Tuesday, October 16, 2012

ABC Wednesday
October 17th, 2012

Here's to the letter N - Noble, or Nonsensical.

This week we will choose Nonsensical and give you a few Nonsense Verses to tickle your fancy.

Fascination

Among your many playmates here
How is it that you all prefer
Your little friend, my dear?
"Because, Mama, though hard we try,
Not one of us can spit so high,
And catch it in his ear."
 
John Bannister Tabb




 
The Ingenious Little Old Man

A little old man of the sea
Went out in a boat for a sail,
The water came in
Almost up to his chin
And he had nothing with which to bail.

But this little old man of the sea
Just drew out his jackknife so stout,
And a hole with its blade
In the bottom he made,
So that all of the water ran out.
 
John Bennett
 
 
 
 
Twickenham
 

There was a young lady of Twickenham
Whose boots were too tight to walk quickenham.
She bore them awhile,
But at last at a stile,
She pulled them both off and was sickenham.

Anonymous




 
George
 
George, who played with a dangerous toy, and suffered a catastrophe of Considerable dimensions
 
 
When George's Grandmamma was told
That George had been as good as gold,
She promised in the Afternoon
To buy him an Immense BALLOON.
 
 
 
And so she did; but when it came,
It got into the candle flame,
And being of a dangerous sort
Exploded with a loud report!
 
 
 
The Lights went out!  The Windows Broke!
The Room was filled with Reeking Smoke,
And in the darkness shrieks and yells
Were mingled with Electric Bells,
And falling masonry and groans,
And crunching, as of broken bones,
And dreadful shrieks, when, worst of all,
The House itself began to fall!
It tottered, shuddering to and fro,
Then crashed into the street below -
Which happened to be Saville Row.
 
When Help arrived, among the Dead
Were Cousin Mary, Little Fred,
The Footmen (both of them), the Groom,
The man that cleaned the Billiard-Room,
The Chaplain, and the Still-Room Maid.
And I am dreadfully afraid
The Monsieur Champignon, the Chef,
Will now be permanently deaf -
And both his Aides are much the same;
While George, who was in part to blame,
Received, you will regret to hear,
A nasty lump behind the ear.
 
 
 
Moral
 
The moral is that little Boys
Should not be given dangerous Toys.
 
Hilaire Belloc
 


For more illustrious N's visit here, at ABC Wednesday. 
 With thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her Natty helpers.

18 comments:

photowannabe said...

Hildred, these are absolutely delightful and nonsensical too.
I love the pictures you had for each poem.
Have a great day.

mrsnesbitt said...

Loved them all - and can honestly say I have never heard them before. I love poetry of any form - I always loved reading it aloud when I was teaching. Memories of my own parents sharing their own poetry learned at school. Happy days. Denise ABC Team

Roger Owen Green said...

how entertaining!
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lovely - haven't heard any of them Hildred. Here is one to add to them:

There was a young lady of Tottenham,
who had no manners, or had forgotten 'em.
While at tea at the vicar's
She took off her knickers,
Because she said she felt hot in 'em.

Kay L. Davies said...

Wonderful nonsense, Hildred. I love it.
K

Leslie: said...

Fabulous! My favourites are The Ingenious Old Man and George!

Leslie
abcw team

VioletSky said...

the nonsensical is so much more fun than the sensical.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I am laughing so hard! I love nonsense ...my dad had a Hillaire Belloc book and read us bedtime stories" from it... we'd laugh and laugh....I managed to teach many of them to our kids too. I think it's too bad that parents nowadays are afraid to 'scare' their kids ...everything is all cleaned up.

And I've always loved limericks by anyone at all. (That anonymous was a darn good writer!)

Carver said...

Nonsense is a great N word to feature. I enjoyed this post so much. Carver, ABC Wed. Team

carol l mckenna said...

Fun post for ABC ~ very creative and fun! ~ ( A Creative Harbor)

Berowne said...

There are times when nonsense makes real sense...

ChrisJ said...

What a collection!! I especially like the man in the boat. Sounds like something I would do!

Chubskulit Rose said...

Very nice selection of poetry!

Nuggets of Wisdom
Rose, ABC Wednesday

Hildred said...

Thanks for the naughty nonense verse from Tottenham, Pat - my mother was born in Teddington, but I'm sure such goings-on didn't go on there!!!

Hildred said...

Sallie, - I think Hilaire Belloc is marvelous - he managed to mix
instruction with hilarity and you must have enjoyed them as bedtime stories.

Reader Wil said...

Wonderful nonsensical rhymes! Some limericks are like that too.Thanks for your post. We are glad you are back again with fun post. Have a great day!
Wil.

uberrhund said...

Hildred! So nice to see you over here too. I love reading your posts and seeing your valley welcome each week.
Your Header photo is wonderful,the very essence of Autumn.

Lisa said...

Thanks for the mid-afternoon giggle! A little nonsense in life is definitely a plus!