Ogden Nash: An Amazing Poet

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Ogden Nash was a poet that used nonsensical and humorous verse to draw people into reading his poems. Then, he would slip in insightful poems that speak a lot about life. His light verse even earned him a place on a postage stamp. His poems contain uneven lines that all rhyme, and he even made up spellings to words to achieve the best effect.

Frederick Ogden Nash was born August 19, 1902, in New York. His family thought that education was very important, and this was the basis for his love of languages and writing. At the age of seven, he got an eye infection, so he had to stay in a darkened room for almost a year. During this time, his mother schooled him, and this helped him develop his incredible memory. By the tender age of 10, he was already writing the humorous poetry that he became famous for.

He went to Harvard briefly, but his family didn’t have much money, so he had to quit and get a job. His first job was as a high school teacher, then as a bond salesman, then as an advertising copy-writer, then as an editor, and finally as a writer for the “New Yorker.” He published many of his poems in books, but he also made sure to do lecturing, even though he hated it. The lecturing ensured that he would make enough money to support his family. He died May 19, 1971, in Baltimore, Maryland.

His tombstone says that he was a master of light verse. Archibald MacLeish contests that, saying that his poetry is so much more than that. Sure, some of his poems are lig...

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