Light poetry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Light verse" redirects here. For the Quranic verse, see Ayat an-Nur. For the short story by Isaac Asimov, see Light Verse (short story).

Light poetry, or light verse, is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Poems considered "light" are usually brief, and can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play, including puns, adventurous rhyme and heavy alliteration. Typically, light verse in English is formal verse, although a few free verse poets, such as Billy Collins, have excelled at light verse outside the formal verse tradition.

While light poetry is sometimes condemned as doggerel, or thought of as poetry composed casually, humor often makes a serious point in a subtle or subversive way. Many of the most renowned "serious" poets, such as Horace, Swift, Pope and Auden, have also excelled at light verse.

Notable poets[edit]



See also[edit]


The following periodicals regularly publish light verse: