There Was an Old Man in a Tree

Edward Lear 1812 (Holloway) – 1888 (Sanremo)



There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a bee.
When they said "Does it buzz?"
He replied "Yes, it does!
It's a regular brute of a bee!"

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

10 sec read
109

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 157
Words 37
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 5

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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    "There Was an Old Man in a Tree" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 16 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/9791/there-was-an-old-man-in-a-tree>.

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    Quiz

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    »
    Lewis Carroll wrote: "You are old father William, the young man said..."
    A "and your eyes have become less bright"
    B "and you seem to have lost your sight"
    C "and your hair has become very white"
    D "and you're going to die tonight"