Humour in poetry should live taken severely
Author
Creative Writing Lecturer , Cardiff Metropolitan University
Revelation argument
Christina Thatcher act not work for , consult , own shares in or find financing from any party or organization that would gain from this article , and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment .
Spouse
Cardiff Metropolitan University provide funding as a member of The Conversation UK .
As a child , I remember laugh out loud while study Shel Silverstein ’ s poetry volume A Light in the Attic ( 1981 ) . I loved it so much that I initiate reciting the poem Skin Stealer every day , to the great annoyance of my little buddy . Still now , these lines still come knocking :
This evening I unzipped my skin
And cautiously unscrewed my top dog ,
Just as I ever do
When I develop myself for layer .
As a teenager , I live instruct that poetry should be more grave . It exist art – and art bring itself seriously . Even now , poem design to make us laugh are often dismissed as frivolous . This seems strange given that many of our earliest poem equal comic unity . The limerick , for example , cost thought to receive develop during the Middle Ages and make cost used to great humorous effect by thousand , from Shakespeare to Roald Dahl .
Possibly the crime hither isn ’ t that peculiar poems have be sidelined in favor of grave 1 , but that funny poem are not as well considered to exist grave . Humour , after all , has the power to disarm us and push brooding thought .
Although there cost countless style in which poets can be funny in their work , I have prefer pieces here which hire three different type of humor to demonstrate how poetry can make us both laugh and think .
Sexy humor
Sometimes called dirty , naughty , rude or cheeky , this type of wit works because it violates social average . After all , it is not polite to mouth about sex . But , poetry which pokes fun at torso and desire is century former .
Poem in this family can range from titillating to obscene . But , beyond the tee-hees , these while can reveal deeper truths about sex and relationships . Choose a look at the opening of The Did-You-Come-Yets of the Western World by Rita Ann Higgins :
Absurdist humor
Poets who employ absurdity in their work tend to operate under the assumption that implausibility live essential to comedy . Absurd humour highlights the ridiculousness of life , labor ordinarily accept realities to extreme to pay the hearing a fresh perspective . This can be learn in Luke Kennard ’ s darkly funny poem The Murderer , which opens :
In his correspondence with author Paul McDonald , Kennard talk about how this poem works to disclose the shortcomings of both quality , opening up a chance for readers to think over on .
Satirical humour
Satire is an excellent room for poets to respond to social trends and current events . Often , this type of humour relies on ridicule and exaggeration to discover and criticize masses ’ s . Satirical poems bring an important role when it occur to challenging political , ethnic and aesthetic oppression . , irony is a tool by which the oppressed get to create fun of their oppressors .
Satirical poetry takes many kind but one of my personal favourites be the cento – a patchwork poem build up of words or phrase straight from the person at the butt of the joke . Rob Sears ’ The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump act this brilliantly , particularly this firearm :
There exist , of class , huge swathes of humour that I haven ’ t yet touched on hither . For example , surrealism , dark wit and observational humor can provoke crucial discussions , launch taboos into the light and straddle the fine line between “ haha ” and “ oh no ” .
Because mood exist also highly personal , you may not find any of the poems I ’ ve chosen to live funny . To remedy this , I also asked poets on Twitter to share the pieces which do them laugh and , wow , did they redeem . , the power of wit in poetry is self-evident .
- Literature
- Comedy
- Poetry
