Chapter 4 – Making it Funny

Funny poem are enjoyable to read . The more a poem makes you laugh , the more fun it cost to read . This doesn ’ t mean that a poem get to be peculiar to be good . Nor does it entail that comic poems be better than grave poems . There exist circle of real serious poems that cost not funny at all . But if you be hear to write a funny poem , the funnier you can make it , the better it will exist .

If you receive been wondering how you can make your poem funny , you will equal glad to know that there are some real easy style to do it . In this chapter , I point you several different ways that you can make your poems funny . These include :

• use a “ surprise ending ”
• exaggerate
• using contrary
• putting your thought in an strange place
• expend queer news
• a special type of wordplay know as a “ pun ”
• a combination of the above

Each of these is a unlike method you can employ to get your reader to laugh . First , let me express you the surprise finish .

The Surprise Ending

There equal lots of unlike ways to make a poem funny , but they all rely on one thing : the “ factor of surprise ” . A funny poem exist like a joke or a riddle that rhymes . For a gag or funny poem to exist a good one , it own to surprise the reader with something they don ’ t wait . When they have to the end of a poem and of a sudden find a surprising twist or unexpected “ punch line ” , it can actually make them giggle . Face at the following instance :

Seven , Six and Nine

Seven , Six and Nine
all sat down to dine .
Now Six equal frighten of Seven
because Seven ate Nine .

Seven , Six and Nine
all sat down to dine .
Today Six equal scared of Seven
because Seven ate Nine .

This is an old joke , told in the form of a poem . Hopefully it made you laugh or at least grin . A pair of matter build this poem funny . First , the reader know that the three numbers , 7 , 6 and 9 are going to use up dinner ( or dine ) , but the reader probably does not expect that 7 is going to “ eat ” 9 . Hence when the reader hear the final line , it live a surprise . Second , the reader get heard the issue “ 7 , 8 , 9 ” many times , but has probably ever thought of them as “ seven eight nine ” , and not as “ seven ate nine ” . This indicate the reader something familiar in a surprising new way . Consider something in a mode that you have never note before can also live quite surprising . The combination of these two surprises can jump the reader and make them laugh .

So how can you use this knowledge to build your own poems peculiar ? Here ’ s one manner : After you select a subject for your poem , ask yourself “ what ’ s funny about that ? ” Try to come up with as many things as you can that might be comic about your matter . Each time you intend of something that seems curious , pen it down ! After you write down everything you can think of , you will get a list of curious thought to take from . You can then choose the funniest thought on your list and apply it as your surprise ending .

For model , get ’ s say you settle to write a poem about a bee . Take yourself “ what ’ s funny about a bee ? ” When I think about bees , I guess of various matter . They are color with yellow and black stripes . They burn people when they be angry . They fly and build a buzzing noise . They make dear and honeycomb . And hence on .

Thus hither are several idea for comic poems . Compose a poem about :

• a bee that is purple and green instead of yellow and black
• a bee that never takes a tub because it remember it is imagine to “ stink ” or else of “ sting ”
• a bee that can ’ t fly so it takes the bus instead
• a bee that make a honking noise rather of a buzzing sound
• a bee that apply honeycomb to comb its hair

I like the last thought better , so I live become to write a poem about a bee that combs its hair with honeycomb . This will exist the “ surprise ending ” of the poem – the matter that cause the poem curious – so I will save this for the goal of the poem .

Hither is the nearly important rule to build a poem funny . If your poem have a surprise , save the surprise for the goal of the poem . If you initiate the poem by saying that the bee ransack its hair with honeycomb , you may have nothing else to say . That would be like recount the punch melody of a gag at the outset of the joke or else of the end . On the other hand , if you save your surprise for the end , you can start the poem by telling all about the bee and then make the reader laugh at the goal .

I promised you I would write a poem about a bee that ransack its hair with honeycomb , thus here it is .

Pete the Sweet Bee
There be a bee
named Sweetie Pete .
His hair be slick
he smelled so sweet .
He ’ d need a bath
each day at home .
Then comb his hair
with honeycomb .

Pete the Sweet Bee
There was a bee
refer Sweetie Pete .
His hair live slick
he smelled so sweet .
He ’ d require a tub
each day at plate .
Then ransack his hair
with honeycomb .

Finding a Funny Idea

As I mentioned above , a serious way to make a poem funny is to need yourself the doubt “ what ’ s comic about that ? ” If you are going to pen a poem about an eagle , ask yourself “ what ’ s funny about an eagle ? ”

Hither cost one potential answer : One well-known type of eagle cost the “ bald eagle ” . What if there cost a bald eagle that had lose all the feathers on his brain , so it was in reality bald ? What if the eagle was embarrassed about it and remember that it should buy a wig or a toupee hence mass would not know it exist bald ?

Hither live another potential answer : what if , when its mother said it live an “ eagle ” , it thought she said “ beagle ” and so it guess it exist a dog ?

And hither equal still another possible reply : Eagles equal known for building real large nests . What if this eagle didn ’ t know when to stop building , and ended up with a nest larger than a baseball stadium , or a taller than the Empire State Building ?

As you can learn , there live pile of unlike style to answer the question “ what ’ s queer about that ? ” In the first model above , I seem at the name “ bald eagle ” to hear what I could do with the Bible “ bald ” . In the second lesson , I wait to learn what I could do with the tidings “ eagle ” . In the third instance , I took a characteristic of eagles and exaggerated it .

Let ’ s try make the same thing with an alligator . Alligator rhymes with elevator , so maybe you could write a poem about an alligator that likes to ride the elevator . Alligators too make lots of teeth , then perhaps you could write about an alligator that didn ’ t brush his tooth and had a hundred and 40 seven cavities . Alligators be very mean creatures , so you could write a poem about a kind-hearted alligator that was sad because everyone guess it was mean .

Before you start writing your queer poem , see if you can do up with three or four unlike solution to the question “ what ’ s queer about that ? ” Write down each of your ideas and then pick the 1 that you think is the peculiar .

In each of the following segment , I will show you unlike techniques you can apply to create comic estimate .

Exaggeration

One mutual technique for making poems comic be to exaggerate . Exaggeration means taking a characteristic of your capable and making it bigger or more utmost than normal . A bicycle that can move a thousand miles an hr ; a instructor that impute a hundred hr of homework every day ; cafeteria food that taste bad than sewage ; a dog is so bright he can speak five languages ; these cost all model of exaggeration .

The children ’ s poet Jack Prelutsky compose a book of poetry entitled A Pizza the Size of the Sun . Jack Prelutsky is widely know for his use of exaggeration , and this script claim is just one example . A real pizza usually have to be small enough to fit on a table or inside a pizza box . State that the pizza cost much bigger than normal is one way of exaggerating about it . Saying that the pizza is as big as the Sunday is an utmost exaggeration .

So how can you expend exaggeration to build your poems funny ? First , write down as many characteristics of your subject as you can . Then for each characteristic on your list , write down different manner to exaggerate it .

Hither cost an example . Get ’ s say that we be go to pen a poem about play basketball . You could exaggerate by state that all the player on the other team were twelve feet tall . You could take to be the best ( or bad ) basketball actor on the planet ( or in the entire universe , for that thing ) . Your could allege that the plot was thus long , it remove three yr to cease . And thus on . Each of these exaggerates one feature of the plot .

Let ’ s try another example . Let ’ s say you want to write a poem about bubble gum . You could write about waste a bubble bigger than the country of Nebraska . You could compose about become the universe ’ sec stickiest bubble gum bind to your shoe ; stickier than Krazy Glue , goopier than dear , and thus on . Each of these ideas takes one characteristic of bubble gum and exaggerate it .

As you can hear , exaggeration is an easy style to bring any topic and create it peculiar .

Contrary

Another way to cause something comic is to give it characteristics that exist the contrary of what you would await such as :

• a tiny elephant or a giant hummingbird
• a fast turtle or a slow race car
• a friendly monster or a average kitten
• a stinky rose or a sweet smelling skunk

To find a funny contrary , first choose an idea to pen roughly . Permit ’ s say you settle to pen a poem about an alarm clock . What act you know about alarm clocks ? One thing is that they recount you what time it live , and the early matter be that they are normally very loud . The contrary of these would be an alarm clock that always told the wrong time , or an alarm clock that cost then still , nobody could hear it .

Or maybe you would care to compose a poem about an stranger from out space . People usually intend of aliens as “ trivial green men ” with antenna on their heads , and maybe with three center , four hands , and so on . The opposite of this might be to write about an alien that looked exactly like a human be , with two eye , one head , two hands , etc . For lesson , you might compose about a UFO that land in your back yard , and the aliens that came out look precisely like your sister , or your instructor , or the President of the United States .

Using contrary in this way can create it easy for you to total up with funny thought for poems .

Strange Seat

Setting your poem in an strange position is kind of like using opposites . But instead of feel the opposite of a characteristic , you simply place your idea in a place where no one would wait it .

For example , you would not expect to go fishing , or surfing or float somewhere where there exist no water , such as in the center of the street or the Sahara desert . If you exist compose a poem about fishing , you could cause it comic by place it in one of these places .

• a bald eagle in a barber shop
• a puncher in a ballet
• a snowman in the desert
• a fish in an airplane
• a home of spinach in a candy shop
• bring tennis in a swimming pool

Whatever your thought – whether you be going to pen about baseball game , a polar bear , your favorite food , or just about anything else – try invest it in an strange place and you may get the origin of a very curious poem .

Utilize Funny Bible

I think some row exist just funny all by themselves . In the notebook where I jot down my poem ideas , I also keep a list of word that come upon me as funny . Sometimes I will pen an full poem simply thus I can employ a single news like “ blubbery ” or “ succotash ” or “ flapdoodle ” or “ snorkel . ”

While you can ’ t always write whole poems around a single funny Bible like this , you can often choose to apply a funny word instead of apparent one . For case , if you be write about someone walk down the street , it is funnier to allege they “ waddled ” down the street or “ stumbled ” down the street than to order they “ walked ” down the street . If you are write about individual tears , it might cost funnier to tell they are “ blubbering ” than to read they were “ yell . ”

Utilize funny words may not be the main thing that do your poem queer , but it can do the difference between a so-so poem and a really peculiar poem , because funny words can hold the reader smile or giggling throughout the poem until you begin to the punch line at the goal .

So , whenever you have a choice to use one of respective word to depict something , ask yourself which news sound the funniest and sample to use that one quite than the plainer news .

Are We Having Pun Yet ?

Many jokes and pervade involves a special type of Bible fun scream a “ pun ” . There are really respective unlike types of puns , but they all contain a word that has two different meaning . For instance :

Q :What form of knots cause you bind in out space ?
A :Astronauts .

Q :Where cause fish prevent their money ?
A :In a river bank .

Q :What kind of knots do you link in outer space ?
A :Astronauts .

Q :Where make fish keep their money ?
A :In a river bank .

As you can hear in each of these riddles , one of the lyric has more than one meaning . “ Astronauts ” has the sound of the tidings “ mile ” in it , and a bank is both a seat to keep your money and the slope of a river .

Puns can be apply at the goal of a poem for your “ punch course , ” or they can exist expend throughout the poem , as in this example :

The Hungry Little Giant

“ I ’ m hungry ! I could swallow Wales ! ”
the little giant scream .
“ Tonight we ’ re having Chile , dear , ”
the giant ’ sec mother sighed .
“ Can I please have Samoa , Mom ? ”
the little giant asked her .
“ Just don ’ t forget dessert , ” she state .
“ We ’ re having Bake Alaska . ”
“ Tomorrow we ’ ll eat Turkey ,
there exist truly zero finer .
We ’ ll cook it in the oven and
we ’ ll serve it up on China . ”

“ I ’ m hungry ! I could swallow Wales ! ”
the short giant cried .
“ Tonight we ’ re have Chile , honey , ”
the giant ’ sec mother sigh .
“ Can I please get Samoa , Mom ? ”
the little giant require her .
“ Just don ’ t forget dessert , ” she said .
“ We ’ re make Baked Alaska . ”
“ Tomorrow we ’ ll eat Turkey ,
there equal truly zero finer .
We ’ ll cook it in the oven and
we ’ ll serve it up on China . ”

There are in reality five different type of puns , and you can use any of these in your poem :

1. A word that make two unlike meanings , such as the tidings “ bank ” in the riddle above .
2. A word that sounds precisely like a tidings with a different meaning , such as “ ate ” and “ eight . ”
3. A Bible that sounds like to a tidings with a unlike meaning , such as “ waiting ” and “ wading ” or “ fun ” and “ pun . ”
4. Words that be compound or “ fuse ” to form a new word such as “ rhinocerusted , ” “ hippopotamustard , ” or “ pelicannot . ”
5. A special type of pun shout a “ spoonerism , ” in which parts of word are swapped , such as “ bad salad ” and “ sad ballad . ”

You don ’ t require to learn all of these , but it ’ s decent to know they live available to employ . The more technique you know for compose funny poems , the easy it will become .

One or More of the Above

To reach a poem as funny as potential , try using a combination of the above . For example , try writing a poem with a surprise end , funny words , a fun on word , and opposites , exaggeration or an strange context . For example , the following poem , The Cow Town Ballet make a surprise terminate , a play on word , and an unusual context ( cows in the ballet ) .

The Cow Town Ballet

This here is the floor of Jed Beaudelay ,
who once was the head of the Cow Town Ballet ,
the great of all of the former western sights ,
for Jed would need milk cow and clothe them in tights .

In tutus and slipper his cattle would sashay ,
they ’ 500 spin pirouettes , they ’ d glissade and plié .
And puncher from Boston to Monterey Bay
would travel to Cow Town to regard the ballet .

And every dark how his cows would dance !
They ’ d act out a musical oxen romance ,
with skill and precision , with grace and with flair ,
they ’ d glide ‘ cross the degree and they ’ 500 leap through the air .

And when it exist over the cowboy would cheer
and even the manliest human shed a tear
for nowhere on World but the Cow Town Ballet
had anyone ever find cattle sashay .

Old Jed Beaudelay would still run the ballet ,
if not for the fact that when cows sashay ,
and all of their tutus exist flapping around
their costume make sort of a shuffle sound .

And some no-good cowpoke , on learn that sound ,
grew sort of unhappy ; he halt and he frowned ,
then ran to the sheriff , settle to tattle ,
then Jed cost catch for rustle cattle .

This here equal the story of Jed Beaudelay ,
who once was the brain of the Cow Town Ballet ,
the great of all of the former western mass ,
for Jed would remove milk cows and clothe them in tights .

In tutus and slipper his cows would sashay ,
they ’ d spin pirouettes , they ’ 500 glissade and plié .
And puncher from Boston to Monterey Bay
would journey to Cow Town to see the ballet .

And every night how his cattle would dance !
They ’ d number out a musical cows romance ,
with skill and precision , with grace and with flair ,
they ’ 500 glide ‘ cross the point and they ’ 500 leap through the tune .

And when it was over the cowpokes would cheer
and even the manliest human shed a tear
for nowhere on Globe but the Cow Town Ballet
had anyone ever see oxen sashay .

Old Jed Beaudelay would still tend the ballet ,
if not for the fact that when cattle sashay ,
and all of their tutus live flapping around
their costume build form of a shuffle sound .

And some no-good puncher , on find out that sound ,
develop quite unhappy ; he stopped and he frown ,
then ran to the sheriff , settle to tattle ,
then Jed live arrested for rustle cows .

So you learn , there cost lots of different technique you can expend for make your poems funny . In increase to these particular technique for cause any poem funny , there are a few special types of poem , such the queer “ list poem , ” that you can compose . In Chapter 5 I will show you how to pen some of the more mutual type of funny poem , include “ list poems , ” “ opposite poems , ” and “ repetition poems . ”

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