On this Day in History (May 12)
Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, author and poet, and is known now mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests
in my beard!'
Lear is perhaps best known for his whimsical poem, The Owl and the Pussycat.
Edward Lear had begun to pen the sequel, The Children of The Owl and the Pussycat, but sections of the poem still remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1888. The portion that was complete, was published posthumously (meaning, after his death) in 1938. It begins;
The Children of the Owl and the Pussycat
Our mother was the Pussy-cat,
our father was the Owl,
And so we're partly little beasts
and partly little fowl,
The brothers of our family
have feathers and they hoot,
While all the sisters dress in fur
and have long tails to boot.
(it's a shame it was never finished)
