Light poetry, also called light verse, is a type of poetry that aims to be funny. These poems are usually short and can cover either trivial or important topics. They often use wordplay, such as puns, creative rhyming, and a lot of alliteration. Nonsense poetry is often considered light verse, as are poems that use parody or satire. In English, light verse is typically written in formal verse, though some free verse poets have also created excellent light verse outside this tradition.

Although light poetry is sometimes criticized as being poorly written or seen as casual, it can use humor to make serious points in a clever or hidden way. Many well-known "serious" poets, such as Horace, Swift, Pope, and Auden, also wrote successful light verse.

History

Lord Byron's poem Beppo is an early and well-known example of humorous or light-hearted poetry in the 19th century. Other writers, such as Winthrop Mackworth Praed, Frederick Locker-Lampson, C. S. Calverley, and Austin Dobson, also played important roles during the Regency and Victorian periods in this type of writing. The limerick is perhaps the most well-known form of comic or light poetry, with Edward Lear's The Book of Nonsense serving as a popular and influential example.

Publications

• Seaver, Robert (1908), Ye Butcher, Ye Baker, Ye Candlestick-Maker, Houghton Mifflin Company. A collection of fun and educational poems for children and adults, with many woodcut illustrations.
• Auden, W. H. (originally published in 1938), The Oxford Book of Light Verse, an important collection of light verse. Part of the Oxford Books of Verse series.

The following magazines regularly publish light verse:
• Able Muse
• Light (formerly Light Quarterly), a magazine focused on light verse
• The Spectator holds regular light verse contests
• The Washington Post includes regular light verse contests as part of its Style Invitational