Edward Lear

Lear's writing

Edward Lear's nonsense works are distinguished by a facility of verbal invention and a poet's delight in the sounds of words, both real and imaginary. A stuffed rhinoceros becomes a "diaphanous doorscraper". A "blue Boss-Woss" plunges into "a perpendicular, spicular, orbicular, quadrangular, circular depth of soft mud". His heroes are Quangle-Wangles, Pobbles, and Jumblies. His most famous piece of verbal invention occurs in the closing lines of The Owl and the Pussycat:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  They dined on mince, and slices of quince

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    They danced by the light of the moon,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      The moon,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

      The moon,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  They danced by the light of the moon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The "runcible spoon", a Lear coinage, entered the language and is now found in almost any dictionary.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Limericks are invariably typeset as five lines today, but Edward Lear's limericks were published in a variety of formats. It appears that Lear wrote them in manuscript basically in as many lines as there was room for beneath the picture. In the first three editions, most are typeset as, respectively, three, five, and three lines. The cover of one edition http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/BoN/index.html bears an entire limerick typeset in only two lines, thus:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  There was an Old Derry down Derry, who loved to see little folks merry;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  So he made them a book, and with laughter they shook at the fun of that Derry down Derry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Lear's limericks, the first and last lines usually end with the same word, rather than rhyming. For the most part, they are truly nonsensical and devoid of any punch line or point; there is nothing in them to "get". They are completely free of the off-color humor with which the verse form is now associated. A typical thematic element is the presence of a callous and critical "they". An example of a typical Lear limerick:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  There was an Old Man of Aôsta,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Who possessed a large Cow, but he lost her;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  But they said, 'Don't you see, she has rushed up a tree?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  You invidious Old Man of Aôsta!'

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is interesting to compare those two Victorian masters of nonsense, Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Lewis Carroll's "nonsense" is a reversal or parody of ordinary logic. He plays on the meaning of words, and his writing style itself is prosaic. Edward Lear's "nonsense" is a true absence of logic; he plays on the sound of words and his writing style is poetic. Among Lear's tremble-bembles and the chippy-wippy-sikki-tees can be found some very felicitous turns of phrase. Lear's self-portrait in verse, How Pleasant to know Mr. Lear, closes with this stanza, a pleasant reference to his own mortality:

Related Topics:
Victorian - Lewis Carroll - Stanza

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  He reads but he cannot speak Spanish,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    He cannot abide ginger-beer;

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

    How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~