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doggerel

 
Dictionary: dog·ger·el   ('gər-əl, dŏg'ər-) pronunciation also dog·grel
 
(dôg'rəl, dŏg'-)
n.

Crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of a humorous or burlesque nature.

[From Middle English, poor, worthless, from dogge, dog. See dog.]

doggerel dog'ger·el adj.
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Literary Dictionary: doggerel
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doggerel, clumsy verse, usually monotonously rhymed, rhythmically awkward, and often shallow in sentiment, as in greetings cards. The notoriously irregular verses of William McGonagall (?1830–1902) are doggerel. Some poets, like Skelton and Stevie Smith, have deliberately imitated doggerel for comic effect. See also clerihew, Hudibrastic, light verse, Skeltonics.

 
Poetry Glossary: Doggerel
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Originally applied to poetry of loose irregular measure, it now is used to describe crudely written poetry which lacks artistry in form or meaning.

 
Word Tutor: doggerel
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Crude and comic verse.

pronunciation The crowd thinned when the performer launched into his doggerel.

 
Wikipedia: Doggerel
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Doggerel is 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). First attested in the 13th century.

Doggerel might have any or all of the following failings:

  • trite, cliché, or overly sentimental content
  • forced or imprecise rhymes
  • faulty metre
  • misordering of words to force correct metre

An example of doggerel might be the "Roses are red" verse.

Almost by definition examples of doggerel are not preserved, since if they have any redeeming value they are not considered doggerel. Some poets, however, make a virtue of writing what appears to be doggerel but is actually clever and entertaining despite its apparent technical faults. Such authors include:

The American comedian Steve Allen took a similar approach: dressed in a tuxedo, he would solemnly recite inane popular song lyrics like:

Who put the bomp in the bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp?
Who put the ram in the ramma-lamma-ding-dong?

as if they were odes by Keats or soliloquies from Shakespeare.

A well-travelled story has a writer (Dorothy Parker, William James, Ogden Nash or Gertrude Stein in various retellings) fall asleep, and in a dream they receive a profound insight, which the writer makes sure to record on paper before falling back to sleep. Come the morning, the literary celebrity discovers that the deep thought that came in a dream was this quatrain in double dactyl form:

Hogamus, higamus
Men are polygamous;
Higamus, hogamus
Women, monogamous.

(H. Allen Smith, in How To Write Without Knowing Nothing, attributes the verses to a Mrs. Amos Pinchot.)

The poetry of William Topaz McGonagall is also remembered with affection by many despite its seeming technical flaws.

Macaronic poetry may often be doggerel.

See also


 
Translations: Doggerel
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - kluntet vers, banal poesi

Nederlands (Dutch)
slechte poëzie

Français (French)
n. - vers de mirliton

Deutsch (German)
n. - Knittelvers

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (κωμικό) στιχούργημα

Italiano (Italian)
mediocre

Português (Portuguese)
n. - poesia (f) burlesca

Русский (Russian)
графоманские стихи

Español (Spanish)
n. - versos ramplones, aleluyas

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - grötrim

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
打油诗

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 打油詩

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 광시, 엉터리 시

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 狂詩
adj. - 滑稽な, まずい

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شعر هزلي أو سئ‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חריזה ברמה נמוכה, חרזנות‬


 
 
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crambo
doggrel
hudibrastic

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Poetry Glossary. Copyright © 2007, ILOVEPOETRY, Inc, All Rights Reserved.  Read more
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