Edward Lear

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Literature in English > English Literature, 19th cent.: Biographies > ...

Essential reading Compare
side-by-side World Encyclopedia The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Edward Lear

Edward Lear 1812-88, English humorist and artist. At 19 he was employed as a draftsman by the London Zoological Society; the paintings of birds that he produced for The Family of the Psittacidae (1832) were among the first color plates of animals ever published in Great Britain. Lear is best known for his illustrated limericks and nonsense verse, which were collected in A Book of Nonsense (1846), Nonsense Songs (1871), Laughable Lyrics (1877), and others. He wrote several illustrated journals of his travels through S Europe.

Bibliography: See biographies by A. Davidson (1938, repr. 1968), V. Noakes (1969), and P. Levi (1995); studies by V. Dehejia (1989) and J. Wullschläger (1995).

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-Lear-Edw" title="Facts and information about Edward Lear">Edward Lear</a>

Give this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Edward Lear." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Edward Lear." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (December 22, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Lear-Edw.html

"Edward Lear." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Lear-Edw.html

Learn more about citation styles

Lear, Edward

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Â© World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Lear, Edward (1812–88) English poet, painter, and draughtsman. Lear is famous for his tragi-comic nonsense verse for children. He invented such characters as the ‘Pobble Which Had No Nose’ and ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’. Books include The Book of Nonsense (1846) and Laughable Lyrics (1877).

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O142-LearEdward" title="Facts and information about Edward Lear">Edward Lear</a>

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Lear, Edward." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 22 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Lear, Edward." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (December 22, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-LearEdward.html

"Lear, Edward." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved December 22, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-LearEdward.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries and thesauruses

Rate these entries|See all related entries

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	After You Mr. Lear.(After You Mr. Lear: In The Wake Of Edward Lear In Italy)(Brief article)(Book review) Newspaper article from: Internet Bookwatch; 11/1/2007
	Edward Lear in Albania: Journals of a Landscape Painter in the Balkans.(Brief article)(Book review) Magazine article from: Contemporary Review; 3/22/2009
	"Who, or why, or which, or what, is the Akond of Swat?" wondered the poet Edward Lear.(The Week)(muslim saint, Pakistan)(Brief article) Magazine article from: National Review; 10/8/2007

Facts and information from other sites

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

	Edward Lear Hotel is no nonsense.(TRAVEL) Newspaper article from: The Washington Times; 7/17/2004; 700+ words ; ...WASHINGTON TIMES Were he alive today, Edward Lear no doubt would be seated at his...good reason. A brochure for the Edward Lear Hotel (actually more an inn...Palladium. (The staff at the Edward Lear gladly helps you with everything...
	Reviews:Edward Lear: Melancholy paintings from a magpie mind make nonsense of reputation for rhyme Newspaper article from: Scotland on Sunday; 1/11/2004; ; 700+ words ; Edward Lear, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh...important new acquisition of some 30 works by Edward Lear. Lear worshipped Turner, calling him...poignant undertow. "Nonsense," said Edward Lear, in a particularly surreal pronouncement...
	Edward Lear: A Biography. Magazine article from: Insight on the News; 7/17/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...rediscovered as a landscape painter, Edward Lear has emerged as one of the formidable...10 to 15 seizures a month. "Edward brooded over his epilepsy," writes Peter Levi in Edward Lear: A Biography (Scribner, 382 pp...
	Why Lear would play the fool Noel Malcolm praises this updated Life of Edward Lear which makes sense of the great writer of nonsense Newspaper article from: The Sunday Telegraph London; 9/5/2004; ; 700+ words ; Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer (revised edition...is probably the one statement about Edward Lear that most people could quote. But the...the dabbling was the other way round. Edward Lear was a professional artist, who earned...
	Edward Lear. Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 2/4/1995; 700+ words ; EDWARD LEAR. By Peter Levi. Macmillan...because his portrait of Edward Lear confirms what some readers...about Victorian England. On Lear's thwarted sexuality, for...unsubstantiated) insistence that "Edward was never homosexual" only...
	Review: New Edward Lear/Fred Marcellino book "The Pelican Chorus" Transcript from: Weekend Edition - Saturday (NPR); 7/17/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...NPR) 07-17-2004 Review: New Edward Lear/Fred Marcellino book "The Pelican...Nonsense." It has original poems by Edward Lear and wonderful new illustrations by Fred Marcellino. Edward Lear is known as the father of nonsense...
	EDWARD LEAR: CHAPTER AND VERSE Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 8/31/1988; ; 700+ words ; LEAR. Selected Letters, edited by Vivien Noakes...review of this book, the first edition of Edward Lear's letters since 1907. The phrase is apt...deeper emotional impression is melancholic. Lear suffered from epilepsy, a condition he concealed...
	After You Mr. Lear.(After You Mr. Lear: In The Wake Of Edward Lear In Italy)(Brief article)(Book review) Newspaper article from: Internet Bookwatch; 11/1/2007; 535 words ; ...in the wake of artist and nonsense poetry writer Edward Lear (1812-1888) The result is "After You Mr. Lear: In The Wake Of Edward Lear In Italy" which relates Maldwin Drummond's nautical...
	After you, Mr. Lear; in the wake of Edward Lear in Italy; the story of a voyage to rediscover the ways of Edward Lear, artist and author, through his paintings, diaries and letters.(Brief Article)(Book Review) Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 2/1/2008; 470 words ; 9781574092554 After you, Mr. Lear; in the wake of Edward Lear in Italy; the story of a voyage to rediscover the ways of Edward Lear, artist and author, through his paintings, diaries...
	From the ridiculous to the sublime Reviews: Travels with Edward Lear; The Director's Chair II Newspaper article from: The Scotsman; 1/13/2004; ; 700+ words ; Travels with Edward Lear * NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND...Eastern Mediterranean, the painter Edward Lear. Eventually he amassed a large collection...attached that he made into his library. Edward Lear** is most familiar for his nonsense verse...