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Little Willie Rhymes
''Little Willie'' rhymes are light verses including an indifferent or cheerfully inappropriate response to a gruesome act of violence in a quatrain form attributed to Harry Graham (1874-1936). The earliest was included among the ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes'' published in 1898 under Graham's pen name Col. D. Streamer while he was serving in the Coldstream Guards. Billy, in one of his nice new sashes,Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes;Now, although the room grows chilly,I haven’t the heart to poke poor Billy. The above meter and line length, often rhymed aabb, was subsequently relaxed with alternative rhyming scheme abab as illustrated by the following verse from a 1904 collection of Willie Ballads: Willie walking on the track,The engine gave the worst of squeals,And then they turned the engine backAnd scraped off Willie from the wheels. This genre of poetic black humor remained popular into the 21st century. ''The Washington Post ''The Washington Post ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Verse
Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, 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 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, also excelled at light verse. Notable poets English * Richard Armour * Max Beerbohm * Hilaire Belloc * John Betjeman * Morris Bishop * Lord Byron * C. S. Calverley * Lewis Carroll * Charles E. Carryl * Brian P. Cleary * William Rossa Cole * Wendy Cope * Noël Coward * Alma Denny * Henry Austin Dobson * T. S. Eliot * Willard R. Espy * Gavin Ewart * Charles Ghigna * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quatrain
A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China, and continues into the 21st century, where it is seen in works published in many languages. This form of poetry has been continually popular in Iran since the medieval period, as Ruba'is form; an important faction of the vast repertoire of Persian poetry, with famous poets such as Omar Khayyam and Mahsati Ganjavi of Seljuk Persia writing poetry only in this format. Michel de Nostredame (Nostradamus) used the quatrain form to deliver his famous prophecies in the 16th century. There are fifteen possible rhyme schemes, but the most traditional and common are ABAA, AAAA, ABAB, and ABBA. Forms *The heroic stanza or elegiac stanza consists of the iambic pentameter, with the rhyme scheme of ABAB or AABB. An e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Graham (poet)
Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham (23 December 1874 – 30 October 1936) was an English writer. He was a successful journalist and later, after distinguished military service, a leading lyricist for operettas and musical comedies, but he is now best remembered as a writer of humorous verse in a style of grotesquerie and black humour. Life Family and education Graham was the second son of Sir Henry Graham, KCBBlack, A & C"Graham, Captain Harry J. C." ''Who Was Who'' 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, Retrieved 19 November 2008 (1842–1930), Clerk of the Parliaments, and his first wife, Lady Edith Elizabeth Gathorne-Hardy,Hogg, Jame"Graham, Jocelyn Henry Clive (1874–1936)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2006, Retrieved 19 November 2008 who died two weeks after Harry's birth. Graham's elder brother Ronald Graham entered the diplomatic service, becoming Ambassador to Italy (1921 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pen Name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise the author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's real identity may be known only to the publisher or may become common knowledge. Etymology The French-language phrase is occasionally still seen as a synonym for the English term "pen name", which is a "back-translation" and originated in England rather than France. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, in ''The King's English'' state that the term ''nom de plume'' evolv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coldstream Guards
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonial occasions. The Regiment has consistently provided formations on deployments around the world and has fought in the majority of the major conflicts in which the British Army has been engaged. The Regiment has been in continuous service and has never been amalgamated. It was formed in 1650 as 'Monck's Regiment of Foot' and was then renamed 'The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards' after the restoration in 1660. With Monck's death in 1670 it was again renamed 'The Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards' after the location in Scotland from which it marched to help restore the monarchy in 1660. Its name was again changed to 'The Coldstream Guards' in 1855 and this is still its present title. Today, the Regiment consists of: Regimental Headq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light (journal)
''Light'' (formerly ''Light: A Quarterly of Light Verse'') is an online journal which bills itself as "America's oldest and best-known journal of light verse." History and profile ''Light'' was founded as a print journal in 1992 by retired postal worker John Mella. Mella personally published the journal until 2008, when he founded the non-profit Foundation for Light Verse with a $500,000 gift from poet Joyce La Mers. The Foundation, headed by Mella, took over publication of the journal. After Mella's death in 2012, the magazine was relaunched as an online-only, semiannual publication, edited by his handpicked successor, poet Melissa Balmain. The all-volunteer staff includes poets Kevin Durkin, Allison Joseph, Julie Kane, and Gail White. The verse in each issue begins with a feature on a writer of light verse. Sections in between vary from issue to issue, and have included "Spectrum" roundups on types of light verse ( Little Willies, "impossible rhymes," etc.); book reviews by B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meter (poetry)
In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences) is the basic rhythm, rhythmic structure of a verse (poetry), verse or Line (poetry), lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody. (Within linguistics, "Prosody (linguistics), prosody" is used in a more general sense that includes not only poetic metre but also the rhythmic aspects of prose, whether formal or informal, that vary from language to language, and sometimes between poetic traditions.) Characteristics An assortment of features can be identified when classifying poetry and its metre. Qualitative versus quantitative metre The metre of most poetry of the Western world and elsewhere is based on patterns of syllables of particular typ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhyming Scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio .... It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rhyming scheme, from "To Anthea, who may Command him Anything", by Robert Herrick (poet), Robert Herrick: Function in writing These rhyme patterns have various effects, and can be used to: * Control flow: If every line has the same rhyme (AAAA), the stanza will read as having a very quick flow, whereas a rhyme scheme like ABCABC can be felt to unfold more slowly. * Structure a poems message and thought patterns: For example, a simple couplet with a rhyme scheme of AABB lends itself to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. It is the center of the Columbia metropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 829,470 in 2020 and is the 72nd-largest metropolitan statistical area in the nation. The name Columbia is a poetic term used for the United States, derived from the name of Christopher Columbus, who explored for the Spanish Crown. Columbia is often abbreviated as Cola, leading to its nickname as "Soda City." The city is located about northwest of the geographic center of South Carolina, and is the primary city of the Midlands region of the state. It lies at the confluence of the Saluda River and the Broad River, which merge at Columbia to form the Congaree River. As the state capital, Columbia is the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Humor
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction, for example, the term ''black comedy'' can also refer to a genre in which dark humor is a core component. Popular themes of the genre include death, crime, poverty, suicide, war, violence, terrorism, discrimination, disease, racism, sexism, and human sexuality. Black comedy differs from both blue comedy—which focuses more on crude topics such as nudity, sex, and Body fluids—and from straightforward obscenity. Whereas the term ''black comedy'' is a relatively broad term covering humor relating to many serious subjects, ''gallows humor'' tends to be used more specifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large national audience. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The ''Post'' was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. Financier Eugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy in 1933 and revived its health and reputation, work continued by his successors Katharine and Phil Graham (Meyer's daughter and son-in-law), who bought out several rival publications. The ''Post'' 1971 printing of the Pentagon Papers helped spur opposition to the Vietnam War. Subsequently, in the best-known episode in the newspaper's history, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein led the American press's investigation into what became known as the Watergate scandal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cruel Jokes
Cruel jokes is a joke cycle dealing with cruelty and macabre topics.''Encyclopedia of Humor Studies''Section "Cruel" Jokes, p. 415/ref> They belong to the category of sick humor. Typical examples: :- Mommy, why is daddy still sleeping? :- Shut up and keep digging. :- Mommy, why is daddy swimming so fast? :- Shut up and reload. In American culture jokes of this kind were recorded as early as in 1930s as the Little Audrey jokes, with a larger cycle reported during 1950s, many with the "Shut up..." punch line. Sutton-Smith remarks that the macabre of these jokes may also be compared with even earlier 19th century Little Willie rhymes: "Little Willie with his thirst for gore / Nailed his mommy's baby to the door". The origin of Little Willie poetry and other sick humour is attributed to the 1899 book ''Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes'' by a minor poet Harry Graham. In 1960 Brian Sutton-Smith classified the 155 collected "cruel" jokes into categories of murder of friend or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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