Frederic Ogden Nash was born in 19th August in 1902 in Rye New York (Parker 10). He grew up in various places including; Rye, Savannah, New York and Georgia. Most of his tertiary education happened in Saint Georges School in Middletown. This is when he wrote his first poem titled ‘Mrs. Low’s House’. He then briefly studied in Harvard University and then dropped out for reasons which remain controversial to date. He went back to Saint Georges School where he worked as a teacher for a whole year. He held various jobs in his career. He held a job as a writer in New York (Parker 43). Here, he was accorded the responsibility of writing car advertisements, which he claimed to have enjoyed in a later interview. He even worked as a bond salesman, but he was not particularly successful in this venture. Later on, he landed a job in Doubleday Publishing Company in nineteen twenty five.
In his tenure at Doubleday, he once read a manuscript he found so irksome that he took it upon himself to write work he considered interesting. During the same year, he published the first children’s books titled ‘The Cricket of Caradon.’ He continued to write verses after this successful publishing. The first successful poem was published a few years later. The poem titled ‘Spring Comes to Murray’ appeared in a famous New York magazine in nineteen thirty. In nineteen thirty three, he married Frances Rider Leonard. They were blessed with two daughters; Linell and Isabel.
In nineteen thirty eight, he moved to Baltimore together with his family; Nash lived in Baltimore till his death. In nineteen forty six, his poems were anthologised in the in the famous literal work by Selden Rodman. He continued writing and even expanded his field to writing lyrics for various musicals. After a series of medical problems, he passed on in nineteen seventy one. According to the doctors, he died of a complicated case of Crohns disease. In his lifetime, he is rumoured to have written about a thousand poems. Before he passed on, he used his time at the hospital to write comic works. These were later collected and put in an anthology entitled ‘Bed riddance: A posy for the indisposed.’
It is still not understood why Frederic Ogden Nash used insects as symbolism in his poems. Insects are eluded to be part of the symbolism in his works (Ogden 13). His fascination was extended to animals like dogs and even sheep. He is also known to have broken all the rules of poetry in using rhymes. Punctuation marks replaced the rhymes in an anarchic way. All this time, Frederic presented an exciting view of the world. His successful stint in writing is attributed largely to his work in Doubleday Publishing. Apart from rhyming, his techniques provided a metaphorical way of alluding on the problems of that time.
In his prodigious writings, Frederic used a variety of insects. For instance, he sued fireflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, fleas and flies in some of his writings (Parker 12). Using satire, he managed to poke gently on the quirks of the English language. Politicians, senators and sanctimonious fanatical religious leaders did not escape his tease. His use of insects in his poems is attributed to originality and the aspects of being unique (Parker 71). Every poet uses various elements to pass the message across. His was a hidden metaphorical way that was meant to leave the audience with an eager taste. He wanted to arouse the zeal of reading for understanding in the readers. This was important because he lived in a world where poetry was not accorded the attention it deserved.
His use of insects in poems is evident in one of his poems in the world titled ‘A Flea and a Fly in A Flue’. This was more of a child song owing to the impeccable use of homonyms. In this poem, the homonyms flea and flee are used to bring rhyme and alliteration. The inherent cleverness in the poem is inherent in how the fly and flea realise that they can escape (Fink 5). First, because they are capable of flying and secondly, the flue had a flaw through which they could escape.
In as much as this poem has the lyrical rhyme in it, it has a symbolic message. Probably, the flea and the fly represent citizens of a country. The flue and the prison represents the government (Fink 5). The citizens are accorded the ability of running away from trouble. This is represented by the ability to fly. The government has its flaws and sometimes these flaws are represented by the prison. The citizens are the ones who pay if the government has any problems or flaws. However, they can easily cooperate and get rid of this prison known as the government. Personally, I think the ability to fly is something like a voters card. Notably, when Nash was not writing poems, he often featured in comedy shows.
Works Cited
Fink, Cathy. A flea and a fly in a flue. New York: Rounder Publishers, 2003. Print.
Ogden, Nash. Selected poetry of Ogden Nash. New York: Levanthal Publishing. 1994, Print.
Parker, Douglas. Ogden Nash: the Life and Work of America's Laureate of Light Verse. New York: Cengage Publishers, 2005. Print.
