Search the Community

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Light Verse, Vers de Societe, Gentle Verse, Occasional Verse or Social Verse are all names for any poetry written with spontaneity and humor. Wit, rhythm and rhyme are standard components but the form and structure of the poem are at the poet's discretion. Often the poems are very short but not always. Austin Dobson, master of light verse, suggests: Never be vulgar. Avoid slang and puns. Avoid inversions. Be sparing of long words. Be colloquial but not commonplace. Choose the lightest and brightest of measures. Let the rhymes be frequent but not forced. Let them be rigorously exact to the ear. Be as witty as you like. Be serious by accident. Be pathetic with the greatest discretion. Never ask if the writer of these rules has observed them himself." Her Letter by Francis Bret Harte (1836-1902) I'm sitting alone by the fire, Dressed just as I came from the dance, In a robe even you would admire, --- It cost a cool thousand in France; I'm bediamonded out of all reason, My hair is done up in a cue: In short, sir, "the belle of the season" Is wasting an hour on you. A dozen engagements I've broken; I left in the midst of a set; Likewise a proposal, half spoken, That waits --- on the stairs --- for me yet. They say he'll be rich --- when he grows up, --- And then he adores me indeed. And you, sir, are turning your nose up, Three thousand miles off, as you read. "And how do I like my position?" "And what do I think of New York?" "And now, in my higher ambition, With whom do I waltz, flirt, or talk?" "And isn't it nice to have riches, And diamonds and silks, and all that?" "And aren't it a change to the ditches And tunnels of Poverty Flat?" Well yes, --- if you saw us out driving Each day in the park, four-in-hand; If you saw poor dear mamma contriving To look supernaturally grand, --- If you saw papa's picture, as taken By Brady, and tinted at that, --- You'd never suspect he sold bacon And flour at Poverty Flat. And yet, just this moment, when sitting In the glare of the grand chandelier, In the bustle and glitter befitting The "finest soiree of the year," --- In the mists of a gaze de chambéry And the hum of the smallest of talk, --- Somehow, Joe, I thought of "The Ferry," And the dance that we had on "The Fork"; Of Harrison's barn, with its muster Of flags festooned over the wall; Of the candles that shed their soft luster And tallow on head-dress and shawl; Of the steps that we took to one fiddle; Of the dress of my queer vis-à-vis; And how I once went down the middle With the man that shot Sandy McGee; Of the moon that was quietly sleeping On the hill, when the time came to go; Of the few baby peaks that were peeping From under their bed-clothes of snow; Of that ride, --- that to me was the rarest; Of --- the something you said at the gate: Ah, Joe, then I wasn't an heiress To "the best-paying lead in the state." Well, well, it's all past; yet it's funny To think, as I stood in the glare Of fashion and beauty and money, That I should be thinking, right there, Of some one who breasted highwater, And swam the North Fork, and all that, Just to dance with old Folinsbee's daughter, The Lily of Poverty Flat. But goodness! what nonsense I'm writing ( Mamma says my taste still is low, ) Instead of my triumphs reciting, I'm spooning on Joseph, --- heigh-ho! And I'm to be "finished" by travel, Whatever's the meaning of that, --- O, why did papa strike pay gravel In drifting on Poverty Flat? Good-night, --- here's the end of my paper; Good-night, --- if the longitude please, --- For maybe, while wasting my taper, Your sun's climbing over the trees. But know, if you haven't got riches, And are poor, dearest Joe, and all that, That my heart's somewhere there in the ditches, And you've struck it, --- on Poverty Flat. a la Bartholomew Griffin ABBA Verse Alphabet Poem Bagarthach Verse Blind Rhyme Clerihew Definition Poem Didactic Cinquain or Recipe Poem Double Dactyl and the Mc Whirtle Limerick and Cross Limerick Little Willies Mad Calf Mad Cow Madsong Stanza Minute Poem Occasional Verse Rhyming Recipe Rubliw Triolet Tuanortsa or Palindrome