Edward Lear is famous for his nonsensical poems. Many English-speaking children are given a copy of his silly rhymes when they are learning to read. Birds feature strongly in his pieces – who hasn’t heard of the Owl and the Pussycat? Researcher Rob Sellick of the University of Wollongong argues, “[Lear’s] interest in birds continued to preoccupy him throughout his life and may even be used as a useful indicator of his personal and emotional life,” in a paper he published in his university’s journal, Kunapipi.

Edward Lear was one of 20 children and was raised by an older sister when his parent’s suffered hard economic times. In addition to poverty, Lear suffered from epilepsy, depression, and poor eyesight. Although formal schooling was intermittent, he was taught naturalist painting from his sisters. He honed his craft at the London Zoo. The Zoological Society gave him permission to draw its parrots and some of his pieces became plates in the Society’s publications.

Through these publications he garnered the attention of several wealthy patrons who funded trips to different countries for Lear to produce other ornithological books. It was during stays with his patrons and their families that Lear began to create silly stories and cartoons for his host’s children. As Sellick explains, “These ‘Nonsenses’ were eventually published in A Book of Nonsenses in 1846 and for this he used the pseudonym ‘Derry Down Derry’. This was to be followed by another four in Lear’s lifetime, the last, Laughable Lyrics, A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems appearing in 1877.”

This collection featured the famous The Young Lady:

There was a Young Lady whose bonnet

Came untied when the birds sat upon it;

but she said, ‘I don’t care!

All the birds in the air

Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!’

Of course there are many other limericks that followed and many revolved around birds. It is clear that birds were very special to Edward Lear.

Source: Sellick, Rob, The birds of Edward Lear, Kunapipi, 34(2), 2012. Available at: http://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol34/iss2/13.