本书是W·S·吉尔伯特(W. S. Gilbert)的一部谐趣诗合集。吉尔伯特因与Arthur Sullivan一起创作喜剧剧本而一举成名，这些作品写于他成名之前。吉尔伯特在创作中形成了自己独特的"topsy-turvy"(七颠八倒)风格，在这种风格下通过设定一个荒谬的前提并引申出符合逻辑但十分可笑的后果来制造幽默。本书也展示了吉尔伯特愤世嫉俗的、讽刺性的幽默感。
目录:
Ballad: Captain Reece
Ballad: The Rival Curates
Ballad: Only A Dancing Girl
Ballad: General John
Ballad: To A Little Maid - By A Policeman
Ballad: John And Freddy
Ballad: Sir Guy The Crusader
Ballad: Haunted
Ballad: The Bishop And The 'Busman
Ballad: The Troubadour
Ballad: Ferdinando And Elvira; Or, The Gentle Pieman
Ballad: Lorenzo De Lardy
Ballad: Disillusioned - By An Ex-Enthusiast
Ballad: Babette's Love
Ballad: To My Bride - (Whoever She May Be)
Ballad: The Folly Of Brown - By A General Agent
Ballad: Sir Macklin
Ballad: The Yarn Of The "Nancy Bell"
Ballad: The Bishop Of Rum-Ti-Foo
Ballad: The Precocious Baby. A Very True Tale (TO BE SUNG TO THE AIR OF THE "WHISTLING OYSTER.")
Ballad: To Phoebe
Ballad: Baines Carew, Gentleman
Ballad: Thomas Winterbottom Hance
Ballad: The Reverend Micah Sowls
Ballad: A Discontented Sugar Broker
Ballad: The Pantomime "Super" To His Mask
Ballad: The Force Of Argument
Ballad: The Ghost, The Gallant, The Gael, And The Goblin
Ballad: The Phantom Curate. A Fable
Ballad: The Sensation Captain
Ballad: Tempora Mutantur
Ballad: At A Pantomime. By A Bilious One
Ballad: King Borria Bungalee Boo
Ballad: The Periwinkle Girl
Ballad: Thomson Green And Harriet Hale (To be sung to the Air of "An 'Orrible Tale.")
Ballad: Bob Polter
Ballad: The Story Of Prince Agib
Ballad: Ellen McJones Aberdeen
Ballad: Peter The Wag
Ballad: Ben Allah Achmet; - Or, The Fatal Tum
Ballad: The Three Kings Of Chickeraboo
Ballad: Joe Golightly - Or, The First Lord's Daughter
Ballad: The wind blows towards the lee, Willow! But though I sigh and sob and cry, No Lady Jane for me, Willow!
Ballad: To The Terrestrial Globe. By A Miserable Wretch
Ballad: Gentle Alice Brown