Edward Lear's nonsense poems

[Godfather]

I found a book that I had forgotten about earlier; The Book of Nonsense and Nonsense Songs, by Edward Lear.

It's fantastic, it's ridiculous!

There was a Young Lady of Clare,
Who was sadly pursued by a bear;
When she found she was tired,
She abruptly expired,
That unfortunate Lady of Clare.

There was a Young Lady of Welling,
Whose praise all the world was a-telling;
She played on a harp,
and caught several carp,
That accomplished Young Lady of Welling.

[wordsheff]

Limericks!!! Man, I wrote those but they're waaaaaaaay too dirty to post on here!

Google some more limericks, you'll see some that definitey make sense but are probably not appropriate for the forum

"There was a man from Nantuckett..." (oh some many possible dirty rhymes with nantuckett!)

[Godfather]

I think Lear invented the Limerick...

[JRH]

See Below. (Apparently I'm duplicating posts again).

JRH

[JRH]

Limericks have been around for a long time, (long before Edward Lear's "the Book of Nonsense and Nonsense Songs" was first published in 1846).

In point of fact variants of the form of poetry referred to as Limerick poems can be traced back to the fourteenth century English history, used in Nursery Rhymes and other poems for children. But as limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and could be bawdy or sexual in nature they were often repeated by beggars or the working classes in the British pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventh centuries, and even Shakespeare wrote limericks which can be found in two of his greatest plays - Othello and King Lear.

The term "limerick" refers to the Irish town of Limerick, and is apparently derived from a pub song or tavern chorus based on the refrain "Will you come up to Limerick?" where, of course, such bawdy songs or 'Limericks' were sung.

They consist of five anapaestic lines with Lines 1, 2, and 5 having seven to ten syllables and rhyming with one another, and with Lines 3 and 4 having five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.

They are in fact, quite easy to write and can be adopted to a great variety of subjects, from bawdy suggestions to political or philosophical statement or even, Children's verses or (as Lear did) to nonsense verse.

I wrote a number of them when I was in college and returned to writing them a year or two ago, both for writing light humor and for political/Philosophical statement. Here are a few of mine that show the range of what can be done with them. (The old and new can be told by their dates)


The Hazards of Drinking

I never had given more thought
To drinking more ale than I ought,
‘Til one day my sister
Sat down, and I kissed her.
I found I was quite overwrought

Teacher's Pet

There was a young rascal name Hunk
Who gave to his teacher, a skunk.
‘Though she thought she should thank him.
She decided to spank him ------
She couldn't stand people who stunk.

The Braggart

I once knew a braggart from Wales,
Whose habit was telling tall tales.
His misfortune and woe
Had struck him quite low,
He spent most his time in the jails

The Flirt

There was a young girl from the city,
Whom we of the town thought quite pretty'
We were stupid young boys;
She use us like toys ------
She thought breaking hearts was quite witty.

The Prankster

A very young prankster of sorts,
Along with two willing cohorts,
Took toads from the creek,
Hoping girls would scream "eek",
But quit when they found they got warts.

Collective Copyright (c) Spring 1961 by James R. Hoye

********

The Dreamer

There once was a man from Darjeeling
Who found his life less than appealing
He dreamed of lost treasure
And all kinds of pleasure
To counter the pain he was feeling

Copyright (c) 29 Nov 2004 James R. Hoye

Beware of Fortune Tellers

I knew a young lad from Powkipsie
Whose fortune was read by a gypsy.
She told him he'd marry
A girl name of Sheri.
And it happened the night he got tipsy.

Copyright (c) 30 Nov 2004 James R. Hoye

No Returning

Ancient Nereus rose from the sea,
As often he had throughout history.
He sought men who were kind,
But found only dark signs
Of a world that might soon cease to be.

Copyright (c) 30 Nov 2004 James R. Hoye

End Game?

All men are fools eho dare to think
That life itself can't end in a blink.
Knowing that Gods can die
How can we e're deny
That Mankind might be on the brink.

Copyright (c) 30 Nov 2004 James R. Hoye

Reading The Winds

Right to lifers and fans of Jim Crow,
Together bask in vict'ry's warm glow,
For election results
have rewarded their cults,
And threaten the rights that we know

Copyright © 10 Dec 2004 James R. Hoye

The Playoffs

Footballs fly through the cold winter air
The end of the season finally near
Only two will move on
While the losers are done
And must settle for dreams of next year

Copyright © 23 Jan 2005 James R. Hoye

Punxsutawney Phil

I never met Punxsutawney Phil
And I seriously doubt that I ever will
But I'm so sad to relate
He's ruling my fate
For my plans all depend on his skill

Copyright © 1 Feb 2005 James R. Hoye

The Leprechaun
Watch out for the wiley Leprechaun
He'll tease you and then he'll lead you on
Telling of his pot of gold
‘Tempting you with wealth untold
Then mock you from dusk until dawn

Copyright (c) 18 Mar 2005 James R. Hoye

JRH

[Godfather]

Thank you JRH, for some reason I thought I read that he wrote it.

Some great Limericks there,
and I'm actually from Limerick...

[JRH]

Hi Godfather,

Lear didn't invent the limerick, but he did popularize it as a Poetry form.

His "Book of Nonsense" was published by Thomas McLean on 10th February 1846. There were altogether seventy-two limericks in two volumes which sold at 3s 6d each, were in no way indecent, and proved to be extremely popular in the nineteenth century and this was contributed to by the humorous magazine Punch which started printing examples of limericks leading to a craze by its readers.

I'm sure the examples you first posted here were his and undoubtedly from those volumes.

The Form is easy to write and always "good fun" and being from the village of
Limerick" is a proud heritage to have.

Write On,

Jim Hoye (JRH)

[aruna]

I am resurrecting this thread for my grand entrance to the poetry forum!
I know some of Edward Lear's poets very well. We had to learnthem as part 0f our diction class in school; and then we had to recite them, the whole class together, paying particular attention to diction. Every school term we had a new Lear poem to recite. I remember especially. So, here are some that I remember reciting:

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


II

They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


III

The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


IV

And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


V

They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


VI

And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, 'How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

[aruna]

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'


II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.


III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
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.

[scarletpeaches]

Not too keen on Lear's limericks. I feel cheated because of the number of times he repeats the first line rather than coming up with an original fifth.

[aruna]

A general question: what's the story on posting whole poems here? How long does the poet have to be dead?

[scarletpeaches]

...And if he's not dead, could we arrange for him to meet with a nasty accident if we don't like his work?

[wordsheff]

a poet there twas named lear,
at the bargirl lear would lear,
and with one more drink
he'd puke in the sink
then lear in the mirror like King Lear

[scarletpeaches]

There once was a poet call Ed,
who liked to sh*g women once dead.
After making them squelch,
he'd let out a belch
and kick them right out of his bed.

[aruna]

There was once a lady called Peaches
Whose body was covered with leeches.
She writhed and she wriggled
because it so tickled
from her eyebrows right down to her breeches!

[wordsheff]

There once was a limerick
refined with intelligence
with nary a word
of peepees or terds
til the spaz of tourettes

[Godfather]

such an intelligent chat we had
we were smart, smug and clearly rad
but minds went deaf
when came wordsheff
who wrote silly limericks. how sad.

[poetinahat]

My life as a poet's a farce
But lately, I find, it's got warse
I dress like a fop
From bottom to top
And talk out the back o' me arse

[poetinahat]

...and a BIG welcome to aruna! (bows, scrapes)

[aruna]

*curtsies deep"

... and having posted once in here, this forum is actually playing nice. It hasn't locked me out again!

Can you imagine a chorus of ten-year-old girls in green serge uniforms chanting those poems together? I'll never forget out Diction teacher, a Mrs Rutherford, with a veddy veddy enunciated pronounciation. We even had Dictiom competitions with other schools. I wonder where THAT subject went to. The things we used to do at school! All gone!

[scarletpeaches]

A limerick for our own poetinahat:

There once was a poet (with titfer)
There wasn't much else he was fit fer
but publically peeing
with everyone seeing.
How much do you think he would shit fer?

[kdnxdr]

there are some poets a dreaming
often times frantically scheaming
the agents and reps offer them tips
but through the cracks, the publishers slip

[NeuroFizz]

These are not mine, and I don't know the source, but...

Limerick #1

There once was a man from Verdoo
whose limericks stopped at line two


Limerick #2

There once was a man from Verdun

[aruna]

Just saying hi.I was banned form this forum for 2 days. It will happen again. Don't ask me why.

[poetinahat]

One of my favorites from the Limerick thread here -- remarkable especially because each person added one line:

My love is a fair maiden true
Although, just between me and you,
I've seen maidens fairer
And love that is rarer
But hey, for the moment, she'll do!

[aruna]

Just saying hi.I was banned form this forum for 2 days. It will happen again. Don't ask me why.

Someone wants to know why... I'm afraid the answer is very prosaic - it;s some kind of cookie problem. The forum doesn't let me in on alternate days, not even with password. On other days, it lets me in with password. Weird, huh?