Monday, April 11, 2016

N for Nonsense

ABC Wednesday
April 13, 2016
The letter is N for Nonsense

A little Jumblie nonsense from Edward Lear......



The Jumblies...

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did
In a Sieve they went to sea;
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And everyone cried, "You'll all be drowned!"
They called aloud, " our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button.  We don't care a fig!
In a sieve we'll go to sea!"
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast;
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And everyone said, who saw them go,
"O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery jar
And each of them said, "How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong, 
While round in our Sieve we spin!"
Far and few, far and few
are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
"O Timbalio! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!"
Far and few, far and few
are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.



And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more.
And everyone said, "How tall they've grown!


For they've been to the Lakes and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!"
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And everyone said, "If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve -
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Edward Lear, (1812-1888)  who wrote this poem,
was the second youngest of twenty-one children
born to a middle class English family, and because of
financial problems he and his sister, 21 years older than Edward,
moved into a home of their own when he was four.

Although beset by melancholy, depression and poor health
Edward was an artist, an illustrator, a musician, author and poet.

Well known for "The Owl and the Pussy-cat"
 his many humorous limericks and
his irreverent view of the world

I'm not sure if there is a moral to this story of the Jumblies
but it has a certain carefree are about it
that seems to overcome all difficulties....

Lots more Ns here at ABC Wednesday
with thanks to Roger, Denise and and any nonsensical
helpers they might have.




10 comments:

MelodyK said...

Although they seem familiar on the pictures, i did not know their name, nor historie.
thank you for educating me ;-)

Makes it a lovely choise for this week too!

Have a nice abc-wednesday-day / – week
♫ M e l ☺ d y ♫ (abc-w-team)

photowannabe said...

This is so interesting. I never heard this poem before but am familiar with The Owl and the Pussycat.
What a sad life he lead but I see the escape in his whimsy.

carol l mckenna said...

Fun post for N ~ love the poem and artwork ~

Happy Weekend coming to you ~ ^_^

Reader Wil said...

Thank you for the lovely poem and the beautiful drawings!
I hope you have a great week, Hildred!
Wil, ABCWTeam

ellen b. said...

A great choice for N...nonsense. Funny poem and illustrations.

Indrani said...

Nonsense makes so much fun! :)
Great take on the prompt.
Happy ABCW!

Lea said...

Fun!
Hope you are having a great week!
Lea

Roger Owen Green said...

Wallace and Gromit are fond of Stilton cheese, I do believe!

ROG, ABCW

Trubes said...

Oh how I love Edward Lear, some of his writing is
rather melancholy but still very funny!
The Owl and the Pussy Cat has to be my all time
favourite, I even recited it at my youngest
daughter's wedding,at her request, I may add!
I rather like his depiction of himself,
'How Pleasant to know Mr Lear'.

I enjoyed reading about The Jumblies too!
Best wishes,
Di,
ABCW team.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Gotta love those happy endings! I'll never worry again when we're out in the boat because after all if a sieve .... ;>)...

Actually I know this poem because my dad used to read Edward Lear out loud to us. I can still recite Owl and Pussycat by heart (should anyone actually care). Not so much this one, but it too brings fond memories.