Forms of wit
As in the wit of Parker's set, the
Algonquin Round Table, witty remarks may be intentionally cruel (as in many
epigrams), and perhaps more ingenious than funny.
A
quip
is an observation or saying that has some wit but perhaps descends into
sarcasm, or otherwise is short of point; a witticism also suggests the diminutive.
Repartee
is the wit of the quick answer and capping comment: the snappy comeback and neat retort. (
Wilde: "I wish I'd said that."
Whistler: "You will, Oscar, you will".)
In French one can distinguish between the
bon mot
, a witty remark actually produced, and the
esprit d'escalier
, the thing one should have said that typically comes to mind too late to be of any use.
Wit in poetry
Wit in
poetry is characteristic of
metaphysical poetry as a style, and was prevalent in the time of English playwright
Shakespeare, who admonished pretension with the phrase "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit". It may combine
word play with conceptual thinking, as a kind of verbal display requiring attention, without intending to be laugh-aloud funny; in fact wit can be a thin disguise for more poignant feelings that are being versified. English poet
John Donne is the representative of this style of poetry.
Further meanings
More generally, one's wits are one's intellectual powers of all types. Native wit — meaning the wits with which one is born — is closely synonymous with
common sense. To live by one's wits is to be an
opportunist, but not always of the scrupulous kind. To have one's wits about one is to be alert and capable of quick
reasoning.
Famous wits
John Wilkes was famous in the
18th Century for his wit in response to insults.
Mark Twain and
Oscar Wilde,
Dorothy Parker and
Groucho Marx are considered archetypal
19th and
20th century wits — sometimes even having the remarks of others attributed to them. Also of the twentieth century was British prime minister
Winston Churchill, with perhaps the most well documented witticisms of his time.
Oliver St. John Gogarty was a renowned
Dublin wit and
surgeon, while
John Philpot Curran was an Irish lawyer who would disrupt court hearings with his witticisms.
Ksawery Tartakower is usually described as
chess grandmaster and
wit.
John Lennon of famous rock group
The Beatles was notorious for his sharp and cutting wit, often being labeled "the witty Beatle" along with the other members
Paul McCartney,
George Harrison, and
Ringo Starr, but none of the other members could match Lennon's quick remarks. The late
David Lange, the Prime Minister of New Zealand in the 1980s, immortalized with his nuclear-free legislation, is another well-known historical figure who is remembered for his quick wit. The satirist
Peter Cook was known for his quick wit.
See also
- Oxford Wits
- New Oxford Wits
- Hartford Wits
Bibliography
- D. W. Jefferson, "Tristram Shandy
and the Tradition of Learned Wit" in Essays in Criticism
, 1(1951), 225-48
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