Arthur Guiterman (November 20, 1871 - January 11, 1943) was an American writer best known for his humorous poems.

He was born of American parents in Vienna, graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1891, and was married in 1909 to Vida Lindo. He was an editor of the Woman's Home Companion and the Literary Digest. In 1910, he cofounded the Poetry Society of America, and later served as its president in 1925-26.

An example of his humour is a poem that talks about modern progress, with rhyming couplets such as "First dentistry was painless;/Then bicycles were chainless". It ends on a more telling note:

Now motor roads are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.

Books

Beginning in 1907 and continuing for the rest of his life, he was the author of over a dozen collections of poems, including:

• Betel Nuts, What They Say In Hindustan (1907)
• The Laughing Muse (1915)
• The Light Guitar (1923)
• Wildwood Fables (1927)
• Gaily the Troubadour (1936)

References