|
Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is 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 bawdy or straightforwardly humorous, rather than 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. ==Variants== In some cases, the humor of nonsense verse is based 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. 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 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 worled. :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. "Somforbe" could possibly be a noun, possibly a slurred verb phrase. In the sense that it is a slurred verb, it could be the word "stumbled", as in Sam fell onto the drunk side and stumbled on a girl. However, not all nonsense verse relies on word play. Some simply illustrate nonsensical situations. For instance, Edward Lear's poem, ''The Jumblies'' has a comprehensible chorus: :Far and few, far and few, :Are the lands where the Jumblies live; :Their heads are green, and their hands are blue :And they went to sea in a sieve. However, the significance of the color of their heads and hands is not apparent and the verse appears to be nonsense. Some nonsense verse simply presents contradictory or impossible scenarios in a matter-of-fact tone, like this example from Brian P. Cleary's "Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry" (Millbrook Press, 2004): :One tall midget reached up high, :Touched the ground above the sky, :Tied his loafers, licked his tongue, :And told about the bee he stung. :He painted, then, an oval square :The color of the bald man's hair, :And in the painting you could hear :What's undetected by the ear. Likewise, a poem by Christopher Isherwood from his ''Poems Past and Present'' (J.M. Dent and Sons (Canada) Ltd. fourth printing, 1959) makes grammatical and semantic sense and yet lies so earnestly and absurdly that it qualifies as complete nonsense: :The common cormorant or shag :Lays eggs inside a paper bag :The reason you will see no doubt :It is to keep the lightning out :But what these unobservant birds :Have failed to notice is that herds :Of wandering bears may come with buns :And steal the bags to hold the crumbs. More contemporary examples of nonsense verse are Vogon poetry, found in Douglas Adams's ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' or the 1972 song 'Prisencolinensinainciusol' by Italian multi-talent Adriano Celentano . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nonsense verse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|