The English artist Edward Lear became famous throughout the world not for his painting, but for his short and very funny absurd poems - limericks.
Edward Lear was the 20th child in the family and began to earn his own living early. By the age of twenty-one, he had already earned a reputation as a good academic animal artist, illustrating several publications and working on the European Birds and Toucans series.
Lear made his sketches at the London Zoo. There he was noticed by a wealthy aristocrat - the thirteenth Earl of Derby. The count invited the young artist to his Knowsley estate and introduced him to his grandchildren, who were absolutely delighted with the pictures. Being the owner of a luxurious collection of strange birds and animals, the Count invited Edward to sketch all the inhabitants of his menagerie.
So Edward Lear became the favorite of the family, which patronized him for a long time. By the way, today an album with birds, made in the county of Knowsley, is in great demand among collectors, and some of these drawings were later reproduced on postage stamps.
But it was not the talent of an animal painter that made Lear famous. It was here, in Knowsley, that he began to compose his absurd poems, which children love so much. The author himself called them “nonsense” (more precisely, “nonsense rhymes” - nonsense rhymes).
There lived an old man with a poker,
He said: “In my soul I am different.”
To the question: “Which one?”
He just shook his leg
And he hit everyone with a poker
Translation by Grigory Kruzhkov
The Book of Nonsense was published in 1846. It was followed by three more collections of absurd poems. All the books were extremely popular in England.
John Ruskin, a famous English poet, writer and artist who lived at the same time as Edward Lear, writes:
“Undoubtedly, of all the books ever published, the most innocent and most beneficial is the “Book of Nonsense” with its sparkling drawings, unique, fresh and perfect rhymes. I don't know any author to whom I would be as grateful as I am to Edward Lear. I include him in the top hundred authors of all times.”
Edward Lear. Cedars of Lisbon
Edward Lear is a unique phenomenon. He had followers who were influenced by Lear's work. You can name Lewis Carroll and the Oberiuts - Kharms, Oleinikov. There were also imitators - more or less successful. And yet the limerick genre is associated mainly with the name of Lear.
Translating limericks is very difficult. Or even impossible:
“Limericks cannot be translated; they are recreated “from scratch” in a foreign language. A translator, if he wants to retain this title at all costs, has to act in a roundabout manner."
The topic of translation subtleties is very interestingly presented in an article by one of the brilliant translators, Grigory Kruzhkov, “On Lear’s limericks and accurate translation.” The poems of Edward Lear are also known in translations by Mark Freidkin, Evgeny Klyuev, Sergei Task, Samuil Marshak and others.
Today on “Favorites” is a small selection of limericks in successful, in our opinion, translations that convey the atmosphere of Edward Lear’s universe full of oddities, absurdities and humor.
Once upon a time there lived a nice lady,
It looks completely square.
Whoever meets her
I admired from the bottom of my heart:
“How nice this lady is!”
There lived an old man from Niger
He got a vixen as his wife.
She whined all day:
“You are blacker than ink,”
Harassing the old man from Niger.
***
The prudent old man from Cologne
He answered questions in a roundabout way.
To the question: “Are you healthy?”
He answered: “Who are you?” -
A suspicious old man from Cologne.
A fellow from Newcastle
The devils were left to fry in oil.
To the question: “Is it hot?”
He said: “No, nothing.”
What a great guy from Newcastle!
There lived an old man at the foot of Vesuvius,
Studied the works of Vitruvius,
But his volume burned down
And he took up the rum,
Romantic old man at Vesuvius.
Translation by Grigory Kruzhkov
***
Once upon a time, an old man from Egypt
A eucalyptus tree climbed to the top.
Disturbed the crow
Go on the defensive
And - returned to the land of Egypt!
Wonderful nose of a city woman,
Parisians, or maybe Riga women,
Bent down to the ground,
They carried along the alleys
Two servants and four maids.
The bees are stinging the girl Felicia!
And where are the police looking?
Felicia objects:
“Well, what does the police have to do with it?
Bees are evil - that’s their tradition!”
From “The Book of Nonsense” (translated by Evgeny Feldman)
****
An old woman who lived in Garf,
She played the harp with her chin.
"In my chin
“Special notes,” -
She told her friends in Garf.
There lived a great thinker in Italy,
He was tormented by the question: what next?
He knew no peace
And, waving my hand,
Ran back and forth across Italy.
One gentleman from Luxor
I loved the breadth of my horizons.
He climbed higher
And from a palm tree, like from a roof,
I looked at the ruins of Luxor.
To a certain gentleman in Versailles
So suddenly my eyes stopped working,
What he couldn't see
Even your own feet -
And he asked to be shown it to him.
There lived an old woman in Jaipur
With a soul that was always thirsty for the storm.
Climbing onto a branch,
She's heading south for a long time
I looked: was there a storm in sight?
There lived a gentleman in Jordan,
A saboteur on a special mission.
He played the violin,
Spreading smiles
To confuse the people in Jordan.
There lived an old man from Venice,
He gave his daughter the name Lucretia.
But she will very soon
Married a thief
Upsetting the old man from Venice.
If you read the following poem and are not surprised, I swear I will envy you. This means that your world is full of fantastic adventures. But seriously, here it is:
There lived a boy near Thermopylae,
Who screamed so loudly
That all the aunts were deaf,
And the herrings died,
And dust fell from the rafters.
This funny and absurd poem was written by in 1846 Edward Lear- famous English poet and artist. These poems are called limericks.
What is a limerick and how to write one?
So, a limerick is a short poem, always consisting of 5 lines. And this is not the only strict condition. But don’t be upset – the rules and conventions here only simplify the composing process. After all, the poet immediately knows where and what to write about.
Do you want to know more about humorous poems that are extremely popular among the British? Then read on!
History of limericks
It is believed that the literary inventor of limericks is the English poet Edward Lear. It was he who actively gave his fantasies the poetic form characteristic of limericks. Although - here's a paradox - the author himself never called his own creations limericks, using the term instead "nonsense".
Edward Lear is an English artist and poet, the king of nonsense poetry.
The word "limerick", according to scientists, arose from the name of the Irish city of the same name. The residents of this town loved to have fun in this way - to compose small poems with fantasy content. However, according to other sources, the same poetic works were successfully composed by other Englishmen, starting from the 13th century.
Do you want to try yourself as a poet? Don't hesitate. You will definitely succeed! Just first read some interesting limericks by Edward Lear and learn the basic rules for writing humorous poetry.
And here are a couple more funny limericks from Tatyana Petrosyan:
Rules for writing limericks
Although writing poetic jokes shows your creative abilities, you cannot do without certain rules:
- the first, second and fifth lines must rhyme with each other, and separately - the third with the fourth;
- in the first term you need to introduce readers to the hero and his place of residence;
- the second line always talks about the actions performed by the fictional character, or about the events that happened to him;
- Well, then you need to compose the end of the adventure, which, it seems to me, is the most interesting thing;
- in Edward Lear's limericks, which are considered to be the most correct, the endings of the first and last lines of the poem were repeated. But you can fulfill this condition at will.
Limericks are great fun for kids!
If you are not yet sure whether you are good at composing, read the limericks invented by other poets. Moreover, there are quite a lot of them.
Once upon a time there lived an old man with a long nose.
“I’m not used to such words!
That my nose is not good
This is a complete lie! –
This sweet old man kept telling everyone.
(Edward Lear from The Book of Nonsense)
An elderly woman from Brest
This morning I made a hat from dough.
Take a sip of tea
And a piece from the hat
The old lady from Brest will eat it for breakfast.
(Tamara Logacheva)
Hedgehog in the forest behind a distant village
Bald - not a single needle!
Only thin skin
And that's why I cringe
There is a small hedgehog outside a distant village.
(Elizabeth Dake)
One old man from Macau
I dipped my shoes in cocoa
And the white vest
He dipped it in vinaigrette -
A funny old man from Macau!
(Tatiana Petrosyan)
Did you have a good laugh? You see: it’s fun not only to compose, but also to simply read limericks. And if you do this in the company of friends, you will get a fun literary party that all its participants will remember for a long time.
Tatyana Tishkova
Writing limericks as a means of children's creative development
1. Limericks. What it is?
2. Stages in learning to compose limericks.
3. Limericks through the mouths of children.
Limerick is a short poem of 5 lines, nonsense. The first two lines rhyme with each other, the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other, the fifth is a conclusion and may not rhyme.
Stages in learning to compose limericks:
I. Compilation limericks preceded by work on selecting words that sound similar (cancer – poppy; bench – ruler, etc.) Development This skill is facilitated by the following didactic games: “Is that what it sounds like?”, « Write a pure saying» , "The Word Is Missing", "Words are friends", “A warehouse is not a warehouse”, "Correct me".
II. Introduction to the construction model limericks:
1) I’ll tell you about (what does it look like?
What did you do? What did you do)
Conclusion: that’s what it was like...
2) I have (what does it look like?
What did you do? What did you do?
Conclusion: that’s what it was like...
3) if (object... were...
what did you do? Who did you talk to?
Conclusion: that's what it was like.
4) Lived – was... what?
What did you do? Who did you talk to?
Conclusion: that’s what it was like...
The teacher offers write poetry, together with the children, select pairs of words that are similar in sound: titmouse - bird, ran - flew, then choose a model limerick and compose something like this text:
“Once upon a time there was a singing bird.
There was a beautiful titmouse.
On the road she ran after a beetle,
And then she flew across the sky.
That’s how funny the bird was.”
First the teacher with the children compose together, then the children complete the task independently. Composed poems can be designed in the form of little books. Children show creativity in their design, which has a clear response when working with limericks.
Children happily respond to this work and write the following poems:
Once upon a time there was a cat,
He was fat, like a hippopotamus.
The cat was lying on the beach chewing gum.
What a lazy cat.
I have potatoes.
She's brown like a cat.
The cat listened, and the potato sang -
What a funny potato.
I had a flashlight
It's yellow, like a ball.
He loved to dream with a flashlight and play with a ball.
This is such a wonderful flashlight.
MKDOU BGO TsRR kindergarten No. 19
Prepared.
Lear Edward
Limericks
Edward Lear
Limericks
The British joke a little differently than we do. But limericks are not just special humor, but special among special things. They got their name from the name of the Irish town of Limrick (in Russian it is sometimes written Limerick). The genre of limericks was invented a hundred and thirty years ago by the artist and great visionary Englishman Edward Lear. Since then, a great many of them have appeared.
Limericks always consist of exactly five lines. The first line introduces the hero or heroine and ends with the name of the city or town where he is from. The following lines tell about some strange act they did. And the last line tells about the reaction of others to this act. In the canonical limerick, the end of the last line repeats the end of the first. The heroes of limericks are great eccentrics and eccentrics.
Once upon a time there was an old man from Hong Kong,
Dancing to the music of the gong.
But they told him: “Stop it - or
Get out of Hong Kong completely!"
Once upon a time there lived a man in Amsterdam,
Haven't cleaned my hat in years.
He's in it by chance
I made tea
And I walked in it in Amsterdam.
Once upon a time there was an old man from Winchester,
Six people chased after him.
He jumped onto the bench
Jumped over the pig
And he completely ran away from Winchester.
There lived an old man across the river,
With all my soul striving for peace.
But a crazy crow
Suddenly she croaked from the maple tree:
“There is no peace even here, across the river!”
There lived an old woman on the mountain,
What the little frog taught to dance.
But everything is “one-and-two”
He answered: “Kwa-kwa!”
Oh, how angry that old lady was!
There lived a gentleman in Holyhead,
Riding on a bear.
To the question: “Are you a jockey?”
He answered: “okay!”
Continuing to ride the bear.
There lived an old man at the foot of Vesuvius,
Studied the works of Vitruvius,
But his volume burned down
And he took up the rum,
Rum is an antique old man near Vesuvius!
There lived a famous professor in Nairobi,
Studied science in the thicket.
There under the rustle of tits
He read five pages
And again he returned to Nairobi.
There lived an old man named Pliski,
With a head no bigger than a radish.
But, having put on a wig,
Becoming an old man
A judge named Pliski!
There lived an old man in Devonshire,
He opened the windows wider
And he shouted: “Gentlemen!
Trumbada, trumbada!"
Encouraging people in Devonshire.
One old man with a scythe
I spent half a day chasing a wasp.
But at four o'clock
He lost his braid
And he was stung hard by a wasp.
There lived an old man on a spreading branch,
His hair was sparse.
But the jackdaws attacked
And completely plucked
An old man on a spreading branch.
One old lady from Loja
I amused myself quite well:
I sat all morning
And I played the trumpet
On a thistle bush.
Old gentleman from Iowa
I thought, backing away from the scary cow:
"Maybe if you try
It's more fun to smile
Will I be saved from an angry cow?
Once upon a time there lived a nice lady,
It looks completely square.
Whoever meets her
I admired from the bottom of my heart:
“How nice this lady is!”
Once upon a time there lived an old man by the canal,
All my life I've been waiting for a signal.
He often goes to the canal
I dipped my nose,
And that finished him off.
There lived an old man between the hives,
Fighting off bees with chairs.
But he didn't take into account
The numbers of these bees
And he died the death of the brave among the hives.
There lived a boy from the city of Mayena,
Accidentally dropped into the kettle.
He sat there, sat
And he turned completely grey,
This former boy is from Mayenne.
One unfortunate man from Klonets
I bought myself a sun umbrella
Climbed into the basement
One gentleman quietly
Climbed an old Christmas tree.
He was eating pie
And forty listened
On the same flocked Christmas tree.
There lived a boy near Thermopylae,
Who screamed so loudly
Why were all the women deaf?
And the herrings are dead
And dust fell from the rafters.
There lived a long-lived man in Pergamon,
He read Homer upside down.
I've read so far
That he was weak and staggered
And he fell off the cliff in Pergamum.
The old man by the bush said:
"This bird sings for a reason."
But, having seen what kind of bird it is,
He shook with fear:
"It's four times bigger than a bush!"
Uncle came out to the square in North Cape
In a wide straw hat.
He said: "I'll be glad
If it rains or hails,
Shelter you under the hat in the North Cape;
Once upon a time there was an old man from Kyoto,
Constantly feeling sorry for someone.
He saw a frog
And threw her a cheesecake,
Noble old man from Kyoto!
An uncle lived in the city of Durham,
Who was tormented by nightmares.
To help me,
Had to all night
Refresh it with beer with squid.
There lived a little man by the river,
A grasshopper jumped on his back
And he sang this,
That I'm completely timid
And the little man squatted down.
Once upon a time there lived an old man at the pier,
Whose life was depressing.
They gave him some salad
And they played a sonata
And he felt a little better.
One old man from Ottawa
He denounced modern morals.
To the advice: “Get some rest!”
He objected: “No, no!
I haven’t exposed all morals yet!”
There lived an old man in a swamp,
Runaway from uncle and aunt
He was sitting on a log
And, completely satisfied,
Sang ditties to frogs in the swamp.
Once upon a time there lived a reasonable husband,
Locking his wife in a chest.
To her objections
Gently, without irritation
He said: “Put it in the chest!”
