The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-25
BLUE MOONsHINE.

Mingled aye Win fragrant yearllnSS,
ThrObbing in the mellow glow,
Clint the Silvery spirit-burnings,
Pearly Establishments of woe.
Aye! forever and forever,
Whilst the IOve-lOrn censers sweep,
Whilst the jasper winds discover
Amber-like the crystal deep,
Shall the souls delirious slumber,
Sea-green vengeance of a kiss,
Teach despairing crags to number
Blue inhnities Of bliss.
A refrain of nonsense words is A favor
lite diversion of many otherwise serious
poets.
With hey, and a no. and a hey nonimo,
is one Of shakespeare's many musical
nonsense refrains.
BY far the most meritorious and most
interesting kind of nonsense is that which
embOdies an absurd or ridiculous idea
The greatest masters of this art are un-
doubtedly Lewis Carroll and Edward
writer's and who was a prime favorite
Of such men as TennysOn and the earls of
Derby. John RUskin places Lear's name
at the head Of his list Of the best hun
Enslishmen were men of genius, deep
thinkers and hard workers.
Lear was an observation-disclosures, his
subjects being mainly OrnithOlOgical and
geological. Lewis Carroll (Charles L.
DOdgSon) was an expert mathema tician
and a lecturer on that science in Christ
church, Oxford.
Lear's first nonsense verses, published
in 1916, are al written in the form of the
well known stailZa beginning:
There was an old man of TobagO.
He asserts that this form of verse
(Which has since come to be known by the
name of ''Limerick') was not invented by
him, but was suggested by d friend as a
useful model for amusing rhymes. It
proved SO in his case, for the published no
less than 212 of these ''Limericks," of
which the following are fair specimens:
There was an old man Of Thermopylae.
Who never did anything properly;
But they said: IF you choose
= To boil eggs in your shoes,
You cannot remain in ThermOpylae."
There was an old person of Working
Whose mind was perverse- and provoking;
He sat an a rail,
With his head in a pail,
That Elusive, old person of Working.
Although like Lear's in some respects,
Lewis CarTOlPs nonsense is of a somewhat
more refined type. There is less of the
grotesque and more poetic imagery. But
though Carroll was more OF a poet than
Lear, both had the true sense of nom
sense. Both assumed the most absurd
conditions, and proceeded to detail their
consequences with a simple seriousness
that cOnVulSeS appreciatiVe readers, and
we find ourselves uncertain whether It is
ing. Lewis Carroll was man of intellect
and education; his funniest sayings are
often based on profound knowledge, or
deep thought
Like Lear he never spoiled his quaint
fancieS by OVer-eXa operating their quaint
ness or their fancifulness, and his ridicu-
lious plots are as carefully conceived, con-
structed and elaborated as though they
embodied the soundest facts. No funny
detail is ever allowed to become too fun
ny; and it is this judicious economy Of
eXtraVa gdnce that his genius is shown.
Both Lear and Carroll suffered from the
undiscerning critics, who persisted in see
ing In their nonsense a hidden meaning
a cynical, political, or other intent, yelled
under the apparent fOOlery. Lear takes
occasion to deny this IN the preface to one
Of his books, and asserts not only that his
rhymes and pictures have no symbolical
meaning, but that he took more care
than might be supposed to make the SUB
jects incapable of such misinterpreta-
ton "
Likewise '.Jabberwocl1y'' was declared
BY one critic 10 be a translation from the
German, and by others its originality was
doubted The truth is. that II was written
by teVds Carroll at an evening party; It