New at IWP Books: Richard Armour, 1947, Writing Light Verse.

“There are books on how to do just about anything. You can find one on how to build a birdhouse, twirl a baton, win an argument, operate an abacus, remember names and faces, grow tuberous begonias, or play a shepherd’s pipe. There are books on how to live, how to love, and how to die.

“But, while there are plenty of books designed to make easy the writing of a novel, a play, a short story, or a serious poem, there is nothing precisely of the sort to help the writer of light verse. Perhaps, as will be pointed out later, this is because the writing of light verse is considered so easy that no help is necessary. Certainly it is not because few persons are interested in writing it. It is said that The Saturday Evening Posti> alone receives several thousand pieces of light verse each week — and prints about six. When it sells, light verse generally brings a higher rate of pay than serious poetry, for the obvious reason that it is more appealing to the mass of readers and is therefore used in magazines of the largest circulation. It is a popular type of filler, inserted here and there to supply a few lines of type when stories and articles fall a bit short of the bottom of the page. The demand for light verse is steadily increasing, and so also is the number of persons willing, if not ready, to meet the demand.

“Many have been misled by the apparent ease of writing light verse and have entered the lists with high hopes, only to withdraw, chagrined and perplexed, after the eighth or tenth rejection slip. Others have scored a few times, but have been unable to keep it up; or have achieved their success only in some local, small-paying publication. This book is intended to encourage all of these persons to intensify their efforts, and to give them guidance in writing about the right subjects in the right way and sending their product to the right markets. It is, frankly, another of the host of “How to –” books. As such, it is meant to be simple and practical, a stimulus to do and a help in the doing. If something faintly resembling literary criticism is occasionally involved, it is only because it behooves the writer of light verse to know the difference between bad and good, and between fair and first-rate. Nor can the psychology of editors and readers be wholly neglected.

“This is also a personal book…”