A Penny Saved is Impossible

by Ogden Nash

A posthumous selection of sixty of Nash's verses offers a feast of droll observations on a wide range of topics, including work, money, the human condition, and the traps of everyday life

Genres: Poetry, Humor

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".

Reviews

[Lynn]

A review for A Penny Saved is Impossible I found this book in the library and have thought Mr. Nash delightful, but this book was full, too full of delight.

A Pretentious Review of a Little Book Full of Silly Rhymes

A topical poem in its time bites and buzzes and pokes at the conscience.
But after its time falls on its own shoelaces or galoshes.
This book was full, so full of 62 poems by droll little, dolorous, cantankerous Nash.
His wit and wisdom and words, long words in lines that break rhythm and drone on awash
in urbanity?
62 poems, it took me a month, to wade through the tome. One poem a month would be enough.
Or one every other month, or perhaps one a year would certainly suffice,
In a magazine or paper, or letter. But 62 all at once? My heads rings with the sing song artifice.
by Helen Lynn Dougherty (4/19/2019)

[Jimmy]

What Ogden Nash does, he does so well that he deserves the five stars. There is also a sense of what life was like for Americans from the 30s to the 70s.

[Randy Money]

Have you ever sat and wondered
how poets often blundered
by not being funny?

Well, this is a neat collection
of poems and confections
mostly about money.

And it's funny.

Sometimes.

Nash was a popular humorist in verse published in some of the best magazines of his time. He was even admired by some serious poets for his playfulness with off-rhymes, word play and not adhering strictly to any structure.

You do need a bit of historical context because these deal with the everyday of the early to mid-20th century. So when one poem references a Senator Smoot, it's helpful to know it's Reed Owen Smoot of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act which has come up now and again over the last couple of years. And when the title of another alludes to Mr. Morgan, it's J. P. Morgan, founder of The House of Morgan, which had an outsized influence on the American economy early in the century; Morgan, during the Senate investigations during the Great Depression was photographed with a little person sitting on his lap and the title references that.

[Claire Osgood]

I have not read this writer's work in years, but enjoyed it in the late 60s. This book of poetry is so spot on regarding life back then, as well as in the 2020s. His comments on humanity's foibles is very funny. Poems fit in well during muted tv commercials. The short time is just right to read the poem and give it some thought. This makes tv viewing much more bearable for me. Also, it takes away my desire to buy advertised items I do not need.

[Gayle]

I love Ogden Nash, or I thought I did. But this collection has a certain sameness about it, so it loses its charm after the first three or four. Possibly it was unwise to just read it through cover to cover, just as it is unwise to eat all one's Halloween candy in one sitting. Still, I don't precisely regret it, but I don't need to read that again.

[Nancy Chambers]

Poetry so true and so funny at times I laughed out loud. Young readers beware it’s written a long time ago when things cost much less.

[Evan]

A delightful intro to the work of an unfairly forgotten 20th century legend.

[Mrod]

Such a funny guy and an enjoyable afternoon read.

[Janet]

A nice diversion. This book was limited to one category of Ogden Nash poems, so it was a bit repetitive. Interesting social commentary on rich vs. poor in the mid 20th century. Some of his word inventions are amusingly convoluted.

[Melissa]

I adore Ogden Nash, but I don't think these poems are his best. Or second best.

[Tom, Of]

I'm not a fan of poetry, but this one is funny.

[GS Das]

Hilarious and perfect for our times

[Timons Esaias]

Another amusing Nash collection, and this is a re-read for me.