HOOKS & ARTS The deceptive quality of light verse ‘When ears attack, and ie seems back, How scot it isto pot a yak, ‘Or puncture hares or stzzly bears, And others could mention: But in my animal Who's Who [Noname stands higher than the gn And ich new gn tha comes in Rescives my prompt atention, Wodehouse, of course, as Lam sure all Spectator readers won't need {0 be told, ‘rom one of the Mullincr stories as I remem: ber and a perfect snatch offi and dancing. Just what constitutes sht verse is no more can to define than to decide what sep. arates verse from poetry. Auden included Kiplings Danny Beever in an anthology of light vers, though a poem about a mil tary execution might seem rather eo belong toa book of grim verse. This is not so mac because of the subject matter as the tone Light verse can certainly treat of the dark side of things, but does so light-heartedly witness Harry Graham's Ruthless Rhymes for Housman’s ditty about a rather nasty rail accident which begins *“ Hallelujah" was the only observation/ That escaped Lieutenant Colonel Mary J Light verse may require more talent than poetry. Certainly it demands a high level of craftsmanship. The metrical skill displ by Barham in his Ingoldsby Legends is beyond that of which many admired modern poetsare capable — no names, no pack drill, though some highly esteemed ones come to mind, Ofd Possums Book of Practical Cars is a more remarkable example of linguis- tic dexterity than Four Quarters, though the ‘Quariets may be great poetry and Possus is playing with words and fancy Good light verse sticks in the memory ‘almost unbidden, You have to work to get a passage from, say, The Prelude or Paradise Lost by heart, But light verse, even when itis not written for the musieal theatre by the likes of Cole Porter and Nocl Coward, ‘and has therefore no accompanying tune, lodges itself in the mind with a dancing rhythm. (Of course the distinction between light verse and poetry is often blurred. Don Juan is a very great poem, with passages of sub- Time beauty but much of itis light verse, ike Byron's recipe for dealing with a hangover that begins"Ring for your valet, bid him quickly bring/ Some hock and soda water Enid CLYTON UPDATED "And then the Famous Five wer arrested for hate erimes against gypsies ‘Very good advice too, a8 I recall from my own drinking days. The 19th century was the gre would suppose, i had received a classical educa- tion, and had been required to put passages of English into Latin, or indeed Greek, verse Nobody would have pretended that the result was poetry, though it may oecasion- ally have been that, but the exercise taught pupils about rhythm and the weighting of words Once you had learned to write Latin hhexameters that scanned correctly, you had acquired skills which were easly transferred to the writing of English verse. When you wonder atthe virtuosity Kipling displayed in his mastery of metre and rhythm, remember that his favourite poet was Horace Children are still, | hope, brought up on Belloc’s Cautionary Verses, which A. Wilson, in his excellent biography, called “technically faultless” with ‘nota sylla- ble out of place, not an epithet which could be improved’.This indeed is a judgment which might be applied to all really good light verse. Yet beside the Cautionary Vers: es should be placed “The Modern Traveller a Jong poem remarkable for its mastery of tone, wit and inventiveness: And yet Tally must complain About the Company's champ This most expersive kind of wine In England ea matter Or pri habit when we dine (Prestnably the fate) Beneath an equatorial sky ‘You must consume itor you die; Ana ster indomitable men Have told me,time and time again, “Th nuisance of the tropics “Tho shoor nocesty off It flows so easily — the verse, not the fizz that you may be excused for thinking it came easily. Perhapsit did, but, ifso, it was as ‘result of many hours of reading and verse: ‘making. Light verse is not dead, Betjeman, James Michie, Kingsley Amis, Gavin Ewart and ‘Wendy Cope have all written delight stulf — contributors to The Spectator’s weekly competition likewise, itself for years indeed set and judged by James Michie. Yet there is I fear, less good light verse than there was; fewer poets deviate into it partly perhaps because much well-regarde modern poetry is written without the techai- cal mastery which light verse demands partly doubtless because few of them have been set to composing Latin hexameters. If the “Free Schools’ now in the process of being estab- lished set more of their pupils to learning Latin, here may be a revival of Fight verse and we could cry Hallelujah’ without incur ting the unhappy fate of Salvation Army Captain Mary-Jane who “tumbled off the platform in the station! And was cut in little ces y the ain? " Allan Masie