Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing

by Samuel Hoffenstein

Hoffenstein, Samuel. Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing. New York, Boni & Liveright, 1928. 8°. 217 pages. Original Hardcover with illustrated dustjacket. First edition. A classic collection of humorous verse, including a section of parodies. Dark offsetting to half of each free endpaper, top edge stain a bit faded, else overall very good+ in dust jacket with occasional shallow chipping to extremities. Inscribed (fully signed) by Hoffenstein to Abraham Heller on the front free endpaper. Samuel Sam Hoffenstein (October 8, 1890 - October 6, 1947) was a screenwriter and a musical composer. Born in Russia, he immigrated to the United States and began a career in New York City as a newspaper writer and in the entertainment business. In 1931 he moved to Los Angeles where he lived for the rest of his life where he wrote the scripts for over thirty movies. These movies included Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Miracle Man (1932), Phantom of the Opera (1943), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Tales of Manhattan (1942), Flesh and Fantasy (1943), Laura (1944), and Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown (1946). In addition, Hoffenstein, along with Cole Porter and Kenneth Webb, helped compose the musical score for Gay Divorce (1933), the stage musical that became the film The Gay Divorcee (1934). He died in Los Angeles, California. A book of his verse, Pencil in the Air, was published three days after his death to critical acclaim. Another book of his work was published in 1928, titled Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing. The book contained some of his work that had been formerly published in the New York World, the New York Tribune, Vanity Fair, the D. A. C. News, and Snappy Stories. One of his best loved and shortest poems is titled The Apple. The Apple live so bright and high And ends its day in apple pie. Like most of his works, the poem was a metaphor about life. (Wikipedia)

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1928

Reviews

[Terry Graybill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd little book, an old book of poetry that I found amongst my father’s books and saved. It came recommended highly by Dorothy Parker, whom I only recently discovered and am loving. The cover says that over 100,000 copies have been sold (remarkable from today’s perspective) and this was the 20th printing in 1939 of a book first printed in 1928. Sounds great, right?

I was hoping for something along the lines of Ogden Nash or Dorothy Parker's wit but that's not this book. It is the strangest mixture of rather ordinary observations in verse form, bits of humor and satire scattered here and there, love poems (usually with a twist), philosophy and more. What he considers poems are typically following a long, wordy title (some are short) and then divided by Roman numerals. Each part after the Roman numeral seems to be a different thought, not at all connected to the preceding, but somehow tied to the title. All are in rhyming verse.

Frankly, the titles are often better than much of the poetry. Examples:
• Songs to Break the Tedium of Riding a Bicycle's Seeing One’s Friends, or Heartbreak
• Poems of Passion Carefully Restrained So as to Offend Nobody
• Love Songs, at Once Tender and Informative – an Unusual Combination in Verses of This Character
and many more.

I did find some gems among the many and do plan to go back, another time or two, and read a few pages here and there to see what else I might find. Meanwhile I'll share three with you - two humorous and one about love (not with a negative twist).

from Poems of Passion Carefully Restrained So as to Offend Nobody
…II (p. 30)
When you’re away, I’m restless, lonely,
Wretched, bored, dejected; only
Here’s the rub, my darling dear,
I feel the same when you are here.


from Songs of Faith in the Year After Next
…VI (p. 160)
Between the wanting and the getting
We lose our hair and hope in fretting;
So, when we get, the thing we’ve gotten
Is, so to speak, less ripe than rotten.


from Interlude, for a Solitary Flute
…VI (pp. 181-182)
In the fine land of Nowhere,
On the far side of There,
We shall be very happy,
We shall have no care;
You will be the blossom;
I shall be the bough;
In the great time coming
After Now.

While you are crying,
Listen to my song;
My own heart is breaking,
But I shall be strong:
I shall be strong for thinking
Of the fine days and fair,
When we are done with being
Anywhere.

While you are grieving,
Listen to my tune:
I shall be the heavens,
You will be the moon;
You will be the breezes;
I shall be the air;
When we are done with weeping
Everywhere.

Sorrow shall not know us,
Though we be her tears;
Time shall not trouble us,
Though we be as her years;
For we shall be the silence
That sits behind the door,
In the long time coming
Evermore.


If you come across this book in a library, used book pile or on a dusty shelf at your house, pull it out and sample around. See what you think. Dated but with charming moments.

[Lenny Husen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My step-father quoted from this book often when I was a child. Humorous poems, many of them with medical allusions.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much delight between these covers.