{"product_id":"2940014103756","title":"Nonsense Books","description":"Edward Lear, the artist, Author of \"Journals of a Landscape Painter\" in\u003cbr\u003evarious out-of-the-way countries, and of the delightful \"Books of\u003cbr\u003eNonsense,\" which have amused successive generations of children, died on\u003cbr\u003eSunday, January 29, 1888, at San Remo, Italy, where he had lived for twenty\u003cbr\u003eyears. Few names could evoke a wider expression of passing regret at their\u003cbr\u003eappearance in the obituary column; for until han opportunity of giving, as\u003cbr\u003eit is often incorrectly quoted, \"cocks\" being substituted for \"owls\" in the\u003cbr\u003ethird line:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"There was an Old Man with a beard,\u003cbr\u003e    Who said, 'It is just as I feared!\u003cbr\u003e    Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,\u003cbr\u003e    Have all built their nests in my beard!'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the kindly fatalism which is the distinctive note of the foregoing\u003cbr\u003estanza, the sentiment of our next extract is in vivid contrast:--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"There was an Old Man in a tree,\u003cbr\u003e    Who was terribly bored by a bee;\u003cbr\u003e    When they said, 'Does it buzz?' he replied, 'Yes, it does!\u003cbr\u003e    It's a regular brute of a Bee.'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo the foregoing verse an historic interest attaches, if, that is, we are\u003cbr\u003eright in supposing it to have inspired Mr. Gilbert with his famous\u003cbr\u003e\"Nonsense-Rhyme in Blank Verse.\" We quote from memory:--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"There was an Old Man of St. Bees,\u003cbr\u003e    Who was stung in the arm by a wasp.\u003cbr\u003e    When they asked, 'Does it hurt?' he replied, 'No, it doesn't,\u003cbr\u003e    But I thought all the while 'twas a Hornet!'\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePassing over the lines referring to the \"Young Person\" of Crete to whom the\u003cbr\u003eepithet \"ombliferous\" is applied, we may be pardoned--on the ground of the\u003cbr\u003egeographical proximity of the two countries named--for quoting together two\u003cbr\u003estanzas which in reality are separated by a good many pages:--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"There was a Young Lady of Norway,\u003cbr\u003e    Who casually sat in a doorway;\u003cbr\u003e    When the doors queezed her flat, she exclaimed, 'What of that?'\u003cbr\u003e    This courageous young person of Norway.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"There was a Young Lady of Sweden,\u003cbr\u003e    Who went by the slow train to Weedon;\u003cbr\u003e    When they cried, 'Weedon Station!' she made no observation,\u003cbr\u003e    But thought she should go back to Sweden.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA noticeable feature about this first book, and one which we think is\u003cbr\u003epeculiar to it, is the harsh treatment which the eccentricities of the\u003cbr\u003einhabitants of certain towns appear to have met with at the hands of their\u003cbr\u003efellow-residents. No less than three people are \"smashed,\"--the Old Man of\u003cbr\u003eWhitehaven \"who danced a quadrille with a Raven;\" the Old Person of Buda;\u003cbr\u003eand the Old Man with a gong \"who bumped at it all the day long,\" though in\u003cbr\u003ethe last-named case we admit that there was considerable provocation.\u003cbr\u003eBefore quitting the first \"Nonsense-Book,\" we would point out that it\u003cbr\u003econtains one or two forms that are interesting; for instance, \"scroobious,\"\u003cbr\u003ewhich we take to be a Portmanteau word, and \"spickle-speckled,\" a favorite\u003cbr\u003eform of reduplication with Mr. Lear, and of which the best specimen occurs\u003cbr\u003ein his last book, \"He tinkledy-binkledy-winkled the bell.\" The second book,\u003cbr\u003epublished in 1871, shows Mr. Lear in the maturity of sweet desipience, and\u003cbr\u003ewill perhaps remain the favorite volume of the four to grown-up readers.\u003cbr\u003eThe nonsense-songs are all good, and \"The Story of the Four little Children\u003cbr\u003ewho went Round the World\" is the most exquisite piece of imaginative\u003cbr\u003eabsurdity that the present writer is acquainted with. But before coming to\u003cbr\u003ethat, let us quote a few lines from \"The Jumblies,\" who, as all the world\u003cbr\u003eknows, went to sea in a sieve:--","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145922494704,"sku":"2940014103756","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014103756_p0.jpg?v=1763600626","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014103756","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}