Nonsense Poems

by Bob Blaisdell, Edward Lear

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 "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-Bó."

Genres: Poetry, Childrens

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Bob Blaisdell is a published adapter, author, editor, and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. He teaches English in Brooklyn at Kingsborough Community College. He is a reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor and the editor of more than three dozen anthologies for Dover Publications. Email him at Robert.Blaisdell@Kingsborough.edu

Reviews

[Thalia Estrada]

It was exactly what it said, nonsense poems. Some were rather dark which was interesting. If not dark then maybe they were just weird. Too, the poems were so repetitive which I didn't love. but it was a cute quick read.

[Maci]

Nonsense Poems by Edward Lear is a fun quick read that I read for my Children’s Literature class, it is all the nonsense poems that were written for children and are pretty funny. There was a lot of stuff in it that was familiar to me, but I never knew where it came from.

[Sacha]

Some of the older English words are fun, but overall I like Shel Silverstein better.

[David]

This is a book I read repeatedly to Jason when he was 3-4 years old. And I remember my father reading an earlier printing of this book to me at about the same age.

[WSL Library]

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