Posts Tagged ‘Edward Lear’

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What am I sappy cat blogging?

October 7, 2016

cat-bird

Thanks, Deidre Alexander.

This is not quite the owl and the pussycat.  Here is the original by Edward Lear.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
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!”
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Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
   How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
   But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
   To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
   With a ring at the end of his nose,
             His nose,
             His nose,
   With a ring at the end of his nose.
III
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
   Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
   By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
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.
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What am I celebrating on tattoo Tuesday?

May 12, 2015

Edward-Lear-001Today is Limerick Day, the birthday of Edward Lear (1812) who popularized this poetic form, although limericks have been traced back to the 16th century.

edward-lear-0012

Lear was also an author, illustrator, artist and musician.  He was the youngest surviving of twenty-one children and, although he suffered from a variety of physical afflictions,  remained productive throughout his life.  Skilled as a draftsman, he began selling his drawings to support himself as early as sixteen years of age. (Wikipedia)

Edward_Lear_-_Butrinto,_Albania_-_Google_Art_ProjectLear’s painting of Butrinto, Albania

Limerick expert Don Marquis identified three types of limericks: “limericks to be told when ladies are present; limericks to be told when ladies are absent but clergymen are present; and LIMERICKS.”

I do have a book of the naughty ones, but here are a few limericks which can be told when ladies and clergy are present:

There once was a lady, Ilene,
Who lived on distilled kerosene,
But she started absorbin’
A new hydrocarbon
and since then she’d never benzene.

 

There once was a lady from Hyde,
Who ate a green apple and died,
While her lover lamented,
The apple fermented,
and made cider inside her inside.

 

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

 

Since it is tattoo Tuesday, here is a tattoo depicting Lear’s poem about the Owl and the Pussycat.

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