Poetry that elicits laughter often captures the lighter side of life, filled with wit, humor, and joyful absurdity. These poems play with language and imagery, creating delightful surprises, clever punchlines, or insightful irony.
The poet skillfully navigates comedic timing and playful storytelling to spark laughter and mirth. These verses celebrate the joy of laughter, reminding the reader of life’s amusing oddities, charming quirks, and the shared joy that laughter brings.
‘Laughing Song’ from Blake’s collection ‘Songs of Innocence’ celebrates the innocent and pure joy found among nature and children.
The poem is primarily about the celebration of the emotion of laughter. In 'Laughing Song,' the emotion of laughter conveys uncorrupted happiness found in the innocent world of nature and childhood. Greenwoods, dimpling streams, air, green hills, meadows, grasshoppers, birds, and innocent children share pure laughter or delight in the poem. The repeated use of the words 'laugh' and 'Ha Ha He' accentuates the evocative sense of merriment and laughter. The speaker also invites the readers to share the laughter and mirth, stating, 'Come live, and be merry, and join with me/ To sing the sweet chorus of 'Ha, ha, he!'
A nonsense poem filled with wordplay, ‘Jabberwocky’ by Lewis Carroll tells the story of the hero’s quest to slay the Jabberwock.
'Jabberwocky,' a nonsense poem, is well known for its humor. It evokes laughter with Carroll's absurdist funny invented words like 'frumious Bandersnatch,' 'Tumtum tree,' 'mimsy,' 'frabjous day,' and 'galumphing' etc. coupled with unconventional nonsense syntax. Including comic creatures like Jubjub Bird and Jabberwocky adds to the laughter. The poem tries to present a heroic tale of Jabberwocky's battle, incorporating some epic-sounding lines like 'He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought.' Nevertheless, it continues to ridicule it with a humorous tone and contrasting comic imagery and words like 'The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came.'
‘The Laughing Heart’ by Charles Bukowski encourages readers to seize and cherish positive moments, making the most of life.
The emotion of laughter is presented as a mighty force in 'The Laughing Heart.' It suggests the reader 'be on the watch' for moments of light, joy, and happiness instead of submitting to 'dank' or unpleasurable moments. It celebrates the power of laughter in the darkest times, portraying the happy times as a source of resilience amidst life's challenges. Thus, the poem advocates the idea of embracing joyous moments filled with laughter to live a momentous life wherein 'you can beat death in life, sometimes.'
‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ or ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’ describes the speaker’s encounter with St. Nicholas on Christmas Eve.
In 'A Visit from St. Nicholas,' the speaker describes a fanciful visit from Santa Claus or St. Nicholas during the merry climate of Christmas. The poem is filled with laughter, excitement, and joy as the speaker talks about Santa Claus and his reindeer's actions and physical attributes. For instance, Santa's description with lines like 'He had a broad face and a little round belly/ That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly' evokes hearty laughter. Withal, the poem's alternate ABAB rhyme scheme creates a rhythmic sound effect that accentuates laughter.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
‘The Tale of Custard the Dragon’ by Ogden Nash is a ballad about little Belinda, who lives in a “little white house” with her four pets.
The emotion of laughter is evoked as the reader goes through the amusing story and sketches of Belinda and her fanciful pets, with their capricious nature. The boastful description of Belinda's cat's and mouse's strength is humorous as the speaker says they 'chased lions down the stairs.' It is funny to see their reactions when the pirates come, and they all hide and cry while the apparently weak dragon defeats the pirates. The poem's playful language, flowing sounds with ABAB rhyme scheme, and rhyming names like Ink, Blink, Mustard, and Custard add to the humor.
Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
‘The Owl and the Pussy-Cat’ by Edward Lear is a simple, joy-filled poem that tells the marriage story of an owl and a cat.
The poem employs whimsical and nonsensical elements with anthropomorphized animals, which evoke laughter. The funny romantic pairing of an owl and pussycat and their determination to get married is humorous. As they overcome the challenges of getting married, their story incorporates funny antics introducing more nonsensical elements and comic creatures like a 'pea-green boat,' 'Piggy-wig,' and 'Turkey who lives on the hill.' Lear's use of invented words like 'runcible spoon' and the harmonious rhythmic sounds of the poem add to its laughter.
‘Danse Ruse’ by William Carlos Williams explores self-expression, self-love, self-acceptance, and moments of solitude for happiness.
The poem advocates self-love, acceptance, and privacy through a whimsical act the speaker imagines. The speaker's wild imagination of dancing naked in front of the mirror while his baby and wife are sleeping evokes hearty laughter. His imagination of performing antics while naked is humorous as he states, 'If I admire my arms, my face, my shoulders, flanks, buttocks, against the yellow drawn shades.' Additionally, the free-flowing rhyme of the poem adds to the light-heartedness and laughter.
‘Ode to Stephen Dowling Bots, Dec’d.’ by Mark Twain parodies obituary verses of the time with its use of hyperbolic sentimentality and overtly religious imagery.
A sensation elicited from the poem is laughter, which, without context, might surprise someone reading it for the first time. Indeed, Twain intended the poem to be funny and wanted to highlight the unintentional but potent comedy of writers who clumsily sought to wring sentimentality from other people's sorrows.
‘Inventory’ by Dorothy Parker is a thoughtful and entertaining poem. It outlines what the speaker has in her life, would be wiser to know, better off without, and more.
Laughter in the poem 'Inventory' is portrayed as an essential thing that the speaker wants to keep in her inventory as she lists the things she wants to keep and stay away from. The significance of laughter is evident as the speaker wants to have it till she dies. The poem seems to convey that laughter and moments of joy are essential to sail through challenging times and for a meaningful life. Nonetheless, the poem evokes laughter with the speaker's witty tone while enlisting things.
‘Laugh and be Merry’ urges the reader to live their life with joy and show appreciation for the world around them.
Throughout the poem, the poet urges the reader to laugh. Laughter is an expression of joy, and the poet seems to think that laughter is not only a way to express joy, but that it is also a way to heighten the sense of joy. The idea of laughing is repeated many times in the poem, which shows the emphasis that the poet puts on it. Laughter and merriment are linked in the title and then continued throughout.
Laugh and be merry, remember, better the world with a song,
Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a wrong.
Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length of a span.
Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud pageant of man.
‘This is Just to Say’ by William Carlos Williams contains a speaker’s apology to the listener for going into the fridge and eating plums.
The poem evokes laughter with the speaker's straightforward yet playful confession of eating the addressee's plums. Under the garb of apologizing for eating breakfast's plums, the speaker evidently teases the addressee, stating, 'Forgive me/ they were delicious/ so sweet and so cold.' Thus, the speaker's wit and humor in this apparent apology comically entitled 'This is Just to Say' evokes laughter and a chuckle. The readers might find such mischief relatable as their close ones might also have stolen their breakfast items or vice versa.
‘The Victor Dog’ by James Merrill humorously explores the listener’s perspective, imagining them as the attentive dog on the Victor label.
This poem goes out to all pun-lovers and fans of wordplay. James Merrill is well-known for his wit, and he does not disappoint in 'The Victor Dog' as he makes a mockery of some of the best-known composers of all time and questions the meaning of art with a jolly, yet critical tone.
Pablo Neruda’s ‘Your Laughter’ is a lyric poem portraying how much the speaker values his partner’s laughter.
The poem does not show people laughing in real time. However, it shows Neruda describing what Matilde's laughter looks like (and in a way, sounds like). Neruda also describes, at several points in the poem, how this laughter strengthens him in the fight for his country and how much he treasures it, even above food and air. The poem is essentially an ode to Matilde's laughter.
The ‘Ars Poetica’ is a 476-line didactic epistolary poem by the Roman poet Horace. This humorous, engaging verse teaches the wannabe poet how to write good stories and develop meaningful art.
Horace is truly a funny guy. Famous for his humorous satires, the 'Ars Poetica' doesn't disappoint when it comes to getting a good laugh out. Horace is never too shy to make fun of himself or other people, which is part of why this poem has gained such an important place in literature.
Within ‘Sick’ Shel Silverstein crafts a humorous story of one child’s attempts to stay home from school. The poem explores the themes of deceit, obligations, and joy.
The poem provokes laughter with a funny and overemphasized description of the child’s efforts to escape from school. The detailed list of Peggy’s diseases together with the comic relief that is used in the story makes it funny as well as gives the story a twist at the end. The element of play and the element of reversal bring a great amount of enjoyment and fun, which results in the act of laughing.
Our Poem Guides, PDFs, Study Tools, and Articles are created by a team of qualified poetry experts to provide an unparalleled in-depth look into poetry.
