Analysis of Nonsense Alphabet

Edward Lear 1812 (Holloway) – 1888 (Sanremo)



A was an ant
Who seldom stood still,
And who made a nice house
In the side of a hill.
Nice little ant!

B was a bat,
Who slept all the day,
And fluttered about
When the sun went away.
Brown little bat!

C was a camel:
You rode on his hump;
And if you fell off,
You came down such a bump!
What a high camel!

D was a duck
With spots on his back,
Who lived in the water,
And always said 'Quack!'
Dear little duck!

E was an elephant,
Stately and wise:
He had tusks and a trunk,
And two queer little eyes.
Oh, what funny small eyes!

F was a fish
Who was caught in a net;
But he got out again,
And is quite alive yet.
Lively young fish!

G was a goat
Who was spotted with brown:
When he did not lie still
He walked up and down.
Good little goat!

H was a hat
Which was all on one side;
Its crown was too high,
And its brim was too wide.
Oh, what a hat!

I was some ice
So white and so nice,
But which nobody tasted;
And so it was wasted.
All that good ice!

J was a jug,
So pretty and white,
With fresh water in it
At morning and night.
Nice little jug!

K was a kite
Which flew out of sight,
Above houses so high,
Quite into the sky.
Fly away, kite!
L was a lily,
So white and so sweet!
To see it and smell it
Was quite a nice treat.
Beautiful lily!

M was a man,
Who walked round and round;
And he wore a long coat
That came down to the ground.
Funny old man!

N was a net
Which was thrown In the sea
To catch fish for dinner
For you and for me.
Nice little net!

O was an orange
So yellow and round:
When it fell off the tree,
It fell down to the ground.
Down to the ground!

P was a polly.
All red, blue, and green,--
The most beautiful polly
That ever was seen.
Poor little polly!
Q was a quail
With a very short tail;
And he fed upon corn
In the evening and morn.
Quaint little quail!

R was a rabbit,
Who had a bad habit
Of eating the flowers
In gardens and bowers.
Naughty fat rabbit!

S was the sugar-tongs,
Nippity-nee,
To take up the sugar
To put in our tea.
Nippity-nee!

T was a tortoise,
All yellow and black:
He walked slowly away,
And he never came back.
Torty never came back!

U was an urn
All polished and bright,
And full of hot water
At noon and at night.
Useful old urn!

V was a veil
With a border upon it,
And a ribbon to tie it
All round a pink bonnet.
Pretty green veil!

W was a watch,
Where, in letters of gold,
The hour of the day
You might always behold.
Beautiful watch!

Y was a yew,
Which flourished and grew
By a quiet abode
Near the side of a road.
Dark little yew!

Z was a zebra,
All striped white and black;
And if he were tame,
You might ride on his back.
Pretty striped zebra!


Scheme Text too long
Poetic Form
Metre 0111 11011 011011 001101 1101 1101 11101 01001 101101 1101 11010 11111 01111 111101 10110 1101 11111 110010 0111 1101 111100 1001 111001 011101 111011 1101 111001 111101 011011 1011 1101 111011 111111 11101 1101 1101 111111 11111 011111 1101 1111 11011 11110 011110 1111 1101 11001 111001 11001 1101 1101 11111 011011 10101 1011 11010 11011 111011 11011 10010 1101 11101 011011 111101 1011 1101 111001 111110 11011 1101 11110 11001 111101 111101 1101 11010 11101 0110010 11011 11010 1101 101011 011011 001001 1101 11010 110110 110010 010010 10110 110101 11 111010 110101 11 11010 11001 111001 011011 11011 1111 11001 011110 11011 1011 1101 1010011 0010111 110110 1011 100101 101011 010101 11101 1001 1101 11001 101001 101101 1101 11010 11101 01101 111111 10110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,475
Words 548
Sentences 53
Stanzas 23
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 5, 10, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 125
Letters per line (avg) 16
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 84
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 01, 2023

2:44 min read
191

Edward Lear

Edward Lear 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. more…

All Edward Lear poems | Edward Lear Books

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