A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear
"A Book of Nonsense," published in 1846 by Edward Lear, is a landmark work in English literature, notable for being the first book dedicated to the literary form of nonsense. It is credited with popularizing the limerick, a playful five-line poem characterized by its distinctive rhythm and rhyme scheme. The limericks in this collection feature whimsical characters and situations, often involving multisyllabic rhymes and coined words, adding layers of humor and absurdity. Lear's clever use of language invites readers, particularly children, to explore vocabulary in a fun context.
The poems often follow a recognizable structure, beginning with "There was" and introducing characters, typically identified by age and location, before concluding with a surprising or nonsensical twist. Beyond the limericks, Lear's broader body of work includes songs and stories that continue the themes of eccentricity and triumph in the face of conformity, encouraging a sense of adventure and imagination. Accompanying illustrations enhance the whimsical nature of the verses, providing a visual counterpart to the playful absurdities. This blend of text and art has left a lasting impact on children's literature and the genre of nonsense poetry.
On this Page
A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear
First published: 1846; illustrated
Subjects: Animals, education, and emotions
Type of work: Poetry
Recommended Ages: 10-18
Form and Content
A Book of Nonsense was not only the first book in English to indulge in verbal nonsense for its own sake but also the book that popularized the limerick form. Indeed, many standard reference books attribute the invention of the form to Edward Lear, although earlier published examples have been recorded. The nature of the limerick lends itself to light verse; its meter being anapestic—two unstressed syllables followed by a stress (da-da-DUM)—gives it a playful jingle. The first two lines and the last all have the same rhyme sound; these lines each have three stresses. The third and fourth lines are shorter, with only two stressed syllables, and these have their own rhyme sound. The first verse in A Book of Nonsense demonstrates the form:
There was an Old Man with a beard,
The drawing that accompanies this verse is as silly as the limerick: A man with a huge black beard longer than his body rocks back on his heels, arms flailing, and scowls at the birds mentioned, which all appear rather contented in his beard.
The sort of nonsense represented by this first poem—a sort of a bewildering pointlessness—is only one type of Lear nonsense. Another comic effect found in the limericks of A Book of Nonsense is multisyllabic rhyme, often involving a feigned mispronunciation or dialect spelling, as in the case of the “Old Man of Moldavia” and his “curious behavior” or the “Old Man of Columbia” who “called out for some beer.” Slightly more than half of the limericks in A Book of Nonsense (57 out of 112) have at least one multisyllable or “feminine” rhyme of this type. A third type of nonsense is Lear’s neologisms, or coined words, which he disguises with logical Latinate forms so that they appear to be real words. Although in his later books this would be Lear’s most common type of nonsense word, there are only three examples in his first nonsense book: “ombliferous,” “scroobious,” and “borascible.”
Each limerick follows the same pattern: “There was” a “Lady,” “Man,” or “Person,” either “Old” or “Young,” usually “of [Someplace]” (88 of the 112 limericks have a place name in the opening line). The closing line often repeats part of the first, adding an adjective that is either inappropriate or nonsensical in context: For example, there seems to be no meaning in calling an Old Woman “incongruous” or an Old Man “intrinsic.” Sometimes, the adjective has a surprising appropriateness, as when the man about to fall from a casement is described as “incipient.” Whether appropriate or not, the adjectives provide a tool for expanding the vocabularies of the children who enjoy the poems.
Critical Context
No children’s literature known as “nonsense,” or resembling Lear’s form of it, existed before A Book of Nonsense appeared in 1846. Only Lewis Carroll came close to Lear in spirit, and his first “nonsense” book was not published until nearly two decades later, in 1865. Before that time, Lear had published an expanded edition of A Book of Nonsense (1861). More nonsense (although not in limerick form) followed in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets (1871); More Nonsense (1872), including one hundred new limericks with drawings; and Laughable Lyrics (1877). The posthumously published Nonsense Songs and Stories (1895) concluded Lear’s output of nonsense.
Lear’s non-limerick poems, the most famous being “The Owl and the Pussycat” (1871), continue some of the themes of alienation and nonconformity established in A Book of Nonsense. Another 1871 nonsense song, “The Jumblies,” presents the familiar “they,” the voice of conformity telling the Jumblies that their adventure is foolish. Yet the Jumblies succeed, and the scoffers praise the Jumblies and want to be like them. As in the limericks of A Book of Nonsense, the childlike eccentrics in Lear’s nonsense poems sometimes triumph; their childlike nature itself, which values the nonsense, makes that triumph possible. All of Lear’s nonsense books feature a lavish sampling of his delightful drawings, which often provide a complementary (and sometimes contradictory) reading of the situations in the poems; Laughable Lyrics even includes Lear’s own musical settings of two of his poems.