Give a Doggerel a Bad Name

Doggerel has a bad name in the Dictionaries of the World.

It is usually defined as a derogatory term for poetry considered of little literary value. The word probably derives from dog, suggesting either ugliness or unpalatability (as in food fit only for dogs)... trite, cliche, or overly sentimental content, forced or imprecise rhymes, faulty metre. A sort of loose or irregular verse; mean or undignified poetry. Pejorative words include rude, crude, poor, trivial

Well, with doggedness I'm going to campaign to have all the pejorativity removed and shift the meaning towards what some American dictionaries say "often of a humorous or burlesque nature". Work of the likes of Pam Ayres, Spike Milligan or Ogden Nash is not really poetry so it needs its own word....doggerel

Here's a few nice bits of doggerel

On yonder hill, there stood a cooIt's no there nooIt must have shiftedOften said to be by William Topaz McGonagall but he never used Scottish slang.It is likely to have been by Spike Milligan in a sketch about Mc Goonagall

Howsabout this gem written by I know not

Hogamus, higamusMen are polygamousHigamus, hogamusWomen, monogamous

Or this by Roland Young

And here's the happy bounding flea?You cannot tell the he from she.The sexes look alike, you seeBut she can tell and so can he. . . .

Or these by Ogden Nash

Celery, raw

Develops the jaw,

But celery, stewed,

Is more quietly chewed.

****The Cow

The cow is of the bovine ilk;

One end is moo, the other, milk.

Or this by Me, inspired by Gary Larson's The Far Side cartoon, shown at the top of this page where Noah is saying "Listen up, we're going to do this alphabetically"

To all the animals waitingAt the gang plank of the ArkNoah said "Load up alphabeticallyStarting with aardvark"

The adder was very happyThe antelope said "good call"But the yak and the zebraJust weren't happy at all

"OK", said Noah "lets start with the ones with the fewest legs"A centipede said "that's absurd""Well what a good idea"Said a stork to another bird

So all the birds prepared to loadFiling in two by two"I must be first " came the shoutOf a little kangaroo

"Wait your turn" said the birds"You've got two legs just like usTry to be patientStop making all this fuss"

It took a while for the little joeyTo emerge from the bunchIt's not easy to hop when one of your legsWas once a crocodile's lunch

It should be us, but we'll just swimSaid two hunch backed whales"We must be first" said two french frogsAssisted by two snails

All at once the heavens openedHeavy rain came falling downNoah said "Let's start with the smallestOr they will surely drown

"Yippee" said the flea"Aye, aye" said the fly"Bah poey" was the callOf both hippopotami

How long it took, we'll never knowBut one thing's for sureNoah spent the 40 days and nightsShovelling manure