The Cow

The Cow - meaning Summary

Humor Compresses a Truth

Ogden Nash’s two-line epigram humorously reduces the cow to its most obvious functions: making a sound and giving milk. Using compressed, mock-scientific phrasing and a punchy rhyme, the poem plays with linguistic economy and comic understatement to turn a commonplace animal into a neat joke about form and purpose. Its brevity and tone invite a smile while underlining Nash’s taste for witty, economical observation.