Ebook: A Century of Humorous Verse

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An extract from the Preface:

“… Any anthology must suffer to a greater or lesser extent from personal taste and prejudice, and a collection of humorous verse is particularly liable to be marked by the taste of its editor. Humour has a dimension beyond criticism: it is possible, for example, to acknowledge the fact that ‘The Wrong Box’ and ‘Three Men in a Boat’ are masterpieces of humour – but to be amused by one and bored by the other.

In the ‘Century of Humorous verse from 1850 to 1950’ I have found the most amusement in the middle of the period, and least towards the end. This does not, however, come amiss, for the object of the present volume is to include representative works by the acknowledged masters of humorous verse (accompanied by a sprinkling of more personal choices) – and naturally few contemporary writers have yet qualified for the distinction we hand unhesitatingly to Lear, Lewis Carroll, W.S. Gilbert, or Calverley, though some are drawing near to the class in which such writers as Godley, Seaman, Quiller-Couch, and Belloc have already taken a permanent place …”