18 Facts About Ogden Nash

Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces.

Ogden Nash was descended from Abner Ogden Nash, an early governor of North Carolina.

Ogden Nash 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.

Ogden Nash's family lived briefly in Savannah, Georgia, in a carriage house owned by Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Ogden Nash taught at St George's for one year and then returned to New York.

In 1931, Ogden Nash published his first collection of poems, Hard Lines, the same year, which earned him national recognition.

When Ogden 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.

Ogden 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.

Ogden Nash wrote the lyrics for the 1952 revue Two's Company.

Ogden Nash showed no rage and she showed no rancor, But she turned the witch into milk, and drank her.

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

Ogden Nash's poetry was often a playful twist of an old saying or poem.

Ogden Nash wrote humorous poems for each movement of the Camille Saint-Saens orchestral suite The Carnival of the Animals, which are sometimes recited when the work is performed.

Ogden Nash published some poems for children, including "The Adventures of Isabel", which begins:.

Ogden Nash washed her hands and she straightened her hair up, Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.

In 1934, Ogden Nash moved his family to his in-laws' mansion in Guilford, Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained until his death in 1971.

Ogden Nash died at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital on May 19,1971, of Crohn's Disease, aggravated by a lactobacillus infection transmitted by improperly prepared coleslaw.

Ogden Nash is buried in East Cemetery in North Hampton, New Hampshire.