A TUTOR WHO TOOTED THE FLUTE
TRIED TO TUTOR TWO TOOTERS TO TOOT.
SAID THE TWO TO THE TUTOR:
“IS IT HARDER TO TOOT OR
TO TUTOR TWO TOOTERS TO TOOT?”

Misery loves drollery!

So seems to have said the Victorian gent Edward Lear, who was plagued by major illnesses all of his life...

Grand mal epilepsy, asthma, near-blindness, and severe depression were his poor lot in life (though it didn't stop him from pursuing a respectable career in drafting and illustration).

And, incredibly, he was the Father of the Limerick (but who knows if he penned that childhood limerick we all love, Two TOOTERS?)..

But definitely not the risqué type. For Edward lived in a polite era, and wrote ne’er a naughty word.

His limericks are sheer nonsense - all as fluffy as freshly-made meringue - in contrast to the hardened, baked crust that sealed off his days with gloom.

If he had seen the crude limericks of twenty first-century schoolkids he would have rued the day he made this artform a polite household word. No, folks - his limericks are not based on groping double entendres.

They’re brought on by a profound appreciation of life’s tragedies, and these are his harmless escape from them!

We’ve said that Lear had more than his share of things to complain about.

Well, that suffering turned his view of life around... in a miraculous “sea-change/ into something rich and strange” as the Bard’s oft-quoted song sings.

For he had discovered the Absurd.

People afflicted with the Absurd express it in widely varying ways...

Camus embraced the Life Force completely and defiantly, as long as he had it.

Sartre turned to dark philosophy and grim petulance.

Mallarme went them one better in reaction, and became the unlikely Resident Sylph of the higher Abstract Realms of great poetry.

But Lear, like me, saw the wisdom of the ancient, tried and true sage wisdom: “what can ya do about it? Ya gotta LAUGH!” Haha.

And laugh he did.

Sure, like Pessoa, he knew disquiet. For that’s endemic to the Absurd.

But did he cry? Sure, buckets!

Did he complain? Plenty, but no one’s ever listening.

But he knew when the Law barks at you, as it’s been known to do, ‘Better Keep in Line!’ he’d better play in tune - on the Lighter Side!

Now THAT’s socially acceptable.

And a boon to the similarly afflicted!

But he even did the Law one better on that score, for, after all, like Ionesco and Pirandello he saw the Law as Absurdly Hilarious, and he relaxed his audience - by being old-fashioned and corny.

Now here’s a harmless and talented guy, they all said...

Because these rhymes are all such trite nonsense, I've given them 3 stars. I expected BELLY laughs, and only managed strained polite smiles for the most part, such as Edward would have received from his prim lady friends.

But you can put that down to my paltry pension budget and my grimmer senior’s outlook. And often, in finding a deal I’m quickly disappointed.

This book is a budget buy of a bygone year, but if you’re parsimonious like I am, you try to give each mistake another chance, and take it down from the shelf again.

And Lear is Lear, and this book takes me right back to that day in our middle school library when I opened these limericks as something to memorize and entertain my chums with.

I had bought a supermarket mini-paperback of rhymes in the summer of ‘62 and never for a moment expected it to be ribald and sassy... yikes!

So that fall, back in school, I whiled away one library period with my memorizing Lear. What a kid I was.

In the spring I even memorized Macauley’s rhyme about Horatio at the Bridge. You don’t see THAT in schoolbooks in these with-it days!

And Lear, at least in Grade 8, was fun too. It was a more widely-inclusive selection of rhymes than this one...

But given the sheer weight of care and darkness this man must have lived under, it's a wonder he could have any fun at all!

And WE are of course the clear winners in receiving the gift of that drollery from him.

Especially the KIDS at heart among us!

Quite the book ! Very intrigued by all the accomplishments Edward Lear made in his life !

I'm a huge fan of literary nonsense and absurd in poetry and prose so it was obvious that I will love Edward Lear too, and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. This volume, illustrated by the author contains his most popular poems and songs.

Like this


or


and
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!'

Fun

A rather short, fun book. It can teach advanced vocabulary- descriptive words mostly and the pronunciation of countries and places- to young children.

This one gets mixed reviews from me. I'm not sure why I put it on my TBR list, but I did, and I've read it. I'm glad to now know where "The Owl and The Pussycat" came from. Some of the poetry makes me want to read it aloud to someone. But as the title suggests, it's nonsense. The nonsensical nature of it wore thin rather quickly. I know that it's supposed to be nonsense, but it got old by the fourth or fifth poem.

A required book for all crazy aunts to read to their nieces (& nephews)n I grew up with this book.

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

:)
page 12

This collection of 112 silly limericks (so a short book). The limericks in general rhyme the last line with the first two by reusing the last words and so are a bit repetitive and flat. The limericks are inoffensive and silly, not the sort of ribaldry one might normally associate them with.

I notice the introduction to the book mentions drawings, but the ebook I read displayed none on my ereader. It is a Gutenberg ebook (i.e. free) and so worth every penny I paid for it.

Relaxing, funny and light reading :3 I guess I need to try and read limericks in English now :))

A bit hit and miss.

There once was a poet named Lear
Whose rhymes weren’t entirely clear
But admired for his wit
I have to admit
It’s a rhyme scheme to which I’m endeared.

That said, a book of Lear limericks is an amusing way to spend day 13 of #thesealeychallenge. That said, writing limericks has moved on from the way Edward Lear wrote them: where the ‘punch line’ is often a slightly amended version of the first or second line - for example

There was an Old Person of Tring,
Who embellished his nose with a ring;
He gazed at the moon,
Every evening in June,
That ecstatic Old Person of Tring.

First published in 1846 it is full of gorgeous little sketches to accompany each poem and a autobiographical nonsense verse which begins:

‘"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…’

It is delightful to read if in the mood for what it is - nonsense, though in this volume, only the limericks.
Stuff and nonsense, but delightful!

I don’t think that I will be sharing this one with kids. Some of the poems were funny, but also a bit creepy.