The Owl and the Pussycat
by Edward Lear
I
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!’
II
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
Categories: Humor, Literature, poem, Poetry
Was going to ask about the runcible spoon but you’ve already answered that. Love those childhood poems.
Leslie
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This was always one of my favorites!
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Wasn’t it just? I’m still searching for my very first runcible spoon!
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We had some “grapefruit spoons” that I think filled the bill.
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Is THAT what runcible means? We had grapefruit spoons too, but I didn’t know they were “runcible!”
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runcible spoon: a fork curved like a spoon, with three broad prongs, one of which has a sharpened outer edge for cutting.(from google) Apparently it’s a word that Lear made up!
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One of my favorites
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He gave us a vision of fantasy, as did Lewis Carroll. That hilarious craziness of things that become like people and people who sometimes become things. These really WERE my first fantasy stories.
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Go to YouTube and look for this sung by Elton Hayes. 🙂
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I haven’t found it yet, but I will! I love the singing of children’s poems. I think all of them have been set to music., from Mother Goose to Lear.
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I found it here:
Let me know if the link doesn’t work.
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That does indeed take me back to my childhood along with the likes of the Jabberwock and of Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales for Children and Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary. 🙂
love.
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I would not have thought Bierce was the stuff of childhood, but maybe more like adolescence. Which is when i discovered it … maybe age 12? 13? Something like that.
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You are quite right although i was probably pretty advanced for a kid – my teacher Aunt introduced me to them around 8 or 9 and i was attracted to them instantly 🙂
love.
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I was still reading about dogs and horses. I didn’t get to the serious stuff until i hit my early teens 🙂
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Very good poem and awesome picture! Good stuff! You’ve got my follow. Check out my comedy blog and give it a follow if you like it!
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Arguing about grammar is truly tilting at windmills. When we can’t agree with “factual” or “truth,” arguing grammar seems something frivolous. Or perhaps, meaningless.
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It’s a humorous post. It’s not meant to be taken seriously.
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I know. I occasionally rant about grammar and language too, but if it was once serious — when I was working as an editor, it was very serious — it has long since become humor.
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Reblogged this on Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit and commented:
Great Poem for Caturday. Made me think of this Tom Jones song. When I was a young girl watching his TV show I thought that he was one of the sexist men alive!! LOL!!
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I always loved Lear’s children’s poetry. My mother used to read these to me. It was my first introduction to fantasy.
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Great Poem for Caturday. Made me think of this Tom Jones song. When I was a young girl watching his TV show I thought that he was one of the sexist men alive!! LOL!!
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I remember the movie, too. We went to see it at a local movie and I think we were the only people laughing.
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Ah, I can hear the melody now. I didn’t remember some of the words. Thanks for sharing an old rhyme song.
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It brings back childhood, doesn’t it? Along with Robert Louis Stevenson’s children’s poetry, these were my favorites. They still are.
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