Al-Warraq Library

Home / Children's & Fairy Tales / The Book of Nonsense

Children's & Fairy TalesThe Book of NonsenseEdward LearThe Book of Nonsense

The Book of Nonsense

Edward Lear

Children's & Fairy TalesEnglish
0 views
Read the bookGutenberg book pageInternet Archive

Al-Warraq Library does not host book files; it takes you to the copy at the original source. Public-domain status differs from country to country, so check the law where you live before downloading or republishing the book. Do you hold rights in this work? Request its removal

There was an Old Man with a beard, who said, 'It is just as I feared!' So begins one of the verses in one of the most famous books of comic verse in English…

Catalogue details

Author
Edward Lear
Category
Children's & Fairy Tales
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

There was an Old Man with a beard, who said, 'It is just as I feared!' So begins one of the verses in one of the most famous books of comic verse in English: limerick after limerick about absurd old men and young ladies from places all over the world, who are swallowed by fish, carried off by birds, dance with cats or grow birds' nests in their beards, each with a funny drawing by the author.

Context and significance

Edward Lear (1812–1888), a painter of birds and landscapes, wrote the verses for the grandchildren of the Earl of Derby and published them in 1846, popularising the limerick form. He later wrote 'The Owl and the Pussy-cat'. Compare Lewis Carroll's nonsense in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Similar books