Theme · 50 poems

Funny Poems

Nonsense ballads, comic sonnets, limericks, and verses that take silliness seriously. Poetry is allowed to be fun — these are the proof.

Comic verse has a distinguished bench: Lear sailing his owl and pussycat, Carroll's slithy toves, Ogden Nash rhyming 'panther' with 'anther' on purpose, Dorothy Parker filing couplets into stilettos. The secret they share is that rhyme and meter are comic timing made audible — the rhyme is the rimshot, and a perfectly placed stressed syllable is the punchline's landing gear.

Funny poems also work harder in the world than they get credit for: they carry toasts, rescue awkward birthday cards, and convert children into readers more reliably than anything solemn. Light verse is famously hard to write well — the meter has to be flawless precisely because the subject is silly.

LengthForm

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

Edward Lear · 1871

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to seaIn a beautiful pea-green boat;They took some honey, and plenty of money

23 lines · nonsense

Chapter I

Lewis Carroll · 1871

’Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wade;All mimsy were the borogoves,

28 lines · nonsense

On Advice

The QuillOak Editors

"Advice" is the formal requestto bless what we've already guessed.

2 lines · epigram

Delight in Disorder

Robert Herrick · 1648

Delight in Disorder. Alfred Pollard, ed. 1898. The Hesperides & Noble Numbers.Delight in Disorder. Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

2 lines · lyric

The Meeting

The QuillOak Editors

the meeting could havebeen an email — forty smilesthinking the same thing

3 lines · senryu

One Percent

The QuillOak Editors

phone at one percent —suddenly I rememberthe names of the clouds

3 lines · senryu

Roses Are Red (And Violets Aren't Blue)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, violets are — no.Violets are violet. I checked. It's so.This poem's been fibbing since 1784,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Pizza Edition)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, marinara is too;I ordered a large just to split it with you.Some people want sonnets, the moon, or the weather —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (The Wifi Is Down)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, the wifi is dead,the router's unplugged at the foot of the bed.No streaming, no scrolling, no feed to refresh —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Yes, It's Another One of These)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, this format is tired,I had until midnight; a poem was required.But cliché or not, every word here is true:

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (For the One Who Steals the Blankets)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, my feet are like ice,you've stolen the duvet — not once, dear, but twice;yet I'd shiver forever, frostbitten and blue,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (You're Hopeless at Dancing)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, you're hopeless at dancing,but somehow you're great at this whole romancing:you remember my coffee, my mother, my dreams —

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (The Dog Ate My First Draft)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, violets are blue,my hamster can't read, so this poem's for you.I wrote it in marker, I spelled it all right,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (Broccoli's Green)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, broccoli's green,and I have a question (don't shout, don't be mean):if flowers are plants, and my veggies are too,

4 lines · roses are red

Roses Are Red (A Toast to My Worst Best Friend)

The QuillOak Editors

Roses are red, your advice is the worst,you laugh at my downfalls (and always laugh first);but when it all crumbled, you showed up by nine

4 lines · roses are red

On Tomorrow

The QuillOak Editors

There's nothing I can't conquer,no summit I can't claim,no task I cannot master —

4 lines · epigram

First Fig

Edna St. Vincent Millay · 1920

My candle burns at both ends;It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—

4 lines · lyric

A Poet Named Pratt

The QuillOak Editors

There once was a poet named Prattwhose meter fell painfully flat;when told, "That won't scan,"

5 lines · limerick

The Sneezing Dragon

The QuillOak Editors

A dragon who started to sneezeset fire to forty-two trees,two barns, and a cart —

5 lines · limerick

The Caffeine Resolution

The QuillOak Editors

I solemnly swore off caffeineon Monday at seven-fifteen;by twenty past seven

5 lines · limerick

A Dog with a Plan

The QuillOak Editors

Our spaniel has buried, to date,two slippers, the remote, and a plate.When we ask him, "What for?"

5 lines · limerick

F-R-I-E-N-D (an Acrostic)

The QuillOak Editors

First to arrive when everything falls,Refusing to say "I told you so,"Insisting your worst jokes are funny,

6 lines · acrostic

Snow Day

The QuillOak Editors

The radio said two words today,the finest ever spoken —no math, no bus, no spelling quiz,

8 lines · lyric

Evidence

The QuillOak Editors

For her, who asks if I love her:see attached —one umbrella tilted your way all of March,

8 lines · free verse

One Trip

The QuillOak Editors

One trip. Always one trip,ten bags cutting your fingers white,too proud to make two journeys —

8 lines · free verse

Two Degrees

The QuillOak Editors

We battle on the thermostat —you win by two degrees;I get you back in hoodie theft

8 lines · lyric

The Sound of Childhood

The QuillOak Editors

We groaned at every pun you made,we begged you, "Dad, please stop";you'd grin and double down, of course —

8 lines · lyric

A Word from the Fire Marshal

The QuillOak Editors

We bought the pack of candles,then went back and bought two more;the cake is now a fire risk

8 lines · lyric

Out of Office (Forever)

The QuillOak Editors

The out-of-office messageis permanent today:"I'm sorry, I have plans now.

8 lines · lyric

Advice for the Newly Arrived

The QuillOak Editors

Welcome, small one. You arriveknowing nothing of Tuesdays, taxes,or how to spell your own name —

8 lines · free verse

Get Well Soon (Selfish Reasons)

The QuillOak Editors

Get better soon — for your sake, yes,but mainly, friend, for mine:the group chat has gone quiet

8 lines · lyric

From Your Loudest Class

The QuillOak Editors

You taught us fractions, patience,and where the commas go;we taught you that a goldfish

8 lines · lyric

The Santa Stakeout

The QuillOak Editors

I planned my Santa stakeoutwith cocoa, snacks, and cheer;I practiced staying up past nine

8 lines · lyric

An Honest Note About My Homework

The QuillOak Editors

Dear Teacher: here's the honest truthabout my missing sheet.The dog did NOT consume it.

8 lines · rhyming

The Pea Treaty

The QuillOak Editors

I've thought about your offer("eat your peas, then pie")and drafted this agreement,

8 lines · rhyming

The Monster Under My Bed (An Update)

The QuillOak Editors

There IS a monster under my bed —I met him Tuesday night:enormous, fanged, with seven eyes,

8 lines · rhyming

The Tooth Economy

The QuillOak Editors

I lost a tooth on Monday;the fairy paid a buck.I counted nineteen others and

8 lines · rhyming

The Escaped Yawn

The QuillOak Editors

A yawn escaped at dinner(I'd kept it in all day);it leapt from me to Papa,

8 lines · rhyming

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Emily Dickinson · 1891

I'm nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there's a pair of us—don't tell!

8 lines · lyric

The Look

Sara Teasdale · 1915

Strephon kissed me in the spring,Robin in the fall,But Colin only looked at me

8 lines · lyric

We Came for Cake

The QuillOak Editors

We came for cake and dancing,let's be honest —but somewhere between the vows,

9 lines · free verse

Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

William Shakespeare · 1609

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth

William Shakespeare · 1609

When my love swears that she is made of truth,I do believe her though I know she lies,That she might think me some untutor'd youth,

14 lines · sonnet

Love's Philosophy

Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819

The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for ever

16 lines · lyric

I taste a liquor never brewed

Emily Dickinson · 1890

I TASTE a liquor never brewed,From tankards scooped in pearl;Not all the vats upon the Rhine

16 lines · lyric

My Shadow

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

I HAVE a little shadow that goes in and out with me,And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

16 lines · lyric

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

Sir Walter Raleigh · 1600

If all the world and love were young,And truth in every shepherd's tongue,These pretty pleasures might me move

24 lines · lyric

Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star

John Donne · 1633

Go and catch a falling star,Get with child a mandrake root,Tell me where all past years are,

27 lines · lyric

You Are Old, Father William

Lewis Carroll · 1865

"You are old, Father william," the young man said,"And your hair has become very white;And yet you incessantly stand on your head —

32 lines · nonsense

To His Coy Mistress

Andrew Marvell · 1681

Had we but World enough, and Time,This coyness Lady were no crime.We would sit down, and think which way

46 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is funny poetry called?

Light verse, comic verse, or nonsense poetry depending on the flavor — and limericks, parodies, and epigrams are its favorite containers.

Who is the most famous funny poet?

Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll founded the nonsense tradition; Ogden Nash perfected the comic rhyme; Shel Silverstein owns every elementary school classroom in America.