Doggerel is a derogatory term for verse considered of little literary value. The word probably derived from dog, suggesting either ugliness, puppyish clumsiness, or unpalatability (as in food fit only for dogs). "Doggerel" is attested to have been used as an adjective since the fourteenth century and a noun since at least 1630.

Doggerel might have any or all of the following failings:

As early as the late fourteenth century, in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the character Harry Bailey interrupts the unendurable Tale of Sir Topas, calling it "rhyme doggerel":

Doggerel is usually the sincere product of poetic incompetence, and only unintentionally humorous, as with the work of Julia A. Moore, the "sweet singer of Michigan":

Other examples of incompetence may be found in the verse of Catholic apologist G. K. Chesterton —for instance his "Ballade of Theatricals" (1912):

<poem>

</poem>

The term is one of critical judgment rather than technical description, and readers may differ as to whether it is properly applied to a given poem. For example, the poetry of William Topaz McGonagall is also remembered with affection by many despite its seeming technical flaws, as in his ode on the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was a British comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the British government declared him stateless. He was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles.

Milligan wrote and edited many books, including Puckoon and his seven-volume autobiographical account of his time serving during the Second World War, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. He is also noted as a popular writer of comical verse; much of his poetry was written for children, including Silly Verse for Kids (1959). After success with the ground-breaking British radio programme, The Goon Show, Milligan translated this success to television with Q5, a surreal sketch show which is credited as a major influence on the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Gavin Buchanan Ewart (4 February 1916 – 25 October 1995) was a British poet who contributed to Geoffrey Grigson's New Verse at the age of seventeen.

Ewart was born in London and educated at Wellington College before entering Christ's College, Cambridge where he received a B.A. in 1937 and an M.A. in 1942.

After active service as a Royal Artillery officer during World War II, he worked in publishing and with the British Council before becoming an advertising copywriter in 1952.

From the age of 17, when his poetry was first printed in Geoffrey Grigson's New Verse, he acquired a reputation for wit and accomplishment through such works as "Phallus in Wonderland" and "Poems and Songs", which appeared in 1939 and was his first collection.

The Second World War disrupted his development as a poet, however, and he published no further volumes until "Londoners" of 1964, although he did write the English lyrics for the 'World Song' of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. From 1964 he produced many collections, which included "The Gavin Ewart Show" (1971), "No Fool like an Old Fool" (1976), "All My Little Ones" (1978), "The Ewart Quarto" (1984), and "Penultimate Poems" (1989). "The Collected Ewart: 1933-1980" (1980) was supplemented in 1991 by "Collected Poems: 1980-1990".