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Two Nonsense Poems By Edward Lear

Running Time:4:27Release Date:
As a companion to our video about the life of Edward Lear, we present two of his nonsense poems. We begin with his immortal 'The Owl And The Pussy-cat' followed by 'How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear'.

About The Video

In this video we present two nonsense poems by Edward Lear.

The first poem is the most famous of Edward Lear's work "The Owl and the Pussycat". It was first published in 1871. Edward Lear wrote the poem for Janet Symonds who was the young daughter of one of his friends.

The Owl And The Pussycat
Owl And The Pussycat In The Boat
I
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!'
Owl, Pussycat And The Pig
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.
Owl,Pussycat And The Turkey
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.

The second poem is a self-portrait "How Pleasant To Know Mr. Lear!"

It was written by Edward Lear, for a young woman friend, who told him this was said in a conversation with one of her friends.

How Pleasant To Know Mr. Lear!
Self-Portait Of Lear And Children
"How pleasant to know Mr. Lear!"
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tempered and queer,
But a few think him pleasant enough.
His mind is concrete and fastidious,
His nose is remarkably big;
His visage is more or less hideous,
His beard it resembles a wig.
Old Man And Beard
He has ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,
Leastways if you reckon two thumbs;
Long ago he was one of the singers,
But now he is one of the dumbs.
He sits in a beautiful parlor,
With hundreds of books on the wall;
He drinks a great deal of Marsala,
But never gets tipsy at all.
Edward Lear And His Hat
He has many friends, lay men and clerical,
Old Foss is the name of his cat;
His body is perfectly spherical,
He weareth a runcible hat.
When he walks in waterproof white,
The children run after him so!
Calling out, "He's come out in his night-
Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"
Edward Lear And Foss
He weeps by the side of the ocean,
He weeps on the top of the hill;
He purchases pancakes and lotion,
And chocolate shrimps from the mill.
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!

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Interesting Links

General

Wikipedia - The Owl and the Pussycat
Wikipedia - Edward Lear
Librivox - Readings Of The Owl and the Pussycat
Librivox - Reading Of How Pleasant to Know Mr Lear by Edward Lear