Editing Ogden Nash

{{Short description|American poet (1902–1971)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ogden Nash
| image =Ogden Nash Dagmar Masquerade Party 1955.jpg
| caption =Nash and [[Dagmar (actress)|Dagmar]] from the television game show ''[[Masquerade Party]]'', 1955
|birth_name=Frederic Ogden Nash
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|8|19}}
| birth_place = [[Rye, New York|Rye]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1971|5|19|1902|8|19}}
| death_place = [[Baltimore]], Maryland, U.S.
| education = [[Harvard University]] (for 1 year)
| occupation = Poet
| spouse = Frances Leonard
| children = 2
| relatives = [[Fernanda Eberstadt]] (granddaughter)<br/>[[Nicholas Eberstadt]] (grandson)
| resting_place = East Cemetery, [[North Hampton, New Hampshire]]<ref name="poets.org/graves">{{cite web |author1=Academy of American Poets |title=Death, Be Not Proud: The Graves of Poets |url=https://poets.org/text/death-be-not-proud-graves-poets |website=Poets.org |access-date=1 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="blogdennash/nash-ional-treasure">{{cite web |last1=Brady |first1=John |title=NASH-ional TREASURE Events in Rye, NY |url=http://blog.ogdennash.org/2011/09/nash-ional-treasure-events-in-rye-ny.html |website=blog.ogdennash.org |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007092158/http://blog.ogdennash.org/2011/09/nash-ional-treasure-events-in-rye-ny.html |archive-date=7 October 2011 |date=September 11, 2011}}</ref>
}}

'''Frederic Ogden Nash''' (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his [[Light poetry|light verse]], of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional [[rhyme|rhyming schemes]], he was declared by ''[[The New York Times]]'' to be the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry.<ref name="NYTobit">{{Cite news|first=Albin |last=Krebs |title=Ogden Nash, Master of Light Verse, Dies |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |quote=Ogden Nash, whose droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry, died yesterday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. His age was 68. |date=May 20, 1971 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0613FC3954127B93C2AB178ED85F458785F9 |access-date=24 January 2008 }}</ref>

==Early life ==
Nash was born on August 19, 1902, in [[Rye, New York|Rye]], [[New York (state)|New York]], on Milton Point,<ref name="myrye/nash-native-son">{{cite web |last1=Beechey |first1=Alan |title=Recognizing Ogden Nash, Native Son of Rye |url=https://myrye.com/my_weblog/2011/03/recognizing-ogden-nash-native-son-of-rye.html |website=MyRye.com |access-date=1 July 2023 |date=18 March 2011}}</ref> the son of Mattie (Chenault) and Edmund Strudwick Nash.<ref name="Lehman2006">{{cite book|first=David |last=Lehman |title=The Oxford Book of American Poetry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gO0AK7qCvmoC&pg=PA475 |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-516251-6 |page=475}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.notablebiographies.com/Mo-Ni/Nash-Ogden.html|title=Ogden Nash Biography - life, family, children, parents, death, school, book, information, born, movie|website=notablebiographies.com|access-date=April 5, 2018}}</ref> Nash was baptized at Christ's Church.<ref name="myrye/nash-native-son"/> At two years old, his family had a house called "Ramaqua", on 50 acres near [[Port Chester]].<ref name="myrye/nash-native-son"/><ref name="blog.ogdennash/2012/07/birthplace"/> His father owned and operated a <!-- ?: import–export --> [[turpentine]] company.<ref name="blog.ogdennash/2012/07/birthplace">{{cite web |title=The Search for Ogden Nash's Birthplace |url=http://blog.ogdennash.org/2012/07/search-for-ogden-nashs-birthplace.html |website=blog.ogdennash.org |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913010936/http://blog.ogdennash.org/2012/07/search-for-ogden-nashs-birthplace.html |archive-date=2013-09-13 |date=July 15, 2012}}</ref>

Because of business obligations, the family often relocated. Nash was descended from [[Abner Nash]], an early governor of North Carolina. The city of [[Nashville, Tennessee]], was named after Abner's brother, [[Francis Nash|Francis]], a Revolutionary War general.<ref name="NCHistory">{{cite web|title=NC Highway Markers, printable view|url=http://www.ncmarkers.com/print_marker.aspx?MarkerId=G-10|website=North Carolina Office of Archives and History|access-date=May 18, 2015|archive-date=July 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715220140/http://www.ncmarkers.com/print_marker.aspx?MarkerId=G-10|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Powell|editor1-first=William|title=Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, v4|page=358}}</ref>

Throughout his life, Nash loved to rhyme. "I think in terms of rhyme, and have since I was six years old", he stated in a 1958 news interview.<ref name="APQuote">{{Cite news |first=Hal |last=Boyle |title=Ogden Nash Finds Light Verse Doesn't Flow Easy |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zu0KAAAAIBAJ&pg=6654,1365475 |agency=Associated Press |work=Prescott Evening Courier |date=December 1, 1958 |access-date=19 October 2008 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He had a fondness for crafting his own words whenever rhyming words did not exist but admitted that crafting rhymes was not always the easiest task.<ref name="APQuote"/>

His family lived briefly in [[Savannah, Georgia]], in a carriage house owned by [[Juliette Gordon Low]], the founder of the [[Girl Scouts of the USA]]. He wrote a poem about [[Andrew Low House|Mrs. Low's House]]. After graduating from [[St. George's School (Rhode Island)|St. George's School]] in [[Newport County, Rhode Island]], Nash entered [[Harvard University]] in 1920, only to drop out a year later.

He taught at St. George's for one year and then returned to New York.<ref name="georev">{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Louis |title=Reviewed work(s): ''Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse'' by Douglas M. Parker |journal=The Georgia Review |year=2005 |volume=59 |issue=4 |page=961 |jstor=41402690}}</ref> There, he took up selling bonds about which Nash reportedly quipped, "Came to New York to make my fortune as a bond salesman and in two years sold one bond—to my godmother.<ref name="NYTobit" /> However, I saw lots of good movies."<ref name="georev"/> Nash then took a position as a writer of the [[streetcar]] card ads for [[Barron Collier]],<ref name="georev"/> a company that had employed [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], another resident of [[Baltimore]] (Nash's permanent home). While working as an editor at [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]], he submitted some short rhymes to ''[[The New Yorker]]''. The editor [[Harold Ross]] wrote Nash to ask for more: "They are about the most original stuff we have had lately."<ref>{{cite web|title=Ogden Nash – Master of Pace and Rhyme|url= https://www.theattic.space/home-page-blogs/2019/3/14/master-of-pace-and-rhyme|website=The Attic|access-date=19 March 2019}}</ref> Nash spent three months in 1931 working on the editorial staff for ''The New Yorker''.<ref name="georev"/><ref name=Hasley>{{cite journal|last=Hasley|first=Louis|title=The Golden Trashery of Ogden Nashery|journal=The Arizona Quarterly|year=1971|volume=27|issue=3|page=242}}</ref>

In 1931, Nash published his first collection of poems, ''Hard Lines'', the same year, which earned him national recognition.<ref name="CbsStamp">{{cite news|last1=Vries|first1=Lloyd|title=Postage Stamp Bash / For Ogden Nash|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/postage-stamp-bash-for-ogden-nash/|access-date=April 11, 2017|publisher=CBS News|date=July 19, 2002}}</ref> Some of his poems reflected an anti-establishment feeling. For example, one verse, titled "Common Sense", asks:

{{poemquote|Why did the Lord give us agility,
If not to evade responsibility?}}

==Writing career==
[[File:Ogden Nash in Los Angeles, 1949.jpg|thumb|Nash at [[Millennium Biltmore Hotel|Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles]], in 1949]]
When Nash was not writing poems, he made guest appearances on comedy and radio shows and toured the United States and the United Kingdom and gave lectures at colleges and universities.

Nash was regarded with respect by the literary establishment, and his poems were frequently anthologized, even in serious collections such as [[Selden Rodman]]'s 1946 ''A New Anthology of Modern Poetry''.

Nash was the lyricist for the 1943 Broadway musical ''[[One Touch of Venus]]'' and collaborated with the librettist [[S. J. Perelman]] and the composer [[Kurt Weill]]. The show included the notable song "[[Speak Low]]". He also wrote the lyrics for the 1952 revue ''[[Two's Company (musical)|Two's Company]]''.

Nash and his love of the [[history of the Indianapolis Colts|Baltimore Colts]] were featured in the December 13, 1968, issue of ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine,<ref>{{Cite magazine| last =Nash | first =Ogden | date =December 13, 1968 | title =My Colts, verses and reverses | magazine =[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |volume=65 |issue=24 |pages=75 |issn=0024-3019 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVQEAAAAMBAJ&q=ogden |access-date=1 August 2014 }}</ref> with several poems about the [[American football]] team matched to full-page pictures. Entitled "My Colts, verses and reverses", the issue includes his poems and photographs by Arthur Rickerby: "Mr. Nash, the league leading writer of light verse (Averaging better than 6.3 lines per carry), lives in Baltimore and loves the Colts", it declares. The comments further describe Nash as "a fanatic of the Baltimore Colts, and a gentleman." Featured on the magazine cover is the defensive player [[Dennis Gaubatz]], number 53, in midair pursuit with this description: "That is he, looming 10 feet tall or taller above the [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Steelers]]' signal caller ... Since Gaubatz acts like this on Sunday, I'll do my quarterbacking Monday." Memorable Colts [[Jimmy Orr]], [[Billy Ray Smith Sr.|Billy Ray Smith]], [[Bubba Smith]], [[Willie Richardson]], [[Dick Szymanski]] and [[Lou Michaels]] contribute to the poetry.

Among Nash's most popular writings were a series of animal verses, many of which featured his off-kilter rhyming devices. Examples include "If called by a panther / Don't anther"; "Who wants my jellyfish? / I'm not sellyfish!"; "The one-L lama, he's a priest. The two-L llama, he's a beast. And I will bet a silk pajama: there isn't any three-L lllama!" Nash later appended the footnote "*The author's attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a [[Multiple-alarm fire|three-alarmer]]. Pooh."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2002/08/lama-ogden-nash.html|title=The Lama – Ogden Nash|website=wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com|access-date=April 5, 2018}}</ref>

The best of his work was published in 14 volumes between 1931 and 1972.

==Poetic style==
Nash was best known for surprising, [[pun]]-like rhymes, sometimes with words deliberately misspelled for comic effect, as in his retort to [[Dorothy Parker]]'s humorous dictum, "Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses":

{{poemquote|A girl who's bespectacled
May not get her nectacled}}

In this example, the word "nectacled" sounds like the phrase "neck tickled" when rhymed with the previous line.

Sometimes the words rhyme by mispronunciation rather than misspelling, as in:

{{poemquote|Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,
I'll stare at something less prepoceros}}

Another typical example of rhyming by combining words occurs in "The Adventures of Isabel", when Isabel confronts a witch who threatens to turn her into a toad:

{{poemquote|She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk, and drank her.}}

Nash often wrote in an exaggerated verse form, with pairs of lines that rhyme, but are of dissimilar length and irregular meter:

{{poemquote|Once there was a man named Mr. Palliser and he asked his wife, May I be a gourmet?
And she said, You sure may.}}

Nash's poetry was often a playful twist of an old saying or poem. For one example, in a twist on [[Joyce Kilmer]]'s poem [[Trees (poem)|"Trees"]] (1913) – which contains the lines "I think that I shall never see / a poem lovely as a tree" – Nash adds: "Indeed, unless the [[billboard]]s fall / I'll never see a tree at all."<ref name="facefamiliar">Nash, Ogden, "Song of the Open Road", ''The Face Is Familiar'' (Garden City Publishing, 1941), p. 21.</ref>

==Other poems==
Nash, a [[baseball]] fan, wrote a poem titled "[[Line-Up for Yesterday]]", an alphabetical poem listing baseball immortals.<ref>{{Cite news|first=Tim |last=Wiles |title=Who's on Verse? |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 31, 1996 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/bbo-baseball-preview-poetry.html |access-date=23 January 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20001217013500/http://www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/bbo-baseball-preview-poetry.html |archive-date = December 17, 2000}}</ref> Published in [[Sport (US magazine)|''Sport'']] magazine in January 1949, the poem pays tribute to highly respected baseball players and to his own fandom, in alphabetical order. Lines include:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Baseball Almanac|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_line.shtml|access-date=23 January 2008 }}</ref>

{{poemquote|<u>C</u> is for [[Ty Cobb|Cobb]], Who grew spikes and not corn, And made all the basemen Wish they weren't born.
<u>D</u> is for [[Dizzy Dean|Dean]], The grammatical Diz, When they asked, Who's the tops? Said correctly, I is.
<u>E</u> is for [[Johnny Evers|Evers]], His jaw in advance; Never afraid To [[Joe Tinker|Tinker]] with [[Frank Chance|Chance]].
<u>F</u> is for [[Frankie Frisch|Fordham]] And Frankie and Frisch; I wish he were back With the [[San Francisco Giants#New York Giants history|Giants]], I wish.}}

Nash wrote humorous poems for each movement of the [[Camille Saint-Saëns]] orchestral suite ''[[The Carnival of the Animals]]'', which are sometimes recited when the work is performed. The original recording of this version was made by [[Columbia Records]] in the 1940s, with [[Noël Coward]] reciting the poems and [[Andre Kostelanetz]] conducting the orchestra.

He wrote a humorous poem about the [[IRS]] and [[income tax]] titled ''Song for the Saddest Ides'', a reference to March 15, the [[ides (calendar)|ides]] of March, when federal taxes were due at the time.<ref name="Dew_1946">{{cite book |last=Dew |first=Harold |date= 1946 |title=Poems Past and Present, 1946 Edition |url=https://archive.org/details/poemspastpresent00dewh |location=Vancouver, BC, Canada |publisher=The Wrigley Printing Co. Ltd. |page=244-245}}</ref>

Many of his poems, reflecting the times in which they were written, presented [[ethnic stereotype|stereotypes]] of different nationalities. For example, in "Genealogical Reflections" he writes:

{{poemquote|No McTavish
Was ever lavish}}

In "The Japanese", published in 1938, Nash presents an allegory for the expansionist policies of the Empire of Japan:

{{poemquote|How courteous is the Japanese;
He always says, "Excuse it, please."
He climbs into his neighbor's garden,
And smiles, and says, "I beg your pardon";
He bows and grins a friendly grin,
And calls his hungry family in;
He grins, and bows a friendly bow;
"So sorry, this my garden now."<ref>Nash, Ogden. ''I'm a Stranger Here Myself'' (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1938), p. 35.</ref>}}

He published some poems for children, including "The Adventures of Isabel", which begins:

{{poemquote|Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn't care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear's big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, "Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I'll eat you!"
Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry.
Isabel didn't scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.}}

==Personal life==
In 1931, he married Frances Leonard, of Baltimore.<ref name="chicagotribune/baltimore-photogallery">{{cite news |title=Baltimore's famous literary figures and their favorite local haunts |url=<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20230701204839/https://www.chicagotribune.com/bal-baltimore-s-literary-haunts-20171017-photogallery.html -->https://www.chicagotribune.com/bal-baltimore-s-literary-haunts-20171017-photogallery.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=7 November 2017}}</ref><ref name="baltimoreauthors/ogdennash">{{cite web |title=Ogden Nash |url=http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/ogdennash.htm |website=baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429085502/http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/ogdennash.htm |archive-date=29 April 2007}}</ref><ref name="baltimoresun/1994-06-17-Frances">{{cite news |last1=Rasmussen |first1=Fred |title=Frances Leonard Nash, poet's widow active in charities, patron of the arts |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-06-17-1994168056-story.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=Baltimore Sun |date=1994-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620233739/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-06-17-1994168056-story.html |archive-date=20 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/ogdennash.htm|title=Ogden Nash|website=baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu|access-date=April 5, 2018|archive-date=November 6, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106194658/http://baltimoreauthors.ubalt.edu/writers/ogdennash.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1934, Nash moved his family to his in-laws' mansion in [[Guilford, Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], where he remained until his death in 1971.<ref name="baltimoresun/nash-house-guilford">{{cite news |title=Former Ogden Nash house in Guilford [Pictures] |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/features/home/bal-ogden-nash-house-in-guilford-pictures-20130620-photogallery.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=Baltimore Sun |date=20 June 2013}}</ref> Nash thought of Baltimore as home. After his return from a brief move to New York, he wrote: "I could have loved New York had I not loved Balti-more."<ref>{{cite web|first=Nathan|last= Dennies|date=November 27, 2018|url=https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/270|title=Ogden Nash at 4300 Rugby Road|work=Explore Baltimore Heritage|access-date=April 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121074904/https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/270|archive-date=January 21, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref>

Nash's daughter Isabel was married to noted photographer Frederick Eberstadt. His granddaughter, Frances R. Smith,<ref name="baltimoresun/2001-10-31-0135">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Frances R. |title=Poet left indelible mark on family, society |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-10-31-0110310135-story.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=Baltimore Sun |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712031132/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2001-10-31-0110310135-story.html |archive-date=12 July 2021}}</ref> is an author. Another granddaughter, [[Fernanda Eberstadt]], is an acclaimed author, and his grandson is political economist [[Nicholas Eberstadt]]. Nash had one other daughter, author Linell Nash Smith.<ref name="baltimoresun/ob-linell-smith-20220820">{{cite news |title=Linell Chenault Smith, an author, horse enthusiast and last surviving daughter of poet Ogden Nash, dies |url=<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20230327081806/https://www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-linell-smith-20220820-3gdk7bwmkrh2zmpowwfhytnzv4-story.html -->https://www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-linell-smith-20220820-3gdk7bwmkrh2zmpowwfhytnzv4-story.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=Baltimore Sun |date=20 August 2022}}</ref><ref name="nytimes/1951/06/25/linell-nash-engaged">{{cite news |title=MISS LINELL NASH BECOMES ENGAGED; Daughter of Poet Will Be Wed to John M. Smith, Who Served in Pacific With Army |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1951/06/25/archives/miss-linell-nash-becomes-engaged-daughter-of-poet-will-be-wed-to.html |access-date=1 July 2023 |work=The New York Times |agency=Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES |date=25 June 1951}}</ref>

Nash died at Baltimore's [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]] on May 19, 1971, of [[Crohn's Disease]],<ref name="j-pouch/famous-with-crohns">{{cite web |title=Famous Persons With UC/Crohn's Disease |url=https://www.j-pouch.org/topic/famous-persons-with-uc-crohn-s-disease |website=The J-Pouch Group |access-date=1 July 2023 |language=en |date=1 April 2015}}</ref><ref>[https://guilfordassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/guilford_newsletter_summer_2019.pdf ''The Guilford News''], Summer 2019.</ref> aggravated by a [[lactobacillus]] infection transmitted by improperly prepared coleslaw.<ref name="baltimoreheritage/270">{{cite web |last1=Dennies |first1=Nathan |title=Ogden Nash at 4300 Rugby Road |url=https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/270 |website=Explore Baltimore Heritage |access-date=1 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="NYTobit"/> He is buried in East Cemetery in [[North Hampton, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Guide to the Ogden Nash Letters, 1968–1969|date=December 21, 2007 |url=https://www.library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/ogden-nash-letters-1968-1969|publisher=University of New Hampshire|access-date=April 11, 2017}}</ref>

At the time of his death in 1971, ''[[The New York Times]]'' said his "droll verse with its unconventional [[rhyme]]s made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry."<ref name="NYTobit"/>

==Legacy==
===Musical===
''Nash at Nine'', a [[Broadway musical]] that set some of Nash's poems as lyrics to music by [[Milton Rosenstock]], premiered at the [[Helen Hayes Theatre]] on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] on May 17, 1973, and closed on June 2, 1973, after five previews and 21 performances. Directed by [[Martin Charnin]], the show featured Steve Elmore, [[Bill Gerber]], [[E. G. Marshall]], Richie Schechtman, and [[Virginia Vestoff]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.playbill.com/production/nash-at-nine-helen-hayes-theatre-vault-0000004483|title=Nash at Nine (Broadway, Helen Hayes Theatre, 1973) |website=www.playbill.com|access-date=November 3, 2022}}</ref>

===Postage stamp===
The [[US Postal Service]] released a postage stamp featuring Ogden Nash and text from six of his poems on the centennial of his birth on August 19, 2002. The six poems are "The Turtle", "The Cow", "Crossing The Border", "The Kitten", "The Camel", and "Limerick One". The stamp is the 18th in the Literary Arts section.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2008/sr08_015.htm |publisher=U. S. Postal Service |title=Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author Gets 'Stamp of Approval': Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Stamp to Be Issued at Her Cross Creek, FL, Home |date=February 21, 2008 |access-date=1 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219055017/http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2008/sr08_015.htm |archive-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Literary Arts: 1979–present |publisher=U. S. Postal Service |url=http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/series/literary-arts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630080846/http://uspsstamps.com/stamps/series/literary-arts |archive-date=June 30, 2014 |access-date=1 August 2014}}</ref> The [[first day of issue|first issue]] ceremony took place in Baltimore on August 19 at the home that he and his wife Frances shared with his parents on 4300 Rugby Road, where he did most of his writing.

===Biography===
A biography, ''Ogden Nash: the Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse'', was written by [[Douglas M. Parker]] and published in 2005, with a paperback edition issued in 2007.<ref name="Parker/Nash">{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Douglas M. |title=Ogden Nash: The Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse |date=2005 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |isbn=978-1-56663-637-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="baltimoresun/2005-06-12-0250">{{cite news |title=Hard life of Billie Holiday; smart verse of Ogden Nash; kicking the war habit |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-06-12-0506120250-story.html|first=Carl |last=Schoettler |access-date=1 July 2023 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=2005-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622193617/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-06-12-0506120250-story.html |archive-date=22 June 2021}}</ref> Written with the cooperation of the Nash family, the book quotes extensively from Nash's personal correspondence as well as his poetry.

== Works ==
{{Incomplete list|date=February 2022}}

* ''Hard Lines''. Simon and Schuster, 1931. {{OCLC|185166483}}
* ''I'm a Stranger Here Myself''. Little Brown & Co, 1938 (reissued Buccaneer Books, 1994. {{ISBN|1-56849-468-8}})
* ''The Face Is Familiar: The Selected Verse of Ogden Nash''. Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1941.
* ''Good Intentions''. Little Brown & Co, 1942. {{ISBN|978-1-125-65764-5}}
* ''Many Long Years Ago''. Little Brown & Co, 1945. ASIN B000OELG1O
* ''Versus''. Little, Brown, & Co, 1949.
* ''Private Dining Room''. Little Brown & Co, 1952. ASIN B000H1Z8U4
* ''The Moon Is Shining Bright As Day''. J. B. Lippincott Co, 1953. {{ISBN|0397302444}}
* ''You Can't Get There from Here''. Little Brown & Co, 1957.
* ''Everyone but Thee and Me''. Boston : Little, Brown, 1962.
* ''Marriage Lines''. Boston : Little, Brown, 1964.
* ''There's Always Another Windmill''. Little Brown & Co, 1968. {{ISBN|0-316-59839-9}}
* ''Bed Riddance''. Little Brown & Co, 1969. ASIN B000EGGXD8
* ''Collected Verse from 1929 On''. Lowe & Brydone (Printers) Ltd., London, for J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. 1972
* ''The Old Dog Barks Backwards''. Little Brown & Co, 1972. {{ISBN|0-316-59804-6}}
* ''Custard and Company''. Little Brown & Co, 1980. {{ISBN|0-316-59834-8}}
* ''Ogden Nash's Zoo'', with [[Étienne Delessert (illustrator)|Étienne Delessert]]. Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1986. {{ISBN|0-941434-95-8}}
* ''Pocket Book of Ogden Nash''. Pocket, 1990. {{ISBN|0-671-72789-3}}
* ''Candy Is Dandy'', with [[Anthony Burgess]], Linell Smith, and Isabel Eberstadt. Carlton Books Ltd, 1994. {{ISBN|0-233-98892-0}}
* ''Selected Poetry of Ogden Nash''. Black Dog & Levanthal Publishing, 1995. {{ISBN|978-1-884822-30-8}}
* ''The Tale of Custard the Dragon'', with Lynn Munsinger. Little, Brown Young Readers, 1998. {{ISBN|0-316-59031-2}}
* ''Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight'', with Lynn Munsinger. Little, Brown Young Readers, 1999. {{ISBN|0-316-59905-0}}

;List of poems
{|class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'
|-
!width=25%|Title
!|Year
!|First published
!|Reprinted/collected
|-
|Carnival of animals
|1950
|{{cite magazine |author=Nash, Ogden |date=January 7, 1950 |title=Carnival of animals |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=25 |issue=46 |pages=26 |url= <!--|accessdate=-->}}
|
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00098.xml&query=ogden%20nash&query-join=and/ Ogden Nash's Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218062046/http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead%2F00098.xml&query=ogden%20nash&query-join=and%2F |date=February 18, 2012 }} at the [http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ Harry Ransom Center] at [[The University of Texas at Austin]]
*https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/ogden-nash-7942
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/nash/ |title=American Poems: Ogden Nash}} Includes a list of <!-- over a hundred --> Ogden Nash poems. <!-- Most or all are under copyright and therefore not available online. -->
* [http://blog.ogdennash.org/ Blogden Nash] [[fansite]] Includes Ogden Nash poems
* [[Vernon Duke]]'s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMCF8eg2XQk ''Musical Zoo''] [[YouTube]]
:*poems by Ogden Nash set to music
:*Kay McCracken Duke, mezzo-soprano
:*David Berfield, pianist
* [[Information Please]] [https://www.radioechoes.com/?page=play_download&mode=play&dl_mp3folder=I&dl_file=information_please_1939-01-17_guests_hendrics_william_van_lone_ogden_nash.mp3&dl_series=Information%20Please&dl_title=Guests%20Hendrics%20William%20Van%20Lone%20Ogden%20Nash&dl_date=1939.01.17&dl_size=6.98%20MB<!-- support%40radioechoes.com --> episode 1939.01.17] with panelists [[Hendrik Willem van Loon]] and Ogden Nash [https://web.archive.org/web/20180907140326/https://s3.amazonaws.com/RE-Warehouse/i/information_please_1939-01-17_guests_hendrics_william_van_lone_ogden_nash.mp3 MP3]
* https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0621790/
* {{Find a Grave|755}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nash, Ogden}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
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[[Category:American horror writers]]
[[Category:American humorous poets]]
[[Category:Caedmon Records artists]]
[[Category:Deaths from Crohn's disease]]
[[Category:Ghost story writers]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
[[Category:People from Rye, New York]]
[[Category:Poets from Baltimore]]
[[Category:Poets from New York (state)]]
[[Category:St. George's School (Rhode Island) alumni]]