Question

Read the following poem and write an appreciation of it with the help of the given points in paragraph format.

The Height of the Ridiculous I wrote some lines once on a time In wondrous merry mood, And thought, as usual, men would say They were exceeding good. They were so queer, so very queer, I laughed as I would die; Albeit, in the general way, A sobar man am I. I called my servant, and he came; How kind it was of him To mind a slender man like me, He of the might limb. "These to the printer," I exclaimed, And, in my humorous way, I added (as a trifling jest,) "There'll be the devil to pay. He took the paper, and I watched, And saw him peep within At the first line he read, his face Was all upon the grin He read the next; the grin grew broad And shot from ear to ear; He read the third; a chuckling noise I now began to hear The fourth; he broke into a roar; The fifth; his waistband split; The sixth; he burst five buttons off, And tumbled in a fit. Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, I watched that wretched man, and since, I never dare to write As funny as I can. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

You can use the following points while appreciating the given poem.

• Title and Poet
• Rhyme Scheme
• Figure of Speech
• Theme/Central Idea (At Least 2 to 3 lines)

Go through 'The Height of the Ridiculous' poem and write an appreciation of the poem in a paragraph format.

Answer 1

The poem The Height of the Ridiculous' by Oliver Wendell Holmes is a humorous poem written for enjoyment. with plenty of funny expressions. The main purpose of the poet is to simply entertain his audience. The rhyme scheme of the poem is 'abcb'. There are many figures of speech, like Hyperbole, Tautology,
Onomatopoeia, Alliteration, etc. but the one that stands out is Transferred Epithet. In the line Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye the adjective sleepless should be for the man and not for the eye. This is a humorous poem. The special feature of the poem is the expressions that indicate funny moments. The reader forms a mental picture and enjoys the poem. My favorite line is The sixth, he burst five buttons. I like this line because I can imagine the way the man must have been laughing till he burst the buttons on his coat. I like the poem because it is a light Simple and entertaining poem.

Answer 2

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote "The Height of the Ridiculous" as a poem. To maintain its tone and atmosphere light, the poem is written in flowery language. In the poem, the poet discusses a piece of writing that he believes contains enough humour to make him incapable of laughing. Additionally, he claims that after reading the poem, his servant laughed so hard that he split his waistline and burst a few buttons. He had bouts of laughter, which he eventually got over after ten days. These idioms are absurd enough to support the poem's title. The poem has a "abcb" rhyme pattern, however, "hyperbole" is utilised to emphasise and explain the artistic effect. Alliteration, anaphora, and other literary devices are also.