20 Favorite Poets and Lyricists To Sample For National Poetry Month

20 Favorite Poets & Lyricists To Sample For National Poetry Month

It is April, National Poetry Month. I have honored 20 of the best poets and lyricists that I believe should be read and recognized.

These poets and lyricists were selected because of their imagery and writing styles, as well as their contributions to society through their works. For this list, I am doing things a bit differently. For the poets I included written examples of their works, but for the lyricists I embedded videos so the reader can truly sample the lyrical content as it was meant to be sampled. If you have favorites that I did not include on this list please let me know in the comments below or on Facebook.

Poets

10. Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning (1806-1861 and 1812-1889 respectively)

 The original Power Couple of 19^th century English poetry, The Brownings mastered not only the art of beautiful poetry but also the secret of a happy marriage: find success on your own terms. Elizabeth Barrett-Browning’s sonnet “How do I love thee? Let Me Count the Ways” is repeated so often that it almost obtains greeting card status. However the remainder of her poems from her work, Sonnets from the Portuguese feature poems that reveal a deep love that is both physically passionate and emotionally satisfying. Her epic poem Aurora Leigh is a feminist story about a woman who aspires to become a great poet and artist.

Robert Browning also had his share of well-known poems. Many of his best works such as “My Last Duchess” and “Childe Roland To the Dark Tower Came” are character-driven monologues from unreliable narrators that weave interesting and sometimes eerie tales. Together, The Brownings created a memorable impact in their public lives as poets and their private lives as a happily married couple.

Example:

Stanza from Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Aurora gazes at a portrait of her late mother and imagines her in many forms)

 And as I grew
In years, I mixed, confused, unconsciously,
Whatever I last read or heard or dreamed,
Abhorrent, admirable, beautiful,
Pathetical, or ghastly, or grotesque,
With still that face . . . which did not therefore change,
But kept the mystic level of all forms
And fears and admirations; was by turn
Ghost, fiend, and angel, fairy, witch, and sprite,–
A dauntless Muse who eyes a dreadful Fate,
A loving Psyche who loses sight of Love,
A still Medusa, with mild milky brows
All curdled and all clothed upon with snakes
Whose slime falls fast as sweat will; or, anon,
Our Lady of the Passion, stabbed with swords
Where the Babe sucked; or, Lamia in her first
Moonlighted pallor, ere she shrunk and blinked,
And, shuddering, wriggled down to the unclean

“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said

“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance,

The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

But to myself they turned (since none puts by

The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,

How such a glance came there; so, not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not

Her husband’s presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps

Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps

Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint

Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff

Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

For calling up that spot of joy. She had

A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er

She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,

The dropping of the daylight in the West,

The bough of cherries some officious fool

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule

She rode with round the terrace—all and each

Would draw from her alike the approving speech,

Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked

Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame

This sort of trifling? Even had you skill

In speech—which I have not—to make your will

Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this

Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,

Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set

Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—

E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose

Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet

The company below, then. I repeat,

The Count your master’s known munificence

Is ample warrant that no just pretense

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go

Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,

Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

 

9. Sappho (c. 630-570 b.c.e)

Many scholars compared Sappho to the Muses, the 9 Greek goddesses of art and culture. She inspired many young women by training female artists and poets and was very honest about her romantic relationships with men and women.

Of course Sappho’s legacy is also featured in both her name and the name of her home, the Island of Lesbos. When something is described as having lesbian connotations, it is still called Sapphic.

Only a few fragments of her lyric poems still exist but the fragments speak of romantic almost erotic longing. The speaker’s invocations sometimes blame towards Aphrodite, becomes a cry of pain for having such intense emotions that consume her.

Example: “Immortal Aphrodite” by Sappho

   Immortal Aphrodite, on your intricately brocaded throne

            child of Zeus, weaver of wiles, this I pray:

            Dear Lady, don’t crush my heart

            with pains and sorrows.

           But come here, if ever before,

            when you heard my far-off cry,

            you listened. And you came,

            leaving your father’s house,

            yoking your chariot of gold.

            Then beautiful swift sparrows led you over the black earth

            from the sky through the middle air,

            whirling their wings into a blur.

            Rapidly they came. And you, O Blessed Goddess,

            a smile on your immortal face, 

             asked what had happened this time,

            why did I call again,

            and what did I especially desire

            for myself in my frenzied heart:

            “Who this time am I to persuade

             to your love? Sappho, who is doing you wrong?

            For even if she flees, soon she shall pursue.

            And if she refuses gifts, soon she shall give them.

            If she doesn’t love you, soon she shall love

            even if she’s unwilling.”

            Come to me now once again and release me

            from grueling anxiety.

            All that my heart longs for,

            fulfill. And be yourself my ally in love’s battle.

 

8. Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society the character John Keating (Robin Williams) used Walt Whitman’s philosophy of “Carpe diem” to inspire his students to live life to the fullest. He selected the perfect model for that sentiment.

Whitman broke many 19^th century conventions both in his life and works. He lived openly with men and embraced such tenets as deism and living close to nature.

His poems particularly those found in his work, Leaves of Grass were exercises in free verse and form, breaking many poetic conventions. They almost become stream-of-conscious conversations as the speakers rhapsodize about whatever is on their minds. In his poems, such as “Song of Myself”, Whitman wrote of complete freedom and a love of the world around him that is unsurpassed.

Example: Stanza from “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,

Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,

I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,

Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,

I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,

Nature without check with original energy.

 

7. Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

In her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and particularly her poetry, Maya Angelou attacked racism and sexism head on. Many of her poems such as “Phenomenal Woman” demonstrate the strength of women and African-Americans who face insurmountable odds but still retain hope.

One of her poems, “On the Pulse of the Morning” was read at Bill Clinton’s 1993 Inauguration which spoke of equality and love between races and nationalities who only long to say “Good morning” to each other.

• Example “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou

Prettywomen wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.                         

6. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

Edgar Allan Poe’s works are the perfect companions for a stormy night when the house is dimly lit and the wind is howling outside. Poe’s haunted imagery still has the power to send shivers down readers’ spines.

His poems, particularly “The Raven” and “The Haunted Palace” explore the inner psyche of madness and despair. They show the human mind as a place that the reader gets to explore but almost wish they hadn’t. In his works, Poe wrote of a despair that can never truly be lifted even long after death.

Example “The Haunted Palace” by Edgar Allan Poe

In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace —
Radiant palace — reared its head.
In the monarch Thought’s dominion —
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow,
(This — all this — was in the olden
Time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A winged odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,
Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,
To a lute’s well-tuned law,
Round about a throne where, sitting
(Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well-befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch’s high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn! — for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him desolate!)
And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody,
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever
And laugh — but smile no more.

5. Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Langston Hughes was the spokesperson of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when many African-American authors, musicians, and artists became well-known through their works. Hughes certainly made his voice heard.

His poems such as “Harlem (What Happens To A Dream Deferred?”) and “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” spoke of racial and social issues such as poverty, the historical scars of slavery, people being evicted, young mothers giving birth to unwanted children, and simmering tension that could explode in riots at any time. Hughes’ images are uncomfortably real and are still relevant.

Example “Harlem (Dream Deferred?)” by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?                         

 

4. George Gordon Byron Lord Byron (1788-1824)

 The Romantic poets wrote of some of the best nature and supernatural poems. They had so many representatives, but Lord Byron stands out not only for his works but living his life according to the Romantic philosophies.

Described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” Byron had scores of lovers both male and female and often wrote passionately of them. He lived life as openly as he could and died young during the Turkish revolution because he carried a longing for freedom for all people. His poems also portrayed his theories of deep lust (“She Walks In Beauty”)

, political freedom (“The Prisoner of Chillon”) and the darkness in people who are considered social outcasts and are torn apart by society’s standards (“Manfred”).

Example “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

3. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

 Sylvia Plath took the idea of confessional poetry to new heights. She let the reader know not only what the speaker was feeling, but what Plath the writer was feeling. The poems recount her unhappy marriage to fellow poet, Ted Hughes, her troubled relationship with her father, Otto who died when she was 9 years old, and her own concerns about her mental state.

In most of her poems, Plath described a woman who saw the world as a very sad place. They are filled with disturbing images such as “Daddy” when the speaker compares her father and current lover to a Nazi and a vampire. They show darkness in the world and in the speaker’s and poet’s souls.

Example “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.

Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time—
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal

And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.

In the German tongue, in the Polish town
Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.
But the name of the town is common.
My Polack friend

Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.

It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene

An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.

The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.

I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You—

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who

Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.

But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look

And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I’m finally through.
The black telephone’s off at the root,
The voices just can’t worm through.

If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two—
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.

There’s a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.

2. W.B. Yeats (1865-1939)

W.B. Yeats had a deep reverence for mythology and the supernatural. Many of his poems such as “Stolen Child” and his writing such as Celtic Twilight revealed a deep reverence for Celtic stories about fairies and legends.

Being a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a group of occultists, he also had a deep reverence for the subconscious and spirituality and how it played into his life. Like his contemporaries, such as T.S. Eliot and Wilfred Owen, Yeats saw dread in the world, with the coming of WWI and the Easter Uprising in Ireland. In his poems such as “The Second Coming,” Yeats used symbolism and allegory to show the darkness of the current world around him.

Example: “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    Surely some revelation is at hand;
    Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
    The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
    When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
    Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
    A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
    A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
    Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
    Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.     The darkness drops again but now I know
    That twenty centuries of stony sleep
    Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

 

1. Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Emily Dickinson lived an isolated life in her home of Amherst, Massachusetts. Indeed during the last 20 years of her life, she hardly ever left her home, often wearing the same white dress almost like a living ghost. However, Dickinson’s poetry left a bigger impact than she would ever have known in her lifetime.

Dickinson’s over 1,700 poems are mostly brief but they retain strong emotions and imagery throughout. Her poems like “Some Keep The Sabbath Going to Church” or

“I Never Saw Another Moor” are invocations to nature’s beauty in finding complex meanings to sunsets, insects like spiders and bees, or birds’ songs. She also wrote of emotions in her poems like “This is My Letter to the World,” or “I Felt A Funeral In My Brain” that describe speakers that get their hearts broken, grieve for deceased loved ones, or feel emotionally disconnected from everyone around them.

Dickinson revealed deep connections to the Spirit and the Mind, considering her inner thoughts better company than the fickle outside world.

Example “This is My Letter to the World” by Emily Dickinson

 This is my letter to the world,
That never wrote to me,--
The simple news that Nature told,
With tender majesty.
Her message is committed
To hands I cannot see;
For love of her, sweet countrymen,
Judge tenderly of me!

Honorable Mention: Allen Ginsberg (“Howl”) ,John Keats (“Eve of St. Agnes”),  Anne Sexton (“Housewife”), T. S. Eliot (“The Waste Land”), Percy Bysshe Shelley (“Ode to the West Wind”), Adrienne Rich (“Snapshots for My Daugther-in-Law”), Edna St. Vincent Millay (“First Fig”), ee cummings (“if/spring”), Dylan Thomas (“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”), Christina Rossetti (“Goblin Market”), and Robert Frost (“Stopping By The Woods On a Snowy Evening”)

Lyricists:

10. Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)

Leonard Cohen often wrote of people who were depressed and lost by the darkness throughout the world such as racism, dishonest governments, and social conformity as well as the darkness within such as addiction, infidelity, and broken relationships. His lyrics are filled with loss, despair and barely concealed rage at a world gone mad.

His songs such as “Hallelujah” and “Everybody Knows” reveal relationships that have been broken apart by dishonesty and fallen intimacy. The lyrics show very little light into the world but are always unforgettable in their sadness.

Example: “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley

“Everybody Knows” by Leonard Cohen

9. Tori Amos (1963- )

Tori Amos is one of the best of the ‘90s female singer/songwriters, women who wrote hauntingly descriptive lyrics detailing pain and loss. Amos is to lyrics what Sylvia Plath is to poetry, deeply confessional and deeply moving. Her lyrics describe fallen relationships and inevitable loneliness when someone feels like they have to settle.

She also recounts hurt in her songs, such as “Silent All These Years,” when the narrator

describes years of abuse. There is fragility and strength in the lyrics as the narrator is someone who has been hurt but refuses to remain silent any longer.

 Example “Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos

8. Carly Simon (1945- )

The ‘70s definitely was a great time for female singer-songwriters and Carly Simon was one of the best. Many of her lyrics recounted unhappy relationships such as “You’re So Vain” about a woman in love with a man who is more in love with himself.

 She also recounts the pain of women who are trapped in loveless relationships such as the haunting, “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” or “Coming Around Again” where the speaker longs for something to break from the simple tedium from her daily life. She also knew how to give women triumph in songs like “Let the River Run” which celebrates personal and professional victory. Simon gave women a voice and she did it wonderfully.

Example “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” by Carly Simon

7. Carole King (1942- )

Carole King’s impact is felt not only through her singing career but in writing songs for others. The trajectory of her career can be found in her early works like “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” where a woman feels complete in her relationship or “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” about a girl wondering about the morning after.

Her craft developed during the ‘60’s and ‘70s when her songs took a more personal tone such as “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” a criticism of suburbia made popular by the Monkees. Her album, Tapestry recounts lost love in such songs as “It’s Too Late,” the emotional closeness of friendship in “You’ve Got a Friend,” and in “Beautiful” when a narrator retains a positive outlook and self-image in times of trouble.

Example:  “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin

“Beautiful” by Carole King

6. Bruce Springsteen (1949- )

Bruce Springsteen has been described as “The Voice of the Working Man” and I would have to agree. In many of his songs, he wrote lyrics about people who were stuck in dead-end jobs, dead-end towns and wondering about their place in the American Dream. His much-misunderstood “Born in the U.S.A.” is a negative look at the consequences of fighting for a country whose values the speaker questions.

Many of Springsteen’s strongest songs like “Thunder Road” reflect characters that desire and long to escape troubled situations by driving all night and finding someone with which to be intimate. Sometimes like in “Nebraska” they commit dark deeds just to be known and recognized.

Springsteen’s lyrics are tales of frustration, longing, pain, but a willingness to fight against the System and to be heard.

Example “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen

M

5. Jim Morrison (1943-1971)

The lead singer of the Doors, Jim Morrison, had an interest in the deeper subconscious and inner psyche. This was a fascination that he explored in songs like “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” which discusses opening the mind to gain a deeper perspective.

He also understood and wrote about the darkness in society in lyrics such as “The End” where the narrator contemplates the end of the world. Of course “The End” gained more relevance featured in the opening of the film, Apocalypse Now as helicopters bent on destruction enter Vietnam.

Example: “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” by The Doors

4. Peter Gabriel (1950- )

While Gabriel’s lyrics with Genesis were wonderful, his lyrics as a solo artist were extremely powerful. Sometimes they were satiric such as “Big Time” in which a yuppie is looking forward to his upwardly mobile lifestyle or straight on such as in “Don’t Give Up” when the narrator is in despair about unemployment and constant moving.  

Many of the songs paint beautiful emotional images such as “Red Rain” based on a dream Gabriel had of seeing his backyard filled with red rain. (Which the song carried on more sinister connotations during the Cold War because many thought the red rain was a symbol for nuclear fallout.) Even when you don’t know what the song is getting at like the memorable “Sledgehammer” you don’t forget it. (And who can forget “Sledgehammer’s” Claymation music video?)

Example: “Red Rain” by Peter Gabriel

3. Sarah McLachlan(1968- )

Sarah McLachlan’s contribution to female musicians as well as her own singing/songwriting talent is second to none. In 1997, she founded the Lilith Fair music festival which focused on female musicians and performers such as herself, Sheryl Crow, Paula Cole, Lisa Loeb and others. She helped provide female musicians much needed recognition and an outlet for their creative talents.

McLachlan’s lyrics also reflect her tremendous talent. Her images in songs such as “Possession” and “Building a Mystery” describe doomed relationships between women and very troubled insecure men. (In fact she even admitted “Possession” was inspired by letters from stalkers who insist that they had a relationship with her, one of whom sued McLachlan for “stealing his words” in the letters and later committed suicide.)

Her images in “Angel’ and “Full of Grace” describe someone needing to find a sense of light and hope in a seemingly cold world filled with addiction and separation.

Example: “Building a Mystery” by Sarah McLachlan

2. John Lennon (1940-1980)

Let’s get this straight: All of the Beatles were great as singers and songwriters together as a group and in their solo acts. However, top honors goes to John Lennon because of his activism, his lyrics reflecting troubled times, and his honesty through his works.

In the Beatles, Lennon wrote songs that were honest and upfront like in “Revolution” when he attacks anti-war protestors for being just as violent as the people they are rebelling against. Other lyrics discuss a cosmic connection between the individual and the Universe such as “Across the Universe” in which the narrator wonders about their place in things.

As a solo artist, many of Lennon’s works reflect his desire to change society such as  “Imagine” which idealizes the perfect society in which people are equal and free to express love and peace.

Example: “Revolution” by The Beatles

“Imagine” by John Lennon

1. Bob Dylan (1941- )

In 2016, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize in Literature, a much deserved recognition. Dylan’s lyrics gave voices to the anti-war movement of the ‘60s and still are relevant today.

His lyrics contain images that are unforgettable such as in “Blowin’ in the Wind” when the narrator asks “How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?” wondering about the futility of such gestures or in “The Times They Are A-Changin’” in which the narrator pleads for the older generation to understand and learn from their children.

Other lyrics such as “All Along the Watchtower” (most famously and excellently performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience) portray dark Biblical imagery to convey a sense of fear, confusion, and imprisonment. Bob Dylan not only spoke for his generation but for the later generations to come.

Example: “All Along the Watchtower” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

“The Times They Are A-Changin’” By Bob Dylan

Honorable Mention: Bono (“One”), Kurt Cobain (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”), Sting (“Fields of Gold”), Melissa Etheridge (“Come To My Window”), Paul Simon (“The Sounds of Silence”), John Denver ((Country Roads) Take Me Home”), John Mellencamp (“Scarecrow”), Neil Young (“Old Man”), Eddie Vedder (“Jeremy”), Alanis Morrissette (“You Oughta Know”), and Billy Joel (“Piano Man”)

 

15 Funniest Literature For Fun, Fools, and Frivolity

15 Funniest Literature For Fun, Fools, and Frivolity

By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

April is the perfect time to curl up and laugh yourself sick with a funny book. So I compiled a list of 15 books guaranteed to bring out the fool in any reader or at least put a smile at on their faces.

This list consists mostly of novels but also a short story, an autobiography, plays, an anthology, and two collections of writings by known humorists.

I  have also included the best quotes and moments that explain why these books are funny. While I am aware that humor is subjective, and maybe some of these quotes might be dark or even outdated but in my mind they represent the best of these books and their authors.
If you know of any books that make you laugh that I haven't included, please let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.

15. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney-The school-age misadventures of Greg Heffley and his friends and family including his bullying older brother, Rodrick have been loved by kids and adults alike. Kids completely relate to Greg’s inability to control situations that often get progressively worse and funnier as the story goes along. Adults probably remember their own awkward youth and the mishaps that encountered.

The series is a very hilarious almost sitcom-like look as Greg recounts through writing and drawing his latest foibles to his exasperation and the reader’s delight.

Funniest Moments:

The Jeff Kinney illustrations are the best parts of the books in their simplicity and visual humor. The characters are drawn as stick figures and compliment and sometimes run counter to Greg’s writing as if to reveal Greg’s thought process or the real events that occurred.

14. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by John Thurber

Thurber’s short story is a simple one about a milquetoast unhappily married man dragged around the town by his nagging wife only to daydream of adventures and heroism. “Walter Mitty” has all of Thurber’s usual writing tropes some of which may be outdated to modern readers, such as the nasty wife/wimpy husband stock characters that were so popular in writings in the ‘20’s and ‘30’s. However it is the dream sequences that truly make the story unique and funny.

In each of his fantasy scenarios, Mitty is a too-good-to-be-true hero who walks in and saves the day to the amazement and awe of his fellow surgeons/pilots/attorneys/soldiers whatever. The dream sequences seem one part Boy’s Own Adventure and one part Hollywood film as Mitty’s fantasies allow him to become the hero that he can’t be in his real life. The dreamers inside all of us can relate.

Funniest Quote: Most of the dream sequences are hilarious in their over-dramatic dialogue, fictitious jargon, and melodramatic situations. Here is an example:  

“‘It’s the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan,’ said the pretty nurse. ‘Yes,’ said Walter Mitty removing his gloves slowly. ‘Who has the case?’ ‘Dr. Renshaw and Dr. Benbow, but there are two specialists here, Dr. Remington from New York and Dr. Pritchard-Milford from London. He flew over.’ A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked distraught and haggard. ‘Hello Mitty,’ he said. ‘We’re having the devil’s own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you’d take a look at him.’ Glad to,’ said Mitty.

In the operating room there were whispered instructions: ‘Dr. Remington, Dr. Mitty. Dr. Pritchard-Mitford, Dr. Mitty.’ ‘I’ve read your book on strepthothricosis,’ said Pritchard-Mitford shaking hands. ‘A brilliant performance, sir.’ ‘Thank you’’ said Mitty. ‘Didn’t know you were in the States, Mitty,’ grumbled Remington. ‘Coals to Newcastle, bringing Mitford and me up here for a tertiary.’ ‘You are very kind,’ said Mitty.

A huge complicated machine connected to the operating table, with many tubes and wires and began at this moment to go pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. ‘The new anesthetizer is giving way!’ shouted an intern. ‘There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!’

‘Quiet Man,” said Mitty in a low cool voice. He sprang to the machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-queep. He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. ‘Give me a fountain pen!’ he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He pulled a faulty piston out of the machine and inserted the pen in its place. ‘That will hold for ten minutes,’ he said. ‘Get on with the operation.’ A nurse hurried over and whispered to Renshaw and Mitty saw the man turn pale. ‘Coreopsis has set in,’ said Renshaw nervously. ‘If you would take over Mitty?’ Mitty looked at him and at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank, and at the grave, uncertain faces of the two great specialist. ‘If you wish,’ he said. They slipped a white gown on him; he adjusted a mask and drew on thin gloves; nurses handed him shining…..

13. The Princess Bride by William Goldman-While the film deservedly is a classic in parodying the fairy tale/adventure genre, the book is equally as humorous. Of course there is the story of Westley AKA the Dread Pirate Roberts and his true love, Buttercup.

All of the familiar characters like the vengeance seeking Inigo Montoya, the cowardly Prince Humperdinck, and the supposed genius Vizzini are there as well as the situations like the encounters with the ROUS, the history of the Dread Pirate Roberts, and the clever storming of the castle by three men, a holocaust cloak, and a wheelbarrow.

However, what sets the book apart from the movie is Goldman’s fictitious backstory to how he encountered the “original book” by S. Morgenstern  from his father and how the version that we are reading is simply “the good parts” version with all of Morgenstern’s original satire edited out.

The book is filled with humorous asides as Goldman explains what he had removed and the reasons behind it, such as a 30 page section on packing, and Buttercup’s royal training. (He limits this section to one line “One thing and another three years pass.”) This meta-fiction writing makes the book stand out as more than a stand-alone adventure novel and becomes a clever send-up of writing in general. In fact Goldman’s back story fooled readers so much that there are still people convinced that the original “text” by S. Morgenstern really exists.

Funniest Quote Narration (Very dark but very true at times): Look (Grown-ups skip this part): I’m not about to tell you this book has a tragic ending. I already said in the very first line how it is my favorite in all the world. But there’s a lot of bad stuff coming up, torture you’ve already been prepared for, but there’s worse. There’s death coming up and you better understand this: Some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it. This isn’t Curious George Uses the Potty. Nobody warned me and it was my own fault (you’ll see what I mean in a little) and that was my mistake so I’m not letting it happen to you. The wrong people die, some of them, and the reason is this: life is not fair. Forget all the garbage your parents put out.”

12. Then We Came To the End by Joshua Ferris-Anyone who has worked in an office setting will completely understand Ferris’ story about advertising agency employees worried about upcoming lay-offs during the early 2000’s dot com bubble burst.

Many scenes are almost unbelievable such as a fired employee who returns dressed as a clown to attack his former colleagues or a duo of office pranksters who pull an elaborate joke on a co-worker when they steal a Native American figure from his desk. The characters and situations are all sharply written and so broad and farcical but at the same time understandable. They become almost relatable in their elaborate schemes to beat the tedium and office politics and their anxieties when their time at work may be coming to an end. The reader will enjoy the ride even if they might sniffle a little at the end.

Funniest Quote: Narration: “Using a wide variety of media, we could demonstrate for our fellow Americans their anxieties, desires, insufficiencies, and frustrations-and how to assuage them all. We informed you in six seconds that you needed something you didn’t know you lacked. We made you want anything that anyone willing to pay us wanted you to want. We here hired guns of the human soul. We pulled the strings on the people across the land and by god they got to their feet and they danced for us.”

11. The Essential Groucho Writings by, for, and about Groucho Marx-The Marx Brothers are still some of the most well-known and beloved comedians of all time and part of their success lies in the character of Groucho. Known for his one-liners, his large mustache, his trademark cigar, and his eyebrows that seemed to have a life of their own, Groucho stood out as one of the most memorable of the brothers.

This book is a collection of many of Marx’s best works including the scripts from the movies, his columns, his period hosting the game show, You Bet Your Life, and reminisces and articles written by people who knew him best. It is a great, hilarious, and sometimes touching tribute to one of the funniest performers in the Golden Age of Hollywood

Funniest Quote(s):         

From the films: From Duck Soup

Margaret Dumont as Mrs. Teasdale: “Oh your excellency. We’ve been expecting you. As chairwoman of the reception committee, I extend the wishes of every man, woman, and child of Freedonia.

Groucho as Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia: Never mind that stuff. Take a card.

M.D.: Card? What will I do with the card?

G.M.: You can keep it. I’ve got fifty-one left.

M.D.: As chairwoman of the reception committee, I welcome you with open arms.

G.M. Is that so? How late do you stay open?

M.D. I’ve sponsored your appointment because I feel you are the most able statesman in all of Freedonia

G.M.: Well that covers a lot of ground. Say! You cover a lot of ground yourself. You’d better beat it! I hear they’re gonna tear you down and put up an office building right where you’re standing. You can leave in a taxi. If you can’t get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that’s too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff. You know you haven’t stopped talking since I’ve been here. You must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle.”

From his writing: Marx (After Warner Brothers sent the brothers a telegram protesting their use of the title A Night in Casablanca, he sent this letter to the film company’s legal department): “You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about ‘Warner Brothers?’ Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventor’s eye and even before there had been other brothers-the Smith Brothers, the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit, and ‘Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?’ (This was originally ‘Brothers, Can You Spare a Dime?’ but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to ‘Brother Can You Spare a Dime?’)”

10. The Odd Couple/The Sunshine Boys by Neil Simon-These two plays stand out as the best of Simon’s works, both portraying two bickering men forced to live and work together. Even the title, The Odd Couple, is instantly identifiable as well as the story of two polar opposites, a slob and a neat-freak living together. The situation has almost become a staple in modern day sitcoms and buddy films.

The Sunshine Boys is not as well-known but I like it better than The Odd Couple. The plot concerns vaudeville duo, Lewis and Clark, based on real-life duo Smith and Dale (with a lot of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’ acrimonious relationship thrown in). Lewis and Clark got along well on-stage but bickered off, but are forced out of retirement and back together for one show. This trope is also familiar to modern audiences as many shows and movies portray seniors who don’t get along but are forced to live or work together.

What stands out from the stock situations is Simon’s gift for writing the characters. Whether it’s Odd Couple’s Felix and Oscar or Sunshine Boy’s Lewis and Clark, Simon gives them great one-liners against each other making their encounters hilarious and causes them to stand out from their many imitators.

Funniest Moment(s):

From The Odd Couple:

Oscar: I can’t take it anymore, Felix, I’m cracking up. Everything you do irritates me. And when you’re not here, the things I know you’re gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. Told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. ‘We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.’ Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Unger.

From The Sunshine Boys:

“Willy Clark: What’s wrong with saying ‘enter’ instead of ‘come in?’

Al Lewis: Because it’s different. Do you know why we did this sketch for 43 years, Willy because it’s good.

Willy Clark: And do you know why we’re not doing it anymore? Because we’ve been doing it for 43 years.

A.L.: If we’re not doing it anymore why are we changing it?

W.C.: You know what’s wrong with you, Lewis? You’ve been sitting on a New Jersey porch for too long. You’re out of touch. From my window here, I see everything that’s going on in the world. Look! I see old people, young people, nice people, bad people. I see hold-ups! I see drug addicts! Ambulances! Car crashes! Jumpers from buildings! I see everything! You see…a lawn mower…and the milkman.

A.L.: That’s why you want to say ‘enter’ instead of ‘come in?’ “

9. Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding-Bridget Jones’ is a humorously self-aware story about a woman who spends a year trying to lose weight, maintain a relationship with a responsible adult, and develop “inner poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend, as the best way to obtain boyfriend.” Her diary entries are great reading as she recounts her irritation with her smug married friends, her affair with her lecherous boss, Daniel Cleaver, her relationship with Mark Darcy, her parent’s friends’ son, and her mother’s late-life crisis and much younger boyfriend. Throughout the book, Bridget recounts her search for love and satisfaction with writing that is witty, dry and at times hopeful and optimistic. She is the character that many single men and women can completely understand and maybe are.

Funniest Quote: Bridget (on seeing Mark Darcy for the first time at her parents’ friends’ Turkey Curry Buffet): “It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr. Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party. It’s like being called Heathcliff and insisting on spending the entire evening in the gardens shouting ‘Cathy’ and banging your head against a tree.”

8. A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams-While one would think a book about the destruction of earth would be too dark for a comedy, Adams made a Sci-Fi comedy classic.

It is filled with humorous situations such as when protagonists, Arthur Dent, the last surviving Earthling and Ford Prefect, an alien from Betelgeuse (not Guildford as he claimed) are trapped by a race of aliens who torture then by reciting bad poetry. Then there’s the simple fact that the Earth is destroyed so the aliens can make a new interplanetary highway.

The main characters make for a winning comedy team as Dent, Ford, Zaphod Beeblebrox, the idiotic President of the Galaxy, Trillian MacMillan, a beauty who speaks in probabilities, and Marvin, a mopey android, navigate the universe. Many lines are quite memorable such as “so long and thanks for the fish” and “the secret to life, the universe, and everything.” (Both of which ended up as book titles to the later installments to the series). It is to science-fiction, what Princess Bride is to fantasy: a great send-up of the genre and a legend in its own right.

Funniest Quote: Narration: “One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very, very obvious, as in ‘It’s a nice day,’ or ‘You’re very tall,’ or ‘Oh dear you seem to have fallen down a thirty foot well, are you all right?’ At first Ford formed a theory to account for his strange behavior. If human beings don’t keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months’ consideration and observation he abandoned this theory in favor of the new one. If they don’t keep on exercising their lips, he thought their brains start working.”

7. A Liar’s Autobiography Vol. VI by Graham Chapman-No one would expect an autobiography from one of the members of Monty Python to be a dry dreary sob-fest and it isn’t. Chapman’s book movingly discusses such topics as his struggle with alcoholism, his homosexuality including his relationship with his life partner, David Sherlock and adopted son, John Tomiczek (The book ends before Chapman’s discovery of inoperable throat cancer and subsequent death in 1989). However in true Python fashion, Chapman never let the book get too dark or depressing. Throughout the book, Chapman’s writing is filled with funny asides and description that almost turn his life into a Python script in its own right.

Funniest Quote: Chapman (after he suffered from D.T.’s):

“My personal physician and hard-drinking companion, his Efficaciousness, A.R. Baily, the Practical, M.R.C.P., brought along a remarkably sane psychiatrist whose name for the purpose of this book, I shall give in the form of a Times crossword clue:

Across

1. Familiar French horseman on the tip of one’s tongue ruins musical pedigree (7,8)

Dr. One Across, having known me since medical school gave analytical flummery the elbow and said, ‘Graham, you’re an alcoholic.’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘Do you want not to be?’

I said, ‘Yes.’”

6. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde-Any book lover would dream about visiting the world of Fforde’s Thursday Next series at least once. It is a world where literary characters such as Cheshire Cat or Miss Havisham come out daily to chat with real characters. Where Shakespeare machines stand on street corners and quote lines form the play for a small price. Where people take their literature so seriously that there are gangs that fight over whether Shakespeare did or did not write his plays (The Oxfordians and the Baconians are particularly vicious). Where people travel by airship instead of train or airplane and the Crimean War lasted for over 100 years.

Fforde writes of an intriguing alternate universe which plays out the humor in meta-situations that allow the real and the fictional world meld into each other. He also provides memorable characters to inhabit it, both his and other writers’, Thursday Next, the series’ main protagonist is a clever and memorable lead. She takes the world’s bizarreness with a detachment and wryness that accepts the goings-on.

Funniest Quotes: Many of them come from the epitaphs at the beginning of each chapter, which provide the reader with some much needed exposition, all without dropping it unnecessarily into the action. A couple of them:

Acheron Hades (resident antagonist and all around nasty guy): “The best reason for commuting loathsome and detestable acts and let’s face it, I am considered something of an expert in this field-is purely for their own sake. Monetary gain is all very well, but it dilutes the wickedness to a lower level that is obtainable by anyone with an overdeveloped sense of avarice. True and baseless evil is as rare as the purest good-and we all know how rare that is.”

Thursday (describing her odd family particularly her time-traveling father): “I was born on a Thursday, hence the name.  My brother was born on a Monday and they called him Anton-go figure. My mother was called Wednesday but was born on a Sunday-I don’t know why-and my father had no name at all-his identity and existence had been scrubbed by the ChronoGuard after he went rogue. To all intents and purposes he didn’t exist at all. It didn’t matter. He was always Dad to me.”

5. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman-Like Hitchhiker, Good Omens takes the end of the world in a new and funny direction. This is more of a send-up of religion and Biblical prophecies as the Antichrist is born but given to the wrong parents and Crowley, a car-phone owning demon and Aziraphale, a bookstore owning angel, like Earth so much that they want to stop the inevitable Apocalypse.

Many of the Apocalyptic prophecies and writings are cleverly parodied such as the Bugger Alle Thise Bible (which has a few extra verses transcribed a clearly irritated copyist) and the Four Horseman, uh, Bikers of the Apocalypse (along with new members, Really Cool People and Things That Do Not Work Properly After You Give Them a Good Thumping). The stand-out characters are Crowley and Aziraphale. The angel and demon make a memorable duo with Crowley’s cynical barbs match up with Aziraphale’s idealistic naïve quips. Their scenes together make them more like a comedy team and less like sworn enemies on the battle between God and Satan.

Funniest Quotes:

Crowley There’s this big mountain, see a mile high, at the end of the universe and once every thousand years there’s this bird-

Aziraphale: The same bird every thousand years?

Crowley: The same bird

Aziraphale: Bloody ancient bird

C: Okay and every thousand years this bird flies-

A: -limps

C: -Flies all the way back to the mountain to sharpen its beak

A: Hold on you can’t do that. Between here and there there’s loads of-buggerall dear boy,

C: But it ges there anyway

A: How

C: It doesn’t matter.

A: It could use a spaceship.

C: Yeah if you like. So this bird-

A: Only it is the end of the universe we’re talking about, it would be one of those spaceships where the descendants who get out at the other end. You have to tell your descendants ‘When you get to the Mountain, you have to-‘You have to-What do they have to do?:

C:-Sharpen its beak to fly on the mountain and then it flies back-

A:-in the spaceship?”

C:And after a thousand years it goes and does it again

A: Seems like a lot of effort just to sharpen a beak.

C: Listen when the point is when the bird has worn down to nothing right then…then you still won’t have  finished watching the Sound of Music!!”

4.  The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde-Wilde’s comedy of manners is a terrific witty play filled with mistaken identity and silly situations. Jack Worthing, a young English-man-about town creates a separate identity, Ernest to propose to Gwendolyn Fairfax. Things get more complicated when Jack’s friend, Algernon Moncrief also adopts the Ernest persona to propose to Jack’s niece, Cecily Cardew. The situations and dialogue make this play one of the funniest of all time.

Funniest Quotes:

Algernon: What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyist I know.

Jack: What on earth do you mean?

Algernon: You have invented a very useful young brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with, you at Willis’ tonight, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.

J: I haven’t asked you to dine with me anywhere tonight.

A: I know. You are absurdly careless about sending out invitations. It is very foolish of you. Nothing annoys people so much as not receiving invitations.

 

3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare-Shakespeare was known just as much for his comedies as his tragedies and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the best of them. Through fairies, four silly lovers, and an even sillier group of actors, Shakespeare sent up love stories in which couples are separated by parental circumstances.

The playwright used the lovers’ fickle nature as the boys are easily swayed to fall in love with different girls, as well as the actors’ production of Pyramus and Thisbe to parody such stories including his own Romeo and Juliet. The highlight is Puck, King Oberon’s jester who controls the events and mocks them by providing commentary to the audience.

Funniest Quotes:

 Puck has some very well-known monologues. His two best ones are

Puck (describes mortals most accurately):

 Captain of our fairy band

 Helena is here at hand

 And the youth mistook by me

 Pleading for a lover’s fee

 Shall we their fond pageants see?

 Lord what fools these mortals be!

Puck (one of the best apologies for a thin plot)

If we shadows have offended

Think but this and all is mended

That you have but slumbre’d here

While these visions did appear

And this weak and idle theme

No more yielding but a dream

Gentles, do not reprimand

If you pardon we will mend

And, as I’m an honest Puck

If we have unearned luck

Now to scrape the serpent’s tongue

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all

Give me your hands, if we be friends.
And Robin shall restore amends."

2. The Portable Dorothy Parker-Parker was considered the Queen of the Vicious Circle AKA The Algonquin Round Table, a group of actors, writers, columnists, and wits that tried to outdo each other with barbs and pranks. Parker was undoubtedly one of the funniest women of all time.

Her poems and short stories including, “Big Blonde” are dark, but filled with lines that mock romance and reason with a clever wit that finds humor in dark situations. Many of her characters are surrounded by conflicts like broken hearts, attempted suicide, racism, class distinction, and infidelity. However, there is a cynical humor  and situational irony in  Parker's stories such as "Too Bad" or "The Bolt Behind the Blue" in which other characters observe the protagonist in  a seemingly perfect enviable moment after the protagonist just bore their souls in an uncomfortable way in private. Parker's characters laugh so they don't cry.

Parker was also known for her reviews and literary criticisms. She often had a clever line to describe a book or a performance that she didn’t like such as writing "Theodore Dreiser ought to write nicer",or  her description of A.A. Milne’s House at Pooh Corner: “Tonstant Weader Fwowed Up.” Parker said out loud, what many reviewers probably wanted to say but often said it more memorable and made it more original.

Favorite Quotes From her poems:

“My own dear love, he is strong and true

And he cares not what comes after.

His words ring sweet as a chime of gold.

And his eyes are lit with laughter

He is jubilant  as a flag unfurled-

Oh a girl, she’d not forget him

My  own dear love, he is all my world-

And I wish I’d never met him

My, he’s mad and my love, he’s fleet

And a wild young wood-thing bore him

The ways are fair to his roaming feet,

And the skies are sunlit for him.

As sharply sweet to my hear he seems

As the fragrance of acacia

My own dear love, he is all my dreams-

And I wish he were in Asia

My love runs like a day in June,

And he makes no friends of sorrows.

He’ll tread his galloping rigadoon

In the pathway of the morrows,

He’ll live his days where the sunbeams start,

Nor could storm or wind uproot him.

My own dear love he is all my heart-

And I wish somebody’d shoot him.”

From her reviews (on The Glass Key by Dashielll Hammett.) "It is true that had the literary lads got past those names and cracked the pages, they would have found the plots to be so many  nuisances; confusion into madness as in The Red Harvest; fanciful to nausea as in The Maltese Falcon; or as in the case of the newly published The Glass Key, so tired that even this reviewer, who infancy was let drop by a nurse with the result that she has ever since then been fascinated by amateur coin tricks, was able to guess the identity of the murderer by the middle of the book."

 

1.The World of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse-I always say that Wodehouse’s anthology is

the cure for what ails you. Every page is filled with hilarious situations usually involving upper-class twit, Bertie Wooster and his love-lorn friends all soliciting the help of Bertie’s valet, Jeeves. The plots are clever filled with madcap situations such as when Bertie finds himself unwittingly engaged to a horrible domineering woman. (The only way out is to convince her psychiatrist father that Bertie is mad).

Wodehouse’s writing and Bertie’s narration stands out. Bertie constantly waffles in his description, misquotes or forgets literary quotes, and makes a fool of himself when he tries to command Jeeves but often acquiesces in the end (usually involving Bertie’s fashion faux pas or Jeeves’ desire to travel). Many of the passages are laugh-out-loud hilarious even after multiple readings and are perfect for a beautiful spring day or a not-so-beautiful stressful winter day or any day that isn’t so beautiful or not-so-beautiful.

Favorite Quotes: From the original story, “Jeeves Takes Charge,” Bertie (after Jeeves tells him that he doesn’t approve of a checked suit that Bertie has selected): “Again there was that kind of rummy something in his manner. It was the way he said it, don’t you know. He didn’t like the suit. I pulled myself together to assert myself. Something seemed to tell me that, unless I was jolly careful and nipped this lad in the bud, he would be starting to boss me. He had the aspect of a distinctly resolute blighter.

Well, I wasn’t going to have any of that sort of thing, by Jove! I’d seen many cases of fellows who had become perfect slaves to their valets. I remember poor old Aubrey Fothergill telling me with absolute tears in his eyes-poor chap!-one night at the club, that he had been compelled to give up a pair of brown shoes simply because Meekyn, his man, disapproved of them. You have to keep these fellows in their place, don’t you know. You have to work the good old iron-hand-in-the-velvet glove wheeze. If you give them a what’s-its-name., they take a thingummy.”

Bertie (later after Jeeves has helped him out of an obstacle): “Oh Jeeves, about that checked suit.

Jeeves: Yes sir?

Bertie: Is it really frost?

J: A trifle too bizarre in my opinion.

B: But lots of fellow asked me who my tailor is.

J: Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.

B: He’s supposed to be one of the best men in London!

J: I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.

B: All right Jeeves, you know. Give the bally thing away to somebody.

J: Thank you, sir. I gave it to the under-gardener last night. A little more tea, sir?”