Nonsense verse

Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature. Limericks are probably the best known form of nonsense verse, although they tend nowadays to be used for straightforward humour, rather than having a nonsensical effect. Among writers in English noted for nonsense verse are Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake, Edward Gorey, Colin West, Dr. Seuss, and Spike Milligan. The Martian Poets and Ivor Cutler are considered by some to be in the nonsense tradition. In some cases, the humor of nonsense verse relies on the incompatibility of phrases which make grammatical sense but semantic nonsense – at least in certain interpretations – as in the traditional: 'I see' said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter as he picked up his hammer and saw. Compare . Other nonsense verse makes use of nonsense words—words without a clear meaning or any meaning at all. Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear both made good use of this type of nonsense in some of their verse. These poems are well formed in terms of grammar and syntax, and each nonsense word is of a clear part of speech. The first verse of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" illustrates this nonsense technique, despite Humpty Dumpty's later clear explanation of some of the unclear words within it: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Other nonsense verse uses muddled or ambiguous grammar as well as invented words, as in John Lennon's "The Faulty Bagnose": The Mungle pilgriffs far awoy Religeorge too thee . Sam fells on the waysock-side And somforbe on a gurled, With all her faulty bagnose! Here, awoy fills the place of "away" in the expression "far away", but also suggests the exclamation "ahoy", suitable to a voyage. Likewise, worled and gurled suggest "world" and "girl" but have the -ed form of a past-tense verb.

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Concepts associés (3)

Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll, nom de plume de Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (), est un romancier, essayiste, photographe amateur et professeur de mathématiques britannique, né le à Daresbury (Cheshire) et mort le à Guildford (Surrey). Il est principalement connu pour son roman Les Aventures d'Alice au pays des merveilles (1865) et sa suite De l'autre côté du miroir (1871). Issu d'une famille anglicane plutôt conservatrice (liée à la Haute Église), il a fait ses études à la Christ Church d'Oxford, avant d'y enseigner.

Nonsense verse

Literary nonsense

Literary nonsense (or nonsense literature) is a broad categorization of literature that balances elements that make sense with some that do not, with the effect of subverting language conventions or logical reasoning. Even though the most well-known form of literary nonsense is nonsense verse, the genre is present in many forms of literature. The effect of nonsense is often caused by an excess of meaning, rather than a lack of it. Its humor is derived from its nonsensical nature, rather than wit or the "joke" of a punch line.