The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear

Description

Edward Lear, the advocate of illogic, and John Vernon Lord, that wonderfully imaginative illustrator, are united in this marvelous celebration of a tradition which Lear invented a hundred years ago — a send-up of nonsense, wit, guile, sarcasm, and childishness. For it is a happy childhood that has been graced by at least a handful of Lear’s verses. Children who begged to have Lear’s poems read to them have grown up and now read them to their own children, and so on and so on. The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear is the result of an abiding enthusiasm of the popular artist John Vernon Lord for Lear’s limericks. But beyond these verses lies a vast body of nonsense writings full of delights many may never before have encountered. This enchanting collection contains all of Lear’s long poems, like “The Owl and the Pussy-cat,” two hundred and thirty-six limericks taken from the four volumes of nonsense published during Lear’s lifetime, and a group of posthumous publications long out of print that were rediscovered by John Vernon Lord. To those limerick lovers accustomed to seeing only Lear’s illustrations accompanying his own poems, Lord extends an apology for treading on sacred ground. But anyone who opens this splendid volume will be quick to forgive, for what he will find is pure delight. In many cases, Lord has provided an imaginative shifting of focus, thereby enhancing these old favorites. And for all those whose knowledge does not go beyond a handful of limericks as part of fond childhood memories, there is a treat in store. In The Nonsense Verse of Edward Lear, Lord has made a generous contribution to the spread of an ageless entertainment — a welcome addition to the library shelves of the thousands of Lear enthusiasts, young and old, all over the world. John Vernon Lord was born in Derbyshire, England. He teaches graphic design at Brighton Polytechnic, where he was the head of the department of visual communication for seven years. He is currently the chairman of the Graphic Design Board of the Council for National Academic Awards. Among his illustrated books for children are The Giant Jam Sandwich and The Truck on the Track by Janet Burroway; The Runaway Roller-Skate, Mr. Mead and his Garden, Miserable Aunt Bertha with verses by Fay Maschler; and Conrad Aiken’s Who’s Zoo. Lord lives with his wife and three daughters in Ditchling, a village that lies below the northern slopes of the South Downs in Sussex. A brief discussion of the British writer's life and career accompanies a selection of his limericks and all of his longer nonsense poems.