Let’s be real. Most people think rhyming poetry is just for kids or Hallmark cards. They picture a dusty book of Mother Goose or maybe a greeting card about a "cat on a mat." But honestly, poems that rhyme that are funny are a specialized craft that requires more precision than a dramatic sonnet about a broken heart. It’s about timing. It’s about the "punchline" landing exactly on the right beat. If the meter is off by even a single syllable, the joke dies.
I’ve spent years reading everything from the biting wit of Dorothy Parker to the absurd nonsense of Edward Lear. There is a huge difference between a "good" funny poem and one that just feels forced. You know the type—where the writer clearly chose a word just because it rhymed with "blue," even if it made zero sense in the context of the story. That’s not humor. That’s a hostage situation with a dictionary.
The Science of the "Click" in Funny Rhyming Verse
Why do we laugh at rhymes? It’s mostly about subverting expectation. When you set up a rhyme scheme like AABB, the reader’s brain starts predicting the final word before they even get there. Humor happens when you give them the rhyme they expected, but with a meaning they didn't see coming.
Take Ogden Nash, for example. He was the king of the "creative" rhyme. He would literally misspell words or invent new ones just to make a rhyme work, and that intentional clumsiness is exactly why it's hilarious. He once wrote about a turtle, noting that "The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks / Which practically conceal its sex." It’s short. It’s punchy. It’s perfect. He didn't need four stanzas of exposition. He just needed a rhyme that felt both inevitable and surprising.
The Limmerick: A Masterclass in Efficiency
You can't talk about poems that rhyme that are funny without mentioning the limerick. It is the workhorse of the comedy world. Five lines. An AABBA rhyme scheme. An obsession with people from places like Nantucket or Perth.
While many limericks lean toward the "naughty" side of things—which is a long-standing tradition in English pubs—the structure itself is a lesson in brevity. The "A" lines provide the setup and location. The "B" lines provide the escalating action. The final "A" line is the "kicker."
👉 See also: Ted Nugent State of Shock: Why This 1979 Album Divides Fans Today
Edward Lear popularized this in the 19th century with his Book of Nonsense. He wasn't trying to be profound. He was trying to be silly. There’s a certain bravery in being willing to be completely ridiculous in a world that takes itself too seriously. Lear’s poems often featured characters with absurdly long noses or strange dietary habits. It was surrealism before surrealism was a thing.
Why Modern "Instapoetry" Often Fails at Humor
Go on social media today and you’ll see plenty of short-form poetry. Most of it is... well, it’s very serious. It’s about "healing" and "the moon." There is a place for that, sure. But we’ve lost the art of the humorous rhyme in the mainstream.
Writing funny rhymes is risky. If you try to be deep and fail, people just think you're "moody." If you try to be funny and fail, it’s embarrassing. It’s the "cringe" factor. This is why many modern writers avoid it. To make a rhyme work in a funny context, you have to have a deep understanding of prosody—the patterns of rhythm and sound in poetry.
If you look at the works of Shel Silverstein, you see a master at work. Where the Sidewalk Ends isn't just for children. His poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" is a technical marvel of cumulative rhyming. The list of trash grows and grows, and the rhymes get more disgusting and visceral. By the time you get to the "gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal," the rhythm is driving you forward like a freight train. It’s funny because of the escalation.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- The "Inverted" Sentence: Please don't write like Yoda just to make a rhyme work. "To the store I did go / To buy some dough." It sounds fake.
- Near-Rhymes in Comedy: While "slant rhymes" (like orange and door-hinge) work in rap or folk music, they often kill a joke in a poem. Comedy usually requires the "snap" of a perfect rhyme.
- Ignoring Meter: If your first line has ten syllables and your second line has four, the reader is going to trip. Keep the beat consistent.
The Darker Side of Funny Poetry
Not all funny poems are about kittens or garbage. Some of the best poems that rhyme that are funny are actually quite dark. This is often called "Gallows Humor."
✨ Don't miss: Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus Explained (Simply)
Roald Dahl was a genius at this. His Revolting Rhymes took classic fairy tales and turned them into something much more cynical and hilarious. In his version of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl doesn't get eaten. Instead, she pulls a pistol out of her knickers and shoots the wolf. He rhymes "smile" with "beastly vile." It’s a subversion of our childhood memories, and that friction between "cute rhyming structure" and "violent content" is where the comedy lives.
Then there’s Wendy Cope. She’s a contemporary British poet who writes brilliantly about the disappointments of dating and adult life. Her work often mimics the styles of famous, serious poets like T.S. Eliot or Wordsworth, but she uses their "serious" structures to complain about boring parties or men who won't call back. It’s parody at its finest.
Finding Your Own Voice in Verse
If you're looking to write your own, stop trying to be "poetic." Don't use words like hence, thou, or o'er. Use the language you actually speak. If you're writing about a broken microwave, use words like "burrito" and "shrapnel."
The best funny poems feel like a story a friend is telling you at a bar. They just happen to rhyme. You want the reader to forget they're reading poetry until the rhyme hits them and forces a laugh.
Real Examples of Mastery
Look at the work of Billy Collins. He was the U.S. Poet Laureate, and while not all his poems rhyme, he uses humor as a gateway drug to get people to care about literature. He has a poem called "The Lanyard" where he describes a kid at summer camp making a plastic lanyard for his mother. He contrasts the "worthless" lanyard with the fact that his mother gave him life. The rhyme isn't always there, but the rhythmic humor is.
🔗 Read more: Big Brother 27 Morgan: What Really Happened Behind the Scenes
When you do find a poet who can maintain a strict rhyme scheme and still be genuinely funny—someone like Dorothy Parker—you're looking at a high-wire act. Parker's poem "Resumé" is a classic example of dark, rhyming humor:
"Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live."
The rhyme scheme is tight (ABAB CDCD). The lines are short. The subject matter is grim. But the "punchline" at the end—the mundane reasons why various methods of suicide are "inconvenient"—is what makes it a masterpiece of the genre.
Putting it Into Practice
If you want to dive deeper into poems that rhyme that are funny, don't just look at "humor" books. Look at lyrics. Look at the way Stephen Sondheim wrote musical theater lyrics. The song "Gee, Officer Krupke" from West Side Story is essentially a series of funny rhyming poems. It uses complex internal rhymes to mock the social work system of the 1950s.
Next Steps for Aspiring Humorous Poets:
- Read the Greats: Start with Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, and Shel Silverstein. Pay attention to where they place the rhyme in relation to the joke.
- Scansion is Key: Read your poem out loud. If you stumble over a word, your reader will too. If the rhythm breaks, the joke breaks.
- The "Word Association" Game: If you have a funny concept, list all the related words. Then find the weirdest rhymes for those words. Sometimes a rhyme can actually give you a better joke than the one you started with.
- Edit Ruthlessly: In comedy, less is more. If a stanza isn't adding to the build-up or the punchline, cut it.
Humor in poetry isn't about being "lightweight." It’s about using the constraints of language to create a moment of genuine connection. We rhyme because it’s catchy, and we laugh because life is absurd. When you combine the two, you get something that sticks in the brain far longer than a dry piece of prose ever could.
Actionable Insight: To improve your appreciation (or writing) of funny verse, record yourself reading a poem. Listen for the "pivot" point where the humor shifts from the setup to the payoff. If the rhyme feels like it’s "working too hard," simplify the language. The best rhymes should feel like a happy accident, even if they took you three hours to perfect.