Ah Nonsense! The English, it is often said, have a peculiar brand of humor. Along with copious cups of tea and a stiff upper lip it keeps life together in moments of difficulty and strife. One of our much loved humourists is Edward Lear, famed throughout the World for his Nonsense Verse and limericks. Born in Holloway, North London, Lear was the twenty-first child of Ann and Jeremiah Lear and raised by his sister, Ann, who was, of course, twenty-one years older than Edward. His early life was unsettled, prone to illness especially epileptic fits which gave him a character coloured with guilt and shame. However by his thirties he had published his first book of limericks in which his touching drawings were also displayed. His works as an artist are easily recognized and he helped to develop many techniques but his later works such as “The Owl and the Pussycast” and “The Jumblies” have established first and foremost as a writer of humorous verse. Lear traveled widely during his years and eventually settled in Sanremo in Italy eventually succumbing to death in 1876.
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