Should have read it when I was younger.

หลังจากเราบังเอิญได้่อ่าน The owl and the pussy cat แล้วเราก็ไม่สามารถ move on จากกลอน limerick ของ Edward Lear ได้ จึงตามหาหนังสือเล่มนี้มาอ่าน
The Nonsense books เล่มนี้ เราซื้อมาจาก amazon (อันที่จริงมีแบบ public domain ที่สามารถเปิดให้อ่านฟรีได้ แต่ด้วยความที่พอโหลดมาแล้วบางหน้าแสดงบนไม่ค่อยดีบน kindle เราจึงเสาะหาจนเจอเล่มนี้ที่รูปแบบอ่านง่ายและราคาไม่แพง)

The complete collection เป็นการรวมเอาหนังสือ 4 เล่มเข้าด้วยกัน หลัก ๆ จะประกอบด้วยกลอน limerick ประกอบภาพวาด ซึ่งบอกเลยว่าเสน่ห์ของเล่มอยู่ตรงนี้
สำหรับเราคิดว่ามันไม่เชิงเหมาะกับเด็ก หากแต่เหมาะกับผู้ใหญ่ที่มีอารมณ์ขันสักหน่อยอ่านให้เด็กเล็ก ๆ ฟัง จะเพลินและสนุกดี

Throughout my idea of Lear was a Children's Limerick writer! From what I had read about his life, that made sense. He wrote those five-lines rhyming poems for the children of his patron Edward Stanley, the 13th Earl of Derby. After reading this compilation, that view of mine changed considerably! This book has the following parts and along with the reactions are listed under :

1. A Book of Nonsense - √ :) :D
(Ha-ha-ha!!!)
I had read this volume earlier separately and its a joyride. Funny! A nice book for children and adults alike. By following the rhymes, you can also learn about certain pronunciations you did wrong earlier by rhyming along.

2. More Nonsense - √ :D :)
(More ha-ha-ha!!!)
Funny, weird and funny! His neologisms (words not accepted in mainstream literature, but have some popular use of various kinds) are amazing to read aloud, and today many are dictionary words!

3. Nonsense songs - √ :) :D
(Ha-ha-ha. : What?!? Oh! Ha!)
I was a fan of Jumblies and their sieve for quite some time. And they along with Quangle-Wangles, Pobbles are Lear's reappearing heroes. Lear's nonsense songs were once so famous that some phrases became a part of mainstream literature expressions. An example is the "Owl and the Pussy Cat" 's 'runcible spoon'!
"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."
But not all the as nonsensical as the poems. Some are based on "reductio ad absurdum" (reduction to absurdity) where an argument disproves a statement by showing its compulsive absurd conclusion.

4. Nonsense stories and alphabets - √ :) :D
(The first story is okay : typical Lear. BUT the second : Really disturbing!
The parents teach children not to so some things, which they do and all the children of seven families die in weird ways. Perhaps the motivation was to teach the children a lesson of how important it it to listen to parents. But this way seems strange. And then the parents stave themselves and make a pickle of themselves and are now kept in a museum!!!
What was Lear thinking writing these?
They are nonsensical sure, as promised but the sense of humor is very dark and not at all suited for children. It will be disturbing to them, as per myself.
This broke my perception of Lear!

5. Nonsense alphabets - √ :) :D
(Perfect for teaching infants!)

6. Nonsense cookery - √ :) :D
(What does he mean? :P )

7. The Heraldic Blazon of Foss the Cat - √ :) :D
(Hail Foss! _/_ )

In this collection, the type of humor ranges from typical silly, children's to really dark humor. The range I had imagined Lear was set in has been made vast considerably after reading this collection. The variety presented in this particular genre is phenomenal. It is a really good read for limerick lovers and Lear fans.

I give Complete Nonsense by Edward Lear 4 stars! :)

Happy reading! :)

For more such reviews visit : http://dbthetablesareturned.blogspot.in/

There was a young reader from Pittsburgh
Who read this weird book full of quirk
It got old so fast, she wanted to blast
That silly young reader from Pittsburgh

This book is exactly as it's title announces -- nonsense. Edward Lear is known for his limericks and the poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat." He uses many made up, silly words, which would naturally delight a child. Except that many of these poems could not be read to a child today because of our society's sensitivity. Such as:
There was an Old Man of the East,
Who gave all his children a feast;
But they all eat so much, and their conduct was such
That it killed that Old Man of the East.

Lots of unpleasant endings for his limerick characters. But one can't read these without getting in the mood to try one's own hand at limericks.

Lear also produced many A,B,C illustrations which I thoroughly enjoyed.

All of this nonsense came with Lear's illustrations of odd-looking people, animals and objects.

This is not a book one picks up and reads like a novel -- but rather "tastes" when one wants a little nonsense in one's life.

It's a classic, and it's brilliant

I read The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear over the course of roughly six months. On most mornings I read just two pages. I think this is a good way to read Edward Lear -- if you read it all at once, you would quickly surfeit on it. But at two pages a day it remains fresh. Until I read this, I didn't realize how much of Lear's work I already knew. Many of the poems were familiar, for instance, "The Owl and the Pussycat". And much of it is brilliant.

Much of it is NOT brilliant -- let me be clear about that. The limericks that occupy so much of the book are formulaic and become tiresome, even at the pace of two pages (typically four limericks) a day. The poems in which he tells little stories, e.g. the aforementioned "Owl and the Pussycat" or "The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Around the World", are the best.

My five-star rating is based on a principle -- that an artist should be judged by his best work. Judged this way, it is fair to say that Lear is brilliant, and quite unique.

Blog review.

Right! I have no idea, what I feel about this one.

The book starts with a “Self-Portrait of the Laureate”:

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.

I liked that and thought that reading him would be pleasant enough. It was not. Nothing that follows comes close to the self portrait. Now, humour ages badly in general. But in this case, with most of the poems I could not even imagine what might have appealed to readers of previous generations.

Lear is known for having more or less invented the art of limericks. But all his limericks are missing the punch line. I feel cheated. This is unfair, of course, but as they are they are just not funny.

(Morgenstern even in translation has at least a couple of poems that one could still read with pleasure.)

I stumbled on a book of Edward Lear limericks when I was in grade school, and I was like, these are completely pointless, but I couldn't put them down. For a while, I became obsessed with writing my own limericks - I submitted many to the school paper, and they were turned down, essentially because they were too pointless. I've since spent much of my life trying, and largely failing, to find a point. And so it was with great enjoyment that I picked this up after many Learless decades and reminded myself that, yes, there is a point to pointlessness. Or rather, there isn't, but that's the entire point. Either way: hooray!

[italiano in fondo (con una mia traduzione-reinvenzione)]

What we have here? «Innocent Mirth» - as the author said? Oh no...

We have Fun!
and Despair!
and Descriptions of the Human Condition!
and Lessons in Good Taste!
And Val d'Aosta Cows!



Fun:

There was an Old Man of Moldavia
Who had the most curious behaviour;
For while he was able
He slept on a table,
That funny Old Man of Moldavia.


Despair:

There was an Old Man of Cape Horn,
who wished he had never been born:
so he sat on a chair
till he died of despair
that dolorous Man of Cape Horn.


Existentialism:

There was an Old Man who said, “Well!
Will nobody answer this bell?
I have pulled day and night,
Till my hair has grown white,
But nobody answers this bell!



Refined Models of Living:

There was a Young Lady of Corsica,
Who purchased a little brown Saucy-cur;
Which she fed upon Ham
And hot Raspberry Jam,
That expensive Young Lady of Corsica.


Mucche della Val d'Aosta:

There was an Old Man of Aosta,
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 Aosta!”


...And much more




(volevo continuare a leggere bevendo senza sosta una bevanda dal gusto effervescente:

ma costava un puttanaio
quel chinotto dal lattaio!)

l'annunciata traduzione-reinvenzione:

Una giovane donna di Corsica
comperò un cagnetto che morsica:
lo nutriva a prosciutto,
marmellata con strutto.
Spendacciona, la donna di Corsica!

Had to read this for my thesis and really enjoyed it!! It's quite repitious but that's part of Lear's work. The drawings were beautiful, and I liked how this edition included EVERYTHING from Lear. Even some original writings without editing the font. It also included some songs, recipes, and botany. Really enjoyed reading it and this version was the perfect one for analysing nonsense poems fod my thesis!

Sometimes is funny with all the rhymes and old stuff, but most of the topics not related to my personal life (more into not relatable to 2010s jokes). But good and inspiring illustrations