Edward Lear { 1812 - 1888 }

Edward Lear, with his coeval Lewis Carroll, was a pioneer of a certain kind of Absurdism.  The limericks are an outward face; the poem How Pleasant to know Mr. Lear is an inward turning.  The part that stings the most for me is that second last stanza.


L I M  E R I C K S

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There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!'

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There was a Young Lady of Ryde, Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied. She purchased some clogs, And some small spotted dogs, And frequently walked about Ryde.

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There was an Old Man with a nose, Who said, 'If you choose to suppose, That my nose is too long, You are certainly wrong!' That remarkable Man with a nose.

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There was an Old Man on a hill, Who seldom, if ever, stood still; He ran up and down, In his Grandmother's gown, Which adorned that Old Man on a hill.

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There was a Young Lady whose bonnet, Came untied when the birds sate upon it; But she said: 'I don't care! All the birds in the air Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!'

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There was a Young Person of Smyrna, Whose Grandmother threatened to burn her; But she seized on the cat, And said, 'Granny, burn that! You incongruous Old Woman of Smyrna!'

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There was an Old Person of Chili, Whose conduct was painful and silly, He sate on the stairs, Eating apples and pears, That imprudent Old Person of Chili.

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There was an Old Man with a gong, Who bumped at it all day long; But they called out, 'O law! You're a horrid old bore!' So they smashed that Old Man with a gong.

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There was an Old Lady of Chertsey, Who made a remarkable curtsey; She twirled round and round, Till she sunk underground, Which distressed all the people of Chertsey.

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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!'

          

Source
www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/BoN/bon010.htm