Tobogganing on Parnassus

Franklin P. Adams was the premier wit of early 20th century American journalism, and this 1911 collection shows why his lines were quotable from coast to coast. The title itself announces the game: Parnassus is the mountain of the Muses, but tobogganing implies sliding down it for pure fun, not climbing it with solemn reverence. Adams takes dead aim at the pretensions of poetry, the absurdities of society, and the small indignities of everyday life with a lightness that never descends into mere silliness. His verse moves from playful parody of famous poems to sharp observations on modern love, urban life, and the eternal human comedy. Each piece demonstrates why Adams was called 'the most quoted man in America' - these are gems of compression, every word earning its place. The collection captures a vanished New York with affectionate precision while skewering universals that haven't changed: romantic frustration, social anxiety, and the eternal gap between how we present ourselves and what we actually are. For readers who believe the highest purpose of poetry is to make them smile, this is 150 pages of small pleasures.