Edward Lear, The Dong with a Luminous Nose When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain, Through the long, long wintry nights;-- When the angry breakers roar As they beat on the rocky shore;-- When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore:-- Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark, A lonely spark with silvery rays Piercing the coal-black night,-- A Meteor strange and bright:-- Hither and thither the vision strays, A single lurid light. Anon it sparkles,--flashes and leaps; And ever as onward it gleaming goes A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws. And those who watch at that midnight hour From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as the wild light passes along,-- 'The Dong!--the Dong! 'The wandering Dong through the forest goes! 'The Dong! the Dong!

'The Dong with a luminous Nose!' Long years ago The Dong was happy and gay, Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl Who came to those shores one day, For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did,-- Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd Where the Oblong Oysters grow, And the rocks are smooth and gray. And all the woods and the valleys rang With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang,-- '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.' Happily, happily passed those days! While the cheerful Jumblies staid; They danced in circlets all night long, To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, In moonlight, shine, or shade. For day and night he was always there By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.

Till the morning came of that hateful day When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away, And the Dong was left on the cruel shore Gazing--gazing for evermore,-- Ever keeping his weary eyes on That pea-green sail on the far horizon,-- Singing the Jumbly Chorus still As he sate all day on the grassy hill,-- '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.' But when the sun was low in the West, The Dong arose and said;-- --'What little sense I once possessed 'Has quite gone out of my head!'-- And since that day he wanders still By lake or forest, marsh and hill, Singing--'O somewhere, in valley or plain 'Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!

'For ever I'll seek by lake and shore 'Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!' Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, And because by night he could not see, He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree On the flowery plain that grows. And he wove him a wondrous Nose,-- A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head. --In a hollow rounded space it ended With a luminous Lamp within suspended, All fenced about To prevent the wind from blowing it out;-- And with holes all round to send the light, In gleaming rays on the dismal night. And now each night, and all night long, Over those plains still roams the Dong; And above the wall of the Chimp and Snipe You may hear the sqeak of his plaintive pipe While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; Lonely and wild--all night he goes,-- The Dong with a luminous Nose!

And all who watch at the midnight hour, From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, Moving along through the dreary night,-- 'This is the hour when forth he goes, 'The Dong with a luminous Nose! 'Yonder--over the plain he goes, 'He goes! Edward Lear | Poetry Foundation Poetry Foundation 1812–1888 W.Holman Hunt- Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Vivien Noakes fittingly subtitled her biography of Edward Lear The Life of a Wanderer. On a literal level the phrase refers to Lear's constant traveling as a self-proclaimed "dirty landscape painter" from 1837 until he finally settled at his Villa Tennyson on the San Remo coast of Italy in 1880. But wandering, in that it suggests rootlessness, aimlessness, loneliness, and uncertainty, is also a metaphor for Lear's emotional life and for the sense of melancholy that so often peeps through the playfully absurd surface of his nonsense verse. The uncertainty began with his birth.

Born 12 May 1812 in the London suburb of Holloway, Lear was the twentieth of twenty-one children (and youngest to survive) of Ann Skerrett Lear and Jeremiah Lear, a stockbroker. Many of the Lear offspring did not live beyond infancy, so Edward's very survival had something of the fortuitous about it. Even though he lived to be seventy-five, his health was always delicate; he had poor eyesight and suffered from chronic respiratory problems. At the age of five he experienced his first epileptic seizure. For Lear this "Demon," as he dubbed his affliction, was a mark of shame. Much of his self-imposed isolation from those he loved derived from his need to hide his condition from them. The year before the onset of the disease had brought trauma of another sort. Jeremiah Lear underwent severe financial reverses—in later years Lear repeatedly told friends his father had gone to debtors' prison, but no evidence substantiates this claim—and the family had to rent out their home, Bowman's Lodge, for a time. Mrs. Lear entrusted Edward to the care of his eldest sister, twenty-five-year-old Ann, and when financial stability returned, she did not resume her maternal duties.

Ann never married and devotedly acted the mother's part to Lear as long as she lived; yet he never recovered from the hurt of his real mother's rejection, as the ambivalence about mother figures in many of his poems indicates. Lear received little, if any, formal education. Ann tutored him at home and encouraged a talent for drawing and painting that he had early exhibited. When Jeremiah Lear retired and moved south of London in 1828, Edward and Ann remained in the city, taking up lodgings off the Gray's Inn Road. The sixteen-year-old Lear supported them by selling miscellaneous sketches; he soon moved on to anatomical drawings and then to illustrations for natural history books. His skill in this latter capacity led to the publication in 1832 of a volume of twelve folio lithographic prints of parrots, Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae. This volume brought him to the attention of Edward Stanley, later thirteenth earl of Derby, who wanted an artist to draw the animals in his menagerie at Knowsley, the Derby estate in Lancashire.

Lear accepted Stanley's offer of residency at Knowsley Hall while the work was in progress; he stayed there off and on from 1832 to 1837. The Knowsley days shaped the course of Lear's entire subsequent career. In addition to gaining the unflagging patronage of the earl of Derby, he met and charmed many aristocrats who would later buy his paintings and provide entrée to a level of society usually unbreachable by a man of Lear's impecunious middle-class origins. In 1837, when failing eyesight and lungs forced Lear to abandon the detailed work of natural history draftsmanship and the English winters, the earl provided funds and introductions to establish him in Rome to pursue a vocation as a painter of topographical landscapes. He remained in Rome for ten years, during which time he first established himself as a nonsense poet and formed several of the deepest of his many intimate friendships. Lear had initially produced poems, drawings, alphabets, and menus for the entertainment of the children at Knowsley; these "nonsenses"—and Lear's charming conversation and piano improvisations—had soon ingratiated him with the adults as well.

In 1846 he gathered together some of his limericks, a verse form he had first encountered in the joke book Anecdotes and Adventures of Fifteen Gentlemen (circa 1822), and had them published with his own illustrations in A Book of Nonsense under the pseudonym Derry down Derry. The Learian limerick focuses on the singular individual, an old or young "Person," "Man," or "Lady," who is distinguished by unusual appearance, behavior, talents, diet, or dress. In its most typical form it announces the existence of the eccentric, notes his dwelling place, and describes his distinctive features; then it explains the consequences of his peculiarity and concludes with an apostrophe: There was a Young Lady of Norway, Who casually sat in a doorway; When the door squeezed her flat, she exclaimed "What of that?" This courageous Young Lady of Norway.

The limerick generally has a closed structure, repeating the final word of the first line at the end of the last rather than utilizing the unexpected, punch-line rhyme that characterizes the successful modern limerick." A great number of Lear's limericks set the eccentric in conflict with "they," the faceless, conformist, officious members of society at large. Many times "they" unfairly persecute the individual; at other times he provokes and deserves their hostility. But the primary theme of the limericks remains the problems anyone with the slightest idiosyncrasy has in feeling comfortable among the mass of men. Since these eccentrics often have the oversized noses and long legs Lear gave himself in deprecatory self-caricatures, as well as his affinity for all animals except dogs, the poet probably saw himself as a sharer of their misfit status." On a less subjective level, the limerick protagonists provided for the didactically surfeited Victorian child examples of bizarre, misbehaving adults, with no blatant moralizing attached. What intrinsic morality the verses contain is conveyed largely in terms of eating habits.

Food is often a symbol in Lear's poetry: the sharing of food indicates affection and selflessness, while gluttony denotes egotism and lack of concern for others. Gluttony also receives harsh punishment: There was an Old Man of the South, Who had an immoderate mouth; But in swallowing a dish, that was quite full of fish, He was choked, that Old Man of the South. The year before the publication of the Book of Nonsense, Lear formed with Chichester Fortescue, later to become Lord Carlingford, one of the firmest of his many lifelong friendships. Their delightful correspondence, compiled in two volumes by Lady Strachey, is the largest collection of Lear letters published to date. Also in Italy, in 1848, Lear was befriended by another future peer, Thomas Baring, later Lord Northbrook. (Later, in 1873 and 1874, Lear journeyed to India and Ceylon as Northbrook's guest.) Returning to England in 1849, Lear met Alfred and Emily Tennyson.

Lear admired Tennyson's poetry, setting several pieces to music and leaving a projected volume of illustrations of the laureate's works unfinished at his death; Tennyson addressed an admiring poem "To E. L., on His Travels in Greece." Their personal relations were nevertheless rarely more than cordial. Lear, however, adored Emily, and she gradually superseded Ann (who died in 1861) as his confidante and surrogate mother. He also formed a close friendship in 1852 with Holman Hunt, the Pre-Raphaelite painter." Lear's most fervent and most painful friendship involved Franklin Lushington. He met the young barrister in Malta in 1849 and then toured southern Greece with him. Lear developed an undoubtedly homosexual passion for him that Lushington did not reciprocate. Although they remained friends for almost forty years, until Lear's death, the disparity of their feelings for one another constantly tormented Lear." In 1850 Lear decided to remain in England to take the ten-year painting course at the Royal Academy Schools in order to improve his untrained technique in oils and figure drawing.

He also had the first two of three illustrated journals of his travels published. But his low resistance to the English climate curtailed his stay. After three and a half years he abandoned England for the sunny Mediterranean, and in 1855 he resolved that he would never return to Britain permanently. In October of that year he established a home on Corfu, where Lushington's government position had stationed him." The next years were the most hectic and unsettled of Lear's life. He traveled incessantly throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, moved from Corfu to Rome to Corfu again and then to Cannes, and visited England eight times. He came close to marrying the one eligible woman with whom he ever maintained a long-term friendship, the Honorable Augusta "Gussie" Bethell of London, whom he had met in the early 1840s, when she was a child. But in 1866 he unwisely consulted her sister Emma about the advisability of a proposal. Emma firmly discouraged him, and he never approached Gussie, who by all accounts would have accepted. Despite his many long-distance friendships, Lear was doomed to a solitary life.

His only constant companions were his manservant Giorgio Kokali from 1856 to 1883, and his cat Foss from 1871 to 1887." Lear did not have any new nonsense published for fifteen years following the appearance of A Book of Nonsense. In 1861, however, a new, expanded edition was brought out under his own name. Its enthusiastic reception gratified but also perplexed Lear, who always hoped to gain fame as a painter and regarded nonsense only as a source of fun and money. His success as a poet did encourage him to compose more complex nonsenses, which appeared in three volumes during the 1870s after he had settled in San Remo, Italy." The first, Nonsense Songs (1870), contained longer poems in which characterization is more realistic and emotions are less distanced than in the limericks. The characters are nonhuman, and the central actions frequently involve a pair or group taking off on a journey.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat go to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat; the Jumblies depart in a sieve; the Duck and Kangaroo hop around the world; and even a nutcracker and some tongs, a table and a chair, go out to take the air. These first lyrics seem clearly to constitute Lear's reflections on his own life as a wanderer. At their happiest they also describe a joyful togetherness that he never attained. The elements of this Learian epiphany--song, dance, food, the shore in the moonlight--are established in "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" and recur frequently in later poems: They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon. More Nonsense (1872) contained additional limericks of the earlier kind but no new songs. Several songs did appear in his last volume of verse, Laughable Lyrics (1877). The volume is misnamed, for the tone is melancholy; a majority of the poems deal with some sort of loss.

The Pobble loses his toes; the pelicans lose their daughter. Most poignant are those lyrics dealing with the loss of love: " The Dong with a Luminous Nose " and "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò." Laughable Lyrics also contains the bulk of Lear's invented nonsense creatures such as the Dong, the Bò, the Pobble, the octopod Discobboloses, and the Quangle Wangle. Lear frequently sets these poems in his nonsense landscapes on the Hills of the Chankly Bore or the Great Gromboolian Plain. It was only by creating such unreal beings and settings that Lear could write with unrepressed emotion about his own unhappiness and sense of isolation." In 1886 Lear contracted a severe case of bronchitis, from which he never fully recovered.

In that same year he wrote his last nonsense poem, "Incidents in the Life of My Uncle Arly." Transparently autobiographical, it sums up in a few brief lines the essence of his life: Close beside a leafy thicket:-- On his nose there was a Cricket,-- In his hat a Railway-Ticket,-- (But his shoes were far too tight.) Lear was a wandering nonsense minstrel, never completely free of physical and emotional pain. His health steadily deteriorated until he died, alone except for a servant, on 29 January 1888. His last words expressed gratitude for the kindnesses of all his absent friends." Lear's poetry shares many elements with the nonsense verse of Lewis Carroll , Thomas Hood , W. S. Gilbert, and other Victorians, particularly in the use of verbal play and other distancing devices to derive humor from cruelty, pain, and death. Like nonsense verse as a whole, it influenced such twentieth-century aesthetic movements as surrealism and the theater of the absurd. It also, however, contains themes unique to Lear's personal experience.

It is above all an expression of the inmost longings, frustrations, and wish-fulfillment dreams of a lovable and intensely loving man who, despite the fond affection of numerous relatives, friends, and readers--children and adults--was never beloved in the intimate, exclusive, constant manner he so fervently desired. Bibliography Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (London: Privately printed, 1832). Views in Rome and Its Environs: Drawn from Nature and on Stone (London: McLean, 1841). Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall (Knowsley, U.K.: Privately printed, 1846). Illustrated Excursions in Italy, 2 volumes (London: McLean, 1846). A Book of Nonsense, as Derry down Derry (2 volumes, London: McLean, 1846; enlarged, as Lear, 1 volume, London: Routledge, Warne & Routledge, 1861; Philadelphia: Hazard, 1863).

Journals of a Landscape Painter in Albania, & c. (London: Bentley, 1851). Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria, & c. (London: Bentley, 1852). Views in the Seven Ionian Islands (London: Privately printed, 1863). Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica (London: Bush, 1870). Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (London: Bush, 1870; Boston: Osgood, 1871). More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany Etc. (London: Bush, 1872). Tortoises, Terrapins and Turtles Drawn from Life, by Lear and James de Carle Sowerby (London: Sotheran, Baer, 1872). Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music Etc. (London: Bush, 1877).

Queery Leary Nonsense: A Lear Nonsense Book, edited by Constance, Lady Strachey (London: Mills & Boon, 1911). The Lear Coloured Bird Book for Children (London: Mills & Boon, 1912). Lear in Sicily May-July 1847, edited by G. Proby (London: Duckworth, 1938). The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear, edited by Holbrook Jackson (London: Faber & Faber, 1947; New York: Dover, 1951). Indian Journal: Watercolours and Extracts from the Diary of Edward Lear (1873-1875), edited by Ray Murphy (London: Jarrolds, 1953; New York: Coward-McCann, 1955). Teapots and Quails, and Other New Nonsenses, edited by Angus Davidson and Philip Hofer (London: Murray, 1953; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953).

LETTERS Letters of Edward Lear, edited by Constance, Lady Strachey (London: Unwin, 1907). Later Letters of Edward Lear, edited by Constance, Lady Strachey (London: Unwin, 1911). The largest collection of Edward Lear's manuscripts and papers plus his manuscript diaries are in the Houghton Library of Harvard University. Lear's correspondence with the Tennyson family, along with some sketches and miscellaneous nonsenses, are at the Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln, England. Further Readings Angus Davidson, Edward Lear: Landscape Painter and Nonsense Poet (London: Murray, 1938). Vivien Noakes, Edward Lear: The Life of a Wanderer (London: Collins, 1968). Thomas Byrom, Nonsense and Wonder (New York: Dutton, 1977). William B. Osgood Field, Edward Lear on My Shelves (New York: Privately printed, 1933). Ina Rae Hark, Edward Lear (New York: Twayne, 1982).

Philip Hofer, Edward Lear as Landscape Draughtsman (London: Oxford University Press, 1968). John Lehmann, Edward Lear and his World (London: Thames & Hudson, 1977). Joanna Richardson, Edward Lear, in the Writers and Their Work Series (London: Longmans, Green, 1965). Elizabeth Sewell, The Field of Nonsense (London: Chatto & Windus, 1952). Discover this poet's context and related poetry, articles, and media.

Poems by Edward Lear The Dong With A Luminous Nose Poem by Edward Lear - Poem Hunter The Dong With A Luminous Nose Poem by Edward Lear - Poem Hunter The Dong With A Luminous Nose - Poem by Edward Lear Autoplay next video When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain, Through the long, long wintry nights; -- When the angry breakers roar As they beat on the rocky shore; -- When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: -- Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark, A lonely spark with silvery rays Piercing the coal-black night, -- A Meteor strange and bright: -- Hither and thither the vision strays, A single lurid light. Slowly it wander, -- pauses, -- creeps, -- Anon it sparkles, -- flashes and leaps; And ever as onward it gleaming goes A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws. And those who watch at that midnight hour From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as the wild light passes along, -- "The Dong! -- the Dong!

"The wandering Dong through the forest goes! "The Dong! the Dong! "The Dong with a luminous Nose!" Long years ago The Dong was happy and gay, Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl Who came to those shores one day. For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, -- Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd Where the Oblong Oysters grow, And the rocks are smooth and gray. And all the woods and the valleys rang With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, -- "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. Happily, happily passed those days! While the cheerful Jumblies staid; They danced in circlets all night long, To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, In moonlight, shine, or shade. For day and night he was always there By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.

Till the morning came of that hateful day When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away, And the Dong was left on the cruel shore Gazing -- gazing for evermore, -- Ever keeping his weary eyes on That pea-green sail on the far horizon, -- Singing the Jumbly Chorus still As he sate all day on the grassy hill, -- "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. But when the sun was low in the West, The Dong arose and said; -- "What little sense I once possessed Has quite gone out of my head!" -- And since that day he wanders still By lake and dorest, marsh and hills, Singing -- "O somewhere, in valley or plain "Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!

"For ever I'll seek by lake and shore "Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!" Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, And because by night he could not see, He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree On the flowery plain that grows. And he wove him a wondrous Nose, -- A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head. -- In a hollow rounded space it ended With a luminous Lamp within suspended, All fenced about To prevent the wind from blowing it out; -- And with holes all round to send the light, In gleaming rays on the dismal night. And now each night, and all night long, Over those plains still roams the Dong; And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; Lonely and wild -- all night he goes, -- The Dong with a luminous Nose!

And all who watch at the midnight hour, From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, Moving along through the dreary night, -- "This is the hour when forth he goes, "The Dong with a luminous Nose! "Yonder -- over the plain he goes; "He goes! Edward Lear - Poet | Academy of American Poets Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization. browse poems & poets Victorian The British poet and painter known for his absurd wit, Edward Lear was born on May 12, 1812 and began his career as an artist at age 15.

His father, a stockbroker of Danish origins, was sent to debtor's prison when Lear was thirteen and the young Lear was forced to earn a living. Lear quickly gained recognition for his work and in 1832 was hired by the London Zoological Society to execute illustrations of birds. In the same year, the Earl of Derby invited Lear to reside at his estate; Lear ended up staying on until 1836. His first book of poems, A Book of Nonsense (1846) was composed for the grandchildren of the Derby household. Around 1836 Lear decided to devote himself exclusively to landscape painting (although he continued to compose light verse). Between 1837 and 1847 Lear traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia. After his return to England, Lear's travel journals were published in several volumes as The Illustrated Travels of a Landscape Painter. Popular and respected in his day, Lear's travel books have largely been ignored in the twentieth century. Rather, Lear is remembered for his humorous poems, such as "The Owl and the Pussycat," and as the creator of the form and meter of the modern limerick.

Like his younger peer Lewis Carroll, Lear wrote many deeply fantastical poems about imaginary creatures, such as "The Dong with the Luminous Nose." His books of humorous verse also include Nonsense Songs (1871) and Laughable Lyrics (1877). Lear died on January 29, 1888 at the age of 76. Although the subject and form of his works varies greatly, all of Lear's poems can be characterized by his irreverent view of the world; Lear poked fun at everything, including himself in "By Way of a Preface." Many critics view Lear's devotion to the ridiculous as a method for dealing with or undermining the all-pervasive orderliness and industriousness of Victorian society. Regardless of impetus, the humor of Lear's poems has proved irrefutably timeless.

by this poet The Dong with a Luminous Nose - Poem by Edward Lear The Dong with a Luminous Nose by Edward Lear When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain, Through the long, long wintry nights; -- When the angry breakers roar As they beat on the rocky shore; -- When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: -- Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark, A lonely spark with silvery rays Piercing the coal-black night, -- A Meteor strange and bright: -- Hither and thither the vision strays, A single lurid light. Slowly it wander, -- pauses, -- creeps, -- Anon it sparkles, -- flashes and leaps; And ever as onward it gleaming goes A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws. And those who watch at that midnight hour From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as the wild light passes along, -- "The Dong! -- the Dong! "The wandering Dong through the forest goes! "The Dong! the Dong!

"The Dong with a luminous Nose!" Long years ago The Dong was happy and gay, Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl Who came to those shores one day. For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, -- Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd Where the Oblong Oysters grow, And the rocks are smooth and gray. And all the woods and the valleys rang With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, -- "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. Happily, happily passed those days! While the cheerful Jumblies staid; They danced in circlets all night long, To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, In moonlight, shine, or shade. For day and night he was always there By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.

Till the morning came of that hateful day When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away, And the Dong was left on the cruel shore Gazing -- gazing for evermore, -- Ever keeping his weary eyes on That pea-green sail on the far horizon, -- Singing the Jumbly Chorus still As he sate all day on the grassy hill, -- "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. But when the sun was low in the West, The Dong arose and said; -- "What little sense I once possessed Has quite gone out of my head!" -- And since that day he wanders still By lake and dorest, marsh and hills, Singing -- "O somewhere, in valley or plain "Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!

"For ever I'll seek by lake and shore "Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!" Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, And because by night he could not see, He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree On the flowery plain that grows. And he wove him a wondrous Nose, -- A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head. -- In a hollow rounded space it ended With a luminous Lamp within suspended, All fenced about To prevent the wind from blowing it out; -- And with holes all round to send the light, In gleaming rays on the dismal night. And now each night, and all night long, Over those plains still roams the Dong; And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; Lonely and wild -- all night he goes, -- The Dong with a luminous Nose!

And all who watch at the midnight hour, From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, Moving along through the dreary night, -- "This is the hour when forth he goes, "The Dong with a luminous Nose! "Yonder -- over the plain he goes; "He goes! The Wondering Minstrels: The Dong with a Luminous Nose -- Edward Lear The Dong with a Luminous Nose -- Edward Lear Deftly merging two themes... ( Poem #628 ) The Dong with a Luminous Nose When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain, Through the long, long wintry nights; When the angry breakers roar, As they beat on the rocky shore; When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills on the Chankly Bore: Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark, A lonely spark with silvery rays Piercing the coal-black night, A meteor strange and bright: Hither and thither the vision strays, A single lurid light.

Slowly it wanders - pauses - creeps - Anon it sparkles - flashes and leaps; And ever as onward it gleaming goes A light on the Bong-tree stem it throws. And those who watch at that midnight hour From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as the wild light passes along, "The Dong! - the Dong! The wandering Dong through the forest goes! The Dong! the Dong! The Dong with a luminous Nose!" Long years ago The Dong was happy and gay, Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl Who came to those shores one day. For the Jumblies came in a Sieve, they did - Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd Where the Oblong Oysters grow, And the rocks are smooth and gray. And all the woods and the valleys rang With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang - "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." Happily, happily passed those days!

While the cheerful Jumblies staid; They danced in circlets all night long, To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, In moonlight, shine, or shade. For day and night he was always there By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair. Till the morning came of that fateful day When the Jumblies sailed in their Sieve away, And the Dong was left on the cruel shore Gazing - gazing for evermore - Ever keeping his weary eyes on That pea-green sail on the far horizon - Singing the Jumbly Chorus still As he sat all day on the grass hill - "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." But when the sun was low in the West, The Dong arose and said, "What little sense I once possessed Has quite gone out of my head!" And since that day he wanders still By lake and forest, marsh and hill, Singing - "O somewhere, in valley or plain Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!

For ever I'll seek by lake and shore Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!" Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, And because by night he could not see, He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree On the flowery plain that grows. And he wove him a wondrous Nose, A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head. - In a hollow rounded space it ended With a luminous lamp within suspended, All fenced about With a bandage stout To prevent the wind from blowing it out; And with holes all round to send the light, In gleaming rays on the dismal night. And now each night, and all night long, Over those plains still roams the Dong! And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe You may hear the wail of his plaintive pipe, While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain, To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; Lonely and wild - all night he goes - The Dong with a luminous Nose!

And all who watch at the midnight hour, From Hall or Terrace, or Lofty Tower, Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, Moving along through the dreary night, "This is the hour when forth he goes, The Dong with the luminous Nose! Yonder - over the plain he goes; He goes; He goes! The Dong with a luminous Nose!" -- Edward Lear Mysterious, surreal, deeply tinged with melancholy - "The Dong with a Luminous Nose" embodies many of the themes that characterize Lear's longer work. It's also more than a little reminiscent [1] of Yeats' magnificent "Song of Wandering Aengus" [2] in its, errm, 'plot', and of the dream poems that Martin has been running of late, in its twilit atmosphere. Questions of theme apart, notice how "The Dong" shares with Hope's "Reverie of Mahomed Akram" (yesterday's poem) a highly idiosyncratic use of rhyme and metre: as is the case with the Hope poem, the irregularity contributes greatly to the overall dreamy effect.

Once again, it's a tribute to the poet's prosodic skill that this difficult task is pulled off without a hint of awkwardness or artificiality. thomas. [1] 'Reminiscent' is probably not the best choice of word, given that Lear's poem predates Yeats' by at least 30 years (though I don't have the exact dates to hand). [2] poem #1 - yes, the very first poem ever run on the Minstrels. [Someone Else's Commentary] [Lear's] songs are not as nonsensical as his limericks, and have often been interpreted as the reductio ad absurdum of Romantic poetry. By Bowra (The Romantic Imagination, 1950, p. 279), for example: "He differs from his models not in his means but in his end. He wished to write nonsense, and with the insight of genius saw that the romantic technique was perfectly suited to it. With him the romantic indefiniteness passes beautifully into absurdity, and his own inchoate sorrows vanish in the divine light of nonsense." Hugh Kenner (A Homemade World, 1975, p.

70) emphasizes the escapism implicit in such a practice: "Tennyson's friend Edward Lear at length perceived that the safest course for poetry, since its ligatures with phenomena were causing it so much trouble, was to shut itself up completely in its own cocoon of suggestion." This is especially evident in poems such as The Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò, which tells the story of an unrequited love, and The Dong with a Luminous Nose, clearly about feelings of solitude; these are usually considered reflections of Lear's personal condition. -- Marco Graziosi, [broken link] [Links] Other Lear poems: "The Owl and the Pussycat" is one of _the_ masterpieces of nonsense verse: poem #165 . (There's a Lear biography attached to the commentary accompanying this poem).

Lear more or less invented the limerick as we know it; "There was an Old Man with a Beard" is a good example of his pioneering work: poem #378 "The Pobble Who Has No Toes" cuts just as melancholy a figure as the unfortunate Dong: poem #297 "The Akond of Swat" is hilarious in its progressively-increasing flights of absurdity: poem #356 Previous poems in the Nose theme: "The Sniffle", by Ogden Nash: poem #625 Cyrano's speech, "Twenty Ways to Insult a Nose", by Edmond Rostand: poem #626 Previous poems in the Dream theme: "The Ice-Cart", by Wilfred Gibson: poem #622 "Reverie of Mahomed Akram at the Tamarind Tank", by Laurence Hope (Adela Nicolson): poem #627 More about the wandering Jumblies (including a reference to their sojourn in the Hills of the Chankly Bore) can be found in Lear's poem titled (you guessed it) "The Jumblies", which you can read at [broken link] ~john/jumbl

ies.html Incidentally, the stanza "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." (within quotes in today's poem) appears as a refrain in "The Jumblies".

Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2000 The Dong with a Luminous Nose by Edward Lear | Poetry Foundation The Dong with a Luminous Nose by Edward Lear The Dong with a Luminous Nose Related Poem Content Details When awful darkness and silence reign Over the great Gromboolian plain, Through the long, long wintry nights; — When the angry breakers roar As they beat on the rocky shore; — When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: — Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, There moves what seems a fiery spark, A lonely spark with silvery rays Piercing the coal-black night, — A Meteor strange and bright: — Hither and thither the vision strays, A single lurid light. Slowly it wander, — pauses, — creeps, — Anon it sparkles, — flashes and leaps; And ever as onward it gleaming goes A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws. And those who watch at that midnight hour From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as the wild light passes along, — "The Dong! — the Dong! "The wandering Dong through the forest goes!

"The Dong! the Dong! "The Dong with a luminous Nose!" Long years ago The Dong was happy and gay, Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl Who came to those shores one day. For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, — Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd Where the Oblong Oysters grow, And the rocks are smooth and gray. And all the woods and the valleys rang With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, — "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. Happily, happily passed those days! While the cheerful Jumblies staid; They danced in circlets all night long, To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, In moonlight, shine, or shade. For day and night he was always there By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair.

Till the morning came of that hateful day When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away, And the Dong was left on the cruel shore Gazing — gazing for evermore, — Ever keeping his weary eyes on That pea-green sail on the far horizon, — Singing the Jumbly Chorus still As he sate all day on the grassy hill, — "Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and the hands are blue And they went to sea in a sieve. But when the sun was low in the West, The Dong arose and said; — "What little sense I once possessed Has quite gone out of my head!" — And since that day he wanders still By lake and dorest, marsh and hills, Singing — "O somewhere, in valley or plain "Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!

"For ever I'll seek by lake and shore "Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!" Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, And because by night he could not see, He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree On the flowery plain that grows. And he wove him a wondrous Nose, — A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head. — In a hollow rounded space it ended With a luminous Lamp within suspended, All fenced about To prevent the wind from blowing it out; — And with holes all round to send the light, In gleaming rays on the dismal night. And now each night, and all night long, Over those plains still roams the Dong; And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; Lonely and wild — all night he goes, — The Dong with a luminous Nose!

And all who watch at the midnight hour, From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, Moving along through the dreary night, — "This is the hour when forth he goes, "The Dong with a luminous Nose! "Yonder — over the plain he goes; "He goes! Edward Lear - Dong with a Luminous Nose - First Edition - Signed | Bauman Rare Books Dong with a Luminous Nose Edward LEAR | Edward GOREY Item#: 66179 We're sorry, this item has been sold “THEN, THROUGH THE VAST AND GLOOMY DARK, THERE MOVES WHAT SEEMS A FIERY SPARK”: EDWARD LEAR’S DONG WITH A LUMINOUS NOSE, SIGNED BY ILLUSTRATOR EDWARD GOREY LEAR, Edward. The Dong with a Luminous Nose. Drawings by Edward Gorey. New York: Young Scott, (1969). Slim oblong octavo, original taupe illustrated boards, original dust jacket. First edition of famed illustrator Gorey’s interpretation of Lear’s nonsense poem, signed by Gorey on the title page.

Edward Lear started his career at the age of 15, drawing ornithological pictures. “From 1832 to 1836 he was engaged at Knowsley, the residence of the Earl of Derby…With the family at Knowsley he was always a great favorite, and it was for his patron’s grandchildren that Lear invented his droll Book of Nonsense, which was first published in 1846” (DNB). The Dong with a Luminous Nose is a continuation of Lear’s story of The Jumblies, which Gorey illustrated in 1968.

“Except for the headpiece drawing of the Dong himself, Lear didn’t illustrate this… it is as much an artist-poet’s as an artist-illustrator’s undertaking: the waves curling against the rocks like ghostly fingers, the beams of the luminous Nose shooting through a broad bare-armed tree—while nearby stands, from summer, a single rattan chair… For The Jumblies Gorey designed a divertissement, light, playful, impulsive; for The Dong he provides a threnody—a great furrowed mass, a ribbon of light, a pendent sky, one bright lost figure” (Bader, 557-58). Of his own writings, “Gorey maintains that his stories are simply entertainments in the nonsense tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear” (Silvey, 278). With this volume, he pays homage to one of his forebears. Toledano B42a. Book fine; lightest wear to dust jacket extremities. An about-fine signed copy.

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Receive Electronic Catalogues RPO -- Edward Lear : The Dong with a Luminous Nose The Dong with a Luminous Nose 1When awful darkness and silence reign 2Over the great Gromboolian plain, 3 Through the long, long wintry nights; -- 4When the angry breakers roar 5As they beat on the rocky shore; -- 6 When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights 7Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore: -- 8Then, through the vast and gloomy dark, 9There moves what seems a fiery spark, 10 A lonely spark with silvery rays 11 Piercing the coal-black night, -- 12 A Meteor strange and bright: -- 13 Hither and thither the vision strays, 14 A single lurid light. 15Slowly it wander, -- pauses, -- creeps, -- 16Anon it sparkles, -- flashes and leaps; 17And ever as onward it gleaming goes 18A light on the Bong-tree stems it throws.

19And those who watch at that midnight hour 20From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, 21Cry, as the wild light passes along, -- 22 "The Dong! -- the Dong! 23 "The wandering Dong through the forest goes! 24 "The Dong! the Dong! 25 "The Dong with a luminous Nose!" 26 Long years ago 27 The Dong was happy and gay, 28Till he fell in love with a Jumbly Girl 29 Who came to those shores one day. 30For the Jumblies came in a sieve, they did, -- 31Landing at eve near the Zemmery Fidd 32 Where the Oblong Oysters grow, 33And the rocks are smooth and gray. 34And all the woods and the valleys rang 35With the Chorus they daily and nightly sang, -- 36 "Far and few, far and few, 37 Are the lands where the Jumblies live; 38 Their heads are green, and the hands are blue 39 And they went to sea in a sieve.

40Happily, happily passed those days! 41 While the cheerful Jumblies staid; 42 They danced in circlets all night long, 43 To the plaintive pipe of the lively Dong, 44 In moonlight, shine, or shade. 45For day and night he was always there 46By the side of the Jumbly Girl so fair, 47With her sky-blue hands, and her sea-green hair. 48Till the morning came of that hateful day 49When the Jumblies sailed in their sieve away, 50And the Dong was left on the cruel shore 51Gazing -- gazing for evermore, -- 52Ever keeping his weary eyes on 53That pea-green sail on the far horizon, -- 54Singing the Jumbly Chorus still 55As he sate all day on the grassy hill, -- 56 "Far and few, far and few, 57 Are the lands where the Jumblies live; 58 Their heads are green, and the hands are blue 59 And they went to sea in a sieve.

60But when the sun was low in the West, 61 The Dong arose and said; 62-- "What little sense I once possessed 63 Has quite gone out of my head!" -- 64And since that day he wanders still 65By lake and dorest, marsh and hills, 66Singing -- "O somewhere, in valley or plain 67"Might I find my Jumbly Girl again! 68"For ever I'll seek by lake and shore 69"Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!" 70 Playing a pipe with silvery squeaks, 71 Since then his Jumbly Girl he seeks, 72 And because by night he could not see, 73 He gathered the bark of the Twangum Tree 74 On the flowery plain that grows. 75 And he wove him a wondrous Nose, -- 76 A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! 77Of vast proportions and painted red, 78And tied with cords to the back of his head.

79 -- In a hollow rounded space it ended 80 With a luminous Lamp within suspended, 81 All fenced about 82 With a bandage stout 83 To prevent the wind from blowing it out; -- 84 And with holes all round to send the light, 85 In gleaming rays on the dismal night. 86And now each night, and all night long, 87Over those plains still roams the Dong; 88And above the wail of the Chimp and Snipe 89You may hear the squeak of his plaintive pipe 90While ever he seeks, but seeks in vain 91To meet with his Jumbly Girl again; 92Lonely and wild -- all night he goes, -- 93The Dong with a luminous Nose! 94And all who watch at the midnight hour, 95From Hall or Terrace, or lofty Tower, 96Cry, as they trace the Meteor bright, 97Moving along through the dreary night, -- 98 "This is the hour when forth he goes, 99 "The Dong with a luminous Nose!

100 "Yonder -- over the plain he goes; 101 "He goes! 103 "The Dong with a luminous Nose!" Online text copyright © 2003, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto. Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries. Original text: Edward Lear, Laughable Lyrics: A Fourth Book of Nonsense Poems, Songs, Botany, Music, &c. (London: Robert John Bush, 1877). Unpaginated. In The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books 1566-1910, comp. Judith St. John (Toronto: Toronto Public Library, 1975), I.70. First publication date: 1877 RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire RP edition: RPO 1998.

Question: In an Edward Lear poem, who has a Luminous Nose?
Answer: The Dong