Nonsense verse
Nonsense verse is a form of poetry, normally composed for humorous effect, which is paradoxical, silly, witty, whimsical or just plain strange. However not all humorous verse is nonsense. For instance a poem like
- Algy saw the bear.
- The bear saw Algy.
- The bear was bulgy.
- The bulge was Algy.
is humorous but not nonsense. Whereas
- The elephant is a bonnie bird.
- It flits from bough to bough.
- It makes its nest in a rhubarb tree
- And whistles like a cow.
is classic nonsense.
As is
- One fine day in the middle of the night,
- Two dead men got up to fight.
- Back-to-back they faced each other,
- Drew their swords and shot each other.
- A paralyzed donkey walking by,
- kicked a blind man in the eye,
- Sent him through a rubber wall,
- into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
There is a long tradition of nonsense verse in English, Many limericks for instance. Among the poets noted for nonsense verse are Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash and Spike Milligan.
Referenced By
Nonsense | Poem | PoetrY
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