I tore the paper from this volume, from my perfecto jogged an ash,
And, lo and behold, the book was "The Primrose Path" by Ogden Nash!
Now far be it from me to titter at your
Ideas of what constitutes Literature,
But if anybody asks me anxiously who can rescue humorous poetry from the ash can,
I shall unhesitatingly answer, "Nash can."
I have heard people say, "It is a clever idea,
But he will be unable to keep it up indefinitely, I feah.
And of course, once you see how it's done, anybody can do it easily."
They say that very confidently and breezily—
But I remember that people first said it
When Ogden Nash had only one book ("Hard Lines") to his credit,
And here is the fifth book, and even better than his first one,
And it isn't likely that his fifteenth, even, will be his worst one.
As for anyone doing it, a lot of imitators have gone to it.
And they just can't do it.
This review, for instance, is the usual sort of parody,
And if you don't like it, I don't particularly care a D,
For the more I work over it, the more it gets to be a hash
Of bad rhythm and rough words and nothing at all like Nash.
The difference between Ogden Nash and all the imitations
Is largely a question of mental limitations;
For whether he's writing (and he's an expert at it) a Limerick,
Or something translated from the Cymeric,
Or an ode to a wombat or Mae West or a caribou,
Or a wallop at a Stuffed Shirt or a children's Fable or Parabou,
Every poem has got a point to it and really means something
While every imitation is pointless, and on the whole a dumb thing.
If you don't think he is a lyric artist, I'll bet you eleven
Dollars that when you run across "The Secret Town" on page 97,
You'll read it three times to discover what the joke is,
Or else you'll cry, "A Poet's what this bloke is!"
And I have no doubt it's as easy for him to be lyrical
As satirical;
But I hope he'll stick mostly to satire,
In which, compared to him, almost any other bard is a flat tire.
So I hope everybody before he eats or sleeps or takes a bath
Will drop everything and read "The Primrose Path,"
But don't be misled by the Shakespearean context about Dalliance,
For there's nothing here to upset one's emotional balliance;
Because the dalliance is with the Muse, and is purely verbal and textual,
And has nothing to do with anything sextual—
And this alone makes it unique, but is only one of the reasons
Why I say that it is not only the funniest but also one of the wisest books that have been published for several seasons.
Ted Robinson, "See through the Cracks," in The Saturday Review of Literature (copyright © 1935 by Saturday Review; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission), Vol. XI, No. 31, February 16, 1935, p. 487.
This is a free excerpt of 472 words. There are 476 words (approx.
2 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Nash, (Frediric) Ogden 1902–1971: Critical Essay by Ted Robinson Access Pass.
