Penny's poetry pages Wiki
Advertisement
in: Articles incorporating Cite DNB template, Articles using Wikipedia text, Articles with authority control information,
and 20 more

Edward Lear

Edit
Edward Lear drawing

Edward Lear (1812-1888). Illustration by Wilhelm Marstrand (1810-1873), 1840. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Edward Lear
Born May 12 1812(1812-Template:MONTHNUMBER-12)
Holloway, London, England
Died January 29 1888(1888-Template:MONTHNUMBER-29) (aged 75)
Sanremo, Liguria, Italy
Occupation illustrator, poet
Nationality English
Period 19th century
Genres Children's literature
Literary movement Literary nonsense

Edward Lear (12 May 1812 - 29 January 1888) was an English poet, artist, and illustrator, renowned primarily for his nonsense verse and prose, and especially for his limericks, a form that he popularised.

Life[]

Overview[]

Lear was born in London, and settled in Rome as a landscape painter. He was an indefatigable traveler, and wrote accounts, finely illustrated, of his journeys in Italy, Greece, and Corsica. His best known works are, however, his Book of Nonsense (1840) (full of wit and good sense), More Nonsense Rhymes (1871), and Laughable Lyrics (1876). Lear had also a remarkable faculty for depicting birds.[1]

Youth and education[]

Lear was born at Holloway, London, on 12 May 1812. He was the youngest of a large family,[2] of Danish descent.[3]

At the early age of 15 he was obliged to earn his own living. At first he made tinted drawings of birds, and did other artistic work for shops and for hospitals and medical men.[3]

Career[]

At 19 (in 1831) Lear obtained employment as a draughtsman in the gardens of the Zoological Society, and in the following year he published The Family of the Psittacidse, among the earliest volumes of coloured plates of birds on a large scale published in England. He assisted J. Gould in his ornithological drawings, and did similar work for Professors Bell and Swainson, Sir W. Jardine, and Dr. J.E. Gray.[3]

From 1832 to 1836 he was engaged at Knowsley, the residence of the earl of Derby, and drew the fine plates to the volume entitled The Knowsley Menagerie. With the family at Knowsley he was always a great favourite, and it was for his patron's grandchildren that Lear invented his droll Book of Nonsense, which was first published in 1846.[3]

From 1836 he devoted himself to the study of landscape, and in 1837, partly for the sake of his health, he left England, and never afterwards permanently resided in his native country. For several years he lived at Rome, where he earned a good living as a drawing-master. He wandered as a sketcher through many parts of Southern Europe and in Palestine, and published some interesting and well-written records of his travels.[3]

When he was past 60 he visited India at the invitation of his friend, Lord Northbrook, then viceroy, and brought back many sketches. His landscapes, which belong to the "classic" school, combine boldness of conception with great skill and accuracy of detail.[3]

He began to exhibit at the Suffolk Street Gallery in 1836, and at the Royal Academy in 1850. His first oil paintings were done in 1840, and his latest in 1853. During a visit to England in 1845, he had the honor of giving lessons in drawing to the queen.

The last few years of his life were spent at San Remo, where he died in January 1888. He is buried in the cemetery of that town.[3]

Writing[]

His works include: 1. 'Illustrations of the Family of the Psittacidæ.' 1832, fol. 2. J. E. Gray's 'Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles,' drawn from life by Sowerby and Lear, fol. 3. 'Views in Rome and its Environs.' 1841, fol. 4. 'Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley Hall.' 1846, fol. 5. 'Illustrated Excursions in Italy.' 1846, fol. 2 vols. 6. 'Book of Nonsense.' 1846; 2nd edit. 1862. Of this volume of humour there have been twenty-six editions. It was followed by similar volumes entitled (7) 'Nonsense Songs and Stories.' 1871; (8) 'More Nonsense Songs, Pictures, &c..' 1872; (9) 'Laughable Lyrics.' 1877; and (10) 'Nonsense Botany and Nonsense Alphabets.' 11. 'Journal of a Landscape Painter in Greece and Albania,' 1851, 8vo. 12. 'Journal of a Landscape Painter in Southern Albania,' 1852, 8vo. 13. 'Views in the Seven Ionian Islands.' 1863, fol. 14. 'Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica.' 1870, 8vo. 15. 'Tennyson's Poems.' illustrated by Lear, 1889, 4to.

Nonsense[]

Lear's nonsense works are distinguished by a facility of verbal invention and a poet's delight in the sounds of words, both real and imaginary. A stuffed rhinoceros becomes a "diaphanous doorscraper". A "blue Boss-Woss" plunges into "a perpendicular, spicular, orbicular, quadrangular, circular depth of soft mud". His heroes are Quangle-Wangles, Pobbles, and Jumblies. His most famous piece of verbal invention, a "runcible spoon" occurs in the closing lines of The Owl and the Pussycat, and is now found in many English dictionaries:

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.

Though famous for his neologisms, Lear employed a number of other devices in his works in order to defy reader expectations. For example, "Cold Are The Crabs",[4] adheres to the sonnet tradition until the dramatically foreshortened last line.

Lear's limericks[]

Lear almost single-handedly created the popular limerick form with the Book of Nonsense. However, he did not use the term 'limerick,' nor did he write only in limerick form. The limerick is a 5-line form, but Lear's verses were published in a variety of forms. Apparently Lear wrote them in manuscript in as many lines as there was room for beneath the picture. In the first 3 editions most are typeset as, respectively, 3, 5, and 3 lines. The cover of an edition[5] bears an entire limerick typeset in two lines:

  There was an Old Derry down Derry, who loved to see little folks merry;
  So he made them a book, and with laughter they shook at the fun of that Derry down Derry.

In Lear's limericks the 1st and last lines usually end with the same word rather than rhyming. For the most part they are truly nonsensical and devoid of any punch line or point. They are completely free of the off-color humor with which the verse form is now associated. A typical thematic element is the presence of a callous and critical "they". An example of a typical Lear limerick:

  There was an Old Man of Aôsta,
  Who possessed a large Cow, but he lost her;
  But they said, 'Don't you see,
  she has rushed up a tree?
  You invidious Old Man of Aôsta!'

Lear's self-portrait in verse, How Pleasant to know Mr. Lear, closes with this stanza, a reference to his own mortality:

  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!

Illustrations[]

Recognition[]

A memorial stone to Lear was unveiled on 6 June 1988 in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.[6]

He is the subject of Tennyson's poem, "To E.L., on His Travels in Greece."

In popular culture[]

5 of Lear's limericks from the Book of Nonsense, in the 1946 Italian translation by Carlo Izzo, were set to music for choir a cappella by Goffredo Petrassi, in 1952.

A Beach Full of Shells, the 20th album by singer-songwriter Al Stewart, pays tribute in the song “Mr. Lear”, celebrating Foss and many events from Lear’s life.

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • A Book of Limericks. Boston: Little, Brown, 1888.

Non-fiction[]

  • Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 1846. London: Thomas McLean, 1846.

Juvenile[]

  • A Book of Nonsense. London: Thomas McLean, 1846.
    • new edition, "with many new pictures and verses". London: Routledge, Warne, & Routledge, 1862.
    • new edition, "to which is added more nonsense". London & New York: Frederick Warne, [187?]
    • 27th edition. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1889.
  • Lear's Shilling Book of Nonsense. London: Frederick Warne, 1866.
  • Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets. London: Robert John Bush, 1871; Boston: James R. Osgood, 1871.
  • More Nonsense: Pictures, rhymes, botany, etc. London: Robert John Bush, 1871.
  • The Owl and the Pussycat, and other nonsense songs. London: Cundall, 1872.
  • Laughable lyrics: A fourth book of nonsense poems, songs, botany, music, &c. London: Robert John Bush, 1877.
  • Ye Book of Sense: A companion to the "Book of Nonsense". Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1878.
  • Nonsense Books. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1881.
  • Nonsense Songs and Stories. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1888.
  • Nonsense Books by Edward Lear. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1888; Boston: Little, Brown, 1902.
  • Nonsense Botany, and Nonsense Alphabets, etc. etc. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1888.
  • More Nonsense. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1888.
  • Nonsense Drolleries: The owl and the pussycat, and The duck and the kangaroo. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1889.
  • A Nonsense Birthday Book. London & New York: Frederick Warne, [1893?]
  • Nonsense Songs. London & New York: Frederick Warne, [1894?]
    • (illustrated by Bee Willey). London: Dolphin, 1997; New York: McElderry, 1997.
  • Nonsense Songs and Laughable Lyrics. Boston: Little, Brown, 1899.
  • The Nonsense Blue-Book (The London Letter "Learics"}. London: London Letter Publishing, 1899.
  • Calico Pie. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1910.
  • The Jumblies, and other nonsense verses (illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke). London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1910.
  • A Nonsense Alphabet. London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1926.
  • Complete Nonsense. New York: Dover, 1951.
  • An Edward Lear Alphabet (illustrated by Carol Newsom). New York: Lothrop, Lee, & Shepherd, 1983.
  • Nonsense Poems (illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke). New York: Clarion, 1981.

Art[]

  • Views in Rome and its Environs. London: Thomas McLean, 1841.
  • Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall (text by John Edward Gray). Knowsley, UK: privately printed, 1846.
  • Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots: The greater part of them species hitherto unfigured: Containing forty-two lithographic plates, drawn from life, and on stone. London: privately printed, 1832.
  • Views in the Seven Ionian Islands. London: privately printed, 1863.
    • facsimile edition. Oldham, Lancashire, UK: Hugh Broadbent, 1979.
  • Tortoies, Terrapins, and Turtles: Drawn from life. London, Paris, & Frankfort: H. Sotheran, J. Baer & Co., 1872.
  • One Hundred Illustrations to Tennyson. Boston: Estes & Lauriat, 1895.

Letters and journals[]

  • Journals of a Landscape Painter in Albania, &c. London: Richard Bentley, 1851.
  • Journal of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria &c. London: Richard Bentley, 1852.
  • Journals of a Landscape Painter in Corsica. London: Robert John Bush, 1870.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[7]

Poems by Edward Lear[]

The_Jumblies_by_Edward_Lear_-_a_new_animation

The Jumblies by Edward Lear - a new animation

  1. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

See also[]

References[]

 Sutton, Charles William (1892) "Lear, Edward" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 32 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 325-326  Wikisource, Web, Aug. 16, 2020.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ John William Cousin, "Lear, Edward," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910, 232-233. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ Sutton, 325.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Sutton, 326.
  4. ↑ Cold Are The Crabs
  5. ↑ Edward Lear, A Book of Nonsense
  6. ↑ Edward Lear, People, History, Westminster Abbey. Web, July 12, 2016.
  7. ↑ Search results = au:Edward Lear, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 21, 2013.

External links[]

Poems
Books
Art
Audio/video
About
Etc.
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia. (view article). (view authors).
Authority control
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement