The people upstairs all practise ballet
Their living room is a bowling alley
Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.
Their radio is louder than yours,
They celebrate week-ends all the week.
When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.
They try to get their parties to mix
By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,
And when their fun at last abates,
They go to the bathroom on roller skates.
I might love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.
The People Upstairs
Analysis, meaning and summary of Ogden Nash's poem The People Upstairs
3 Comments
Leave a Reply
Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Ogden Nash better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.
The last two lines of this poem are incorrect.
From a published book of Ogden Nash poems the lines read:
“I might love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.”
This sounds more like Ogden Nash than the lines you have.
Robert, thanks for the input. So, the lines I had were:
“I might love the people upstairs more
If only they lived on another floor.”
I have changed them to:
“I might love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.”
You’re right, this ending is much more in line with what Ogden Nash would write. I’m not sure how the error came to be, but I’m glad you pointed this out.
I LOVE YOUR POEM…… whoeva wrote, uh. . .
cya