Exploring the common ground: Sensus communis, humor and the interpretation of comic poetry

Abstract Sensus communis is originally a Roman notion of the shared ‘communal sense’ that facilitates communicative understanding. The most important philosophers of the modern age who have discussed it at length are Giambattista Vico, Anthony, Earl of Shaftesbury (as the basis for wit and humor), Immanuel Kant and Hans-Georg Gadamer. The different ways they (and others) have discussed it might help literary scholars to explore the common ground in literary interpretation. Since there is much disagreement on the very notion of sensus communis , this paper takes its cue from Shaftesbury by briefly examining the relation between understanding humor and agreeing on a particular literary interpretation. Its test case is the American writer Ogden Nash and his rather misanthropic view of various others (wives/husbands, children, old people, various animals, etc.) in his comic poetry. The claim is advanced that readers are amused by Nash's poetry because they too harbour misanthropic sentiments and are well aware that it is taboo to let it show. Hence, despite its apparent misanthropy Nash's poetry is based on and most likely strengthens a kind of sensus communis . This paper also argues that the incongruous combination of satirical and literary techniques is crucial for the effect of comic poetry and that incongruities are often unresolved in ironical and satirical texts.