Nonsense Poems

There was an Old Man in a tree,Who was horribly bored by a Bee; When they said, “”Does it buzz?”” He replied, “”Yes, it does!It’s a regular brute of a Bee.””Generations of children and adults have delighted in the whimsical poems of Edward Lear (1812-88). And, despite his achievements as a noted English landscape painter and illustrator of animal life, Lear today is best known for his delightful volumes of nonsense verse. This work spanned several decades – from the first charming lines he wrote in the 1830s for the children of the Earl of Derby to his last collection of poems, published in 1877.This volume contains a rich sampling of Lear’s inspired nonsense, including more than 90 delightful limericks as well as a choice selection of longer poems along with the amusing illustrations he drew for each. Among these are such classics as “”The Owl and the Pussy-cat,”” and “”The Jumblies”” as well as a number of lesser-known but equally charming selections: “”Calico Pie,”” “”The Duck and the Kangaroo,”” “”Incidents in the Life of My Uncle Arly,”” “”The Daddy Long-legs and the Fly,”” “”The Broom, the Shovel, The Poker, and the Tongs,”” “”Mr. and Mrs. Spikky Spider”” and “”The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-B.””