Laugh Lines
Children’s Poetry, Part 2 Laughing with Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll
Photo by Austin Pacheco on Unsplash
Dear Seized Readers,
I hope that you agree with me on this point: The imagination is a powerful force and the critical human element that comes into play with creating the fantastical—in particular, nonsense verse.
Today, we are continuing our journey of delight, seeking children’s verse that makes us chuckle and smile.
Riffing from the catchy and nonsensical jingles discussed in last week’s post, “Jumping Rope,” I will share the verse of Edward Lear, considered to be the father of the limerick.
Two of Lear’s illustrated limericks from Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition edited by Griffith and Frey. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Perhaps like me, you consider two of your favorite children’s authors to be Lewis Carroll who wrote the masterpiece Alice in Wonderland and Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, author of such classics as The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas . If so, rest assured that these brilliant poets were inevitably influenced by Edward Lear who lived and wrote decades before they were born.
Edward Lear was a nineteenth century British author and illustrator. In an incisive biographical introduction to this poet’s work, Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition explains Lear’s verse in this way, “Lear … votes for energy against order, for the strange against the norm, for travel and escape against rest and acceptance, and for the self-reflexive dream against mimetic ‘reality.’” And further on, it is noted, “Lear is a protomodernist, in that he questions in a thousand ways our easy assumptions that words have stable references and fixed meanings. Lear anticipates the work of later authors who also drive language towards self-reflexiveness and free play.”
From Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland found in Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition edited by Griffith and Frey. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
As we read nonsense verse, we see that Lear along with Carroll and Seuss wrote poetry that, ironically, contains much sense and wisdom for both children and adults, verse that laughs at the absurd adult world.
Enjoy the excerpts from Lear’s “The Dong with a Luminous Nose” that follow. As you read, note the italicized words. These are made-up nonsense words that may remind you of Lewis Carroll’s and Dr. Suess’s verse as well as the work of other children’s literature authors.
Another Option : )
Laughable Lyrics by Edward Lear video by WholeReader is delightful! Think PBS British actress voice meets Edward Lear’s verses. Poems are to be read aloud, to be heard for their music and meaning. It may prove to be a more satisfying experience to listen to “The Dong” as well as Lear’s other rhymes as you see the words and a few illustrations scroll. Enjoy!
The Dong in Lear’s marvelous poem, “The Dong With A Luminous Nose” from Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition edited by Griffith and Frey. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
From “The Dong with a Luminous Nose” When awful darkness and silence reign/ Over the great Gromboolian plain,/ Through the long, long wintry nights;/ When the angry breakers roar/ As they beat on the rocky shore;/ When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights/ Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore:/ … Long years ago/ The Dong was happy and gay,/ Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl/ Who came to those shores one day./ For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did,/ Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd/ Where the Oblong Oysters grow,/ And the rocks are smooth and gray./ And all the woods and the valleys rang/ With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang,/ Far and few, far and few,/ Are the lands where the Jumblies live;/ Their heads are green, and the hands are blue/ And they went to sea in a sieve./ Happily, happily passed those days!/ While the cheerful Jumblies staid;/ They danced in circlets all night long,/ To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong,/ In moonlight, shine, or shade./ For day and night he was always there/ By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair,/ With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair./ Till the morning came of that hateful day/ When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away,/ And the Dong was left on the cruel shore/ Gazing — gazing for evermore—/ … Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks,/ Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks,/ And because by night he could not see,/ He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree/ On the flowery plain that grows./ And he wove him a wondrous Nose,/ A Nose as strange as a Nose could be!/ Of vast proportions and painted red,/ And tied with cords to the back of his head./ — In a hollow rounded space it ended/ With a luminous Lamp within suspended,/ All fenced about/ With a bandage stout/ To prevent the wind from blowing it out;/ And with holes all round to send the light,/ In gleaming rays on the dismal night./ And now each night, and all night long,/ Over those plains still roams the Dong;/ And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe/ You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe/ While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain/ To meet with his Jumbly Girl again;/ Lonely and wild — all night he goes,/ The Dong with a luminous Nose!/ And all who watch at the midnight hour,/ From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower,/ Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright,/ Moving along through the dreary night,/ This is the hour when forth he goes,/ The Dong with a luminous Nose!/ … -Edward Lear, from Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music, Etc. ,1877.
Photo by lee attwood on Unsplash
Reading the Influence of Edward Lear in Lewis Carroll’s Verse
We don’t need to search far and wide to find the works of Edward Lear or of Lewis Carroll. Because these poets departed over a century ago, we can easily discover their works online in the public domain.
As you roll Lear’s captivating nonsense words around in your ears, notice their wonderful musical quality and how so many of these words create mood and hint at conjured visual images— Gromboolian, Chankly Bore, Dong, Jumblies, Zemmery Fidd, etc.
With that in mind, now read “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll. Granted, you must let go of the need to understand each word to fully enjoy the largely untranslatable language of this poem. Like Lear, he is creating a fantasy world that contains nonsensical words such as Jabberwock, brillig, slithy, mome, Jubjub, frumious, vorpal, etc.
Photo by Jake Weirick on Unsplash
Carroll’s words create an outlandish world and make his poem playful. Readers must be creative to think of possible interpretations and meanings.
Clearly, Lear’s poetry had an influence on Carroll’s verse.
This page taken from Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition edited by Griffith and Frey shows Lear’s influence on Carroll’s hilarious limerick-like quatrains in his poem, “You are Old, Father William,” Chapter Five of Alice in Wonderland.
We can relate to the power of influence in our own lives. Whether it be a family member who worked in a particular occupation that we now do ourselves or a teacher/coach who ignited a passion within us, we are influenced by our communities. So it is with artists and writers.
Share your influences and the childhood books you cherish in the Comments section.
Photo by Diana Ewell Engel of Classics of Children’s Literature, Second Edition edited by Griffith and Frey. New York: Macmillan, 1987.