Looking for Meaning in the Nonsense of Edward Lear

The owl, the pussycat, and the case for delight

©SasinParaksa via Canva

I was hoping for something frolicsome today but I’m not in the mood. Since January Twentieth it’s felt like April’s Fool every day with the joke on us.

Instead, how about a visit to that princely smile-master, English’s other Lear? Edward (1812-1888) is the sort of convivial companion you’re always seeking an excuse to drop in on. You’re not supposed to like him so well – the academy derogates him as a “nonsense” poet (as if any sweet poem weren’t nonsense!) – but how can you resist? He shakes life like a kaleidoscope into bright happy shapes.

But which frolic to focus on? One of his ludicrous limericks, perhaps, a form he popularized?

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!'

You could gulp them all day, like jellybeans.

Or how about his irresistible self-portrait?

"How pleasant to know Mr.Lear!"
Who has written such volumes of stuff!
Some think him ill-tem…