Ogden Nash

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Candy is dandy, But Liquor Is Quicker.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) was one of the great writers of American humorous poetry, noted for couplets or other poems that rhyme, but the lines are of different length and irregular meter. He lived in Baltimore most of his life, and included several paeans to it in his work. Also noted are his series of poems set to Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival Of The Animals".

He was also verified by the Guinness Book Of World Records as having composed the shortest published poem: On the Antiquity of Fleas, which consists of merely "Adam/Had'em."

Tropes in Ogden Nash's work:

• Analogy Backfire: The poem The Romantic Age, about a lovestruck teenage girl who:

Presses lips and tosses head, Declares she's not too young to wed. Informs you pertly you forget Romeo and Juliet. Do not argue, do not shout; Remind her how that one turned out.

• But Liquor Is Quicker: "Reflections on Ice-Breaking" is the Trope Namer.
• Ceiling Banger:

We might love the people upstairs wonderous If, instead of above us, they lived just underus.

• Least Rhymable Word:

There are no rhymes for orange or silver, Unless liberties you pilfer.

• Little Did I Know: Don't Guess, Let Me Tell You.
• Missing Floor: A Tale of the Thirteenth Floor.
• Painful Rhyme: Though done deliberately, and often lampshaded by changes in the spelling.
• Romantic Hyperbole:

More than a catbird hates a cat, Or a criminal hates a clue, Or the Axis hates the United States, That's how much I love you....

• Spotlight-Stealing Title:

The Self-Effacement of Electra Thorne: As for egocentricity, good heavens! What's egocentric about wanting the marquee to read ELECTRA THORNE IN OPHELIA AND HAMLET WITH MAURICE EVANS ?

• Stuffy Old Songs About the Buttocks: The Clean Platter

Some singers sing of ladies' eyes And some of ladies' lips, Refined ones praise their ladylike ways, And coarse ones hymn their hips.

• Termite Trouble/Floorboard Failure: The Termite

Some primal termite knocked on wood Tasted it, and found it good And that is why your Cousin May Fell through the parlor floor today.

• The So-Called Coward: Custard the Dragon is about a woman named Belinda who lived with a kitten, a mouse, a dog, and a dragon. Counter-intuitively, the kitten, mouse, and dog were all described as being very brave, while the dragon was a coward. However, when a pirate broke into the house and threatened Belinda, the three supposedly 'brave' animals ran and hid, and Custard stood his ground, fought the pirate, and ate him.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Polterguest, My Polterguest[1].
• Wendigo:

The Wendigo, the Wendigo I saw it just a friend ago Last night it lurked in Canada Tonight on your veranda!