Nonsense, Carnival, Humor
Nonsense only makes sense
when we know its nonsense
What do you think?
1. Read the following poem by Edward
Lear.
2. What do you think about it?
3. Do you think it is a good one to share
with children? Why or why not?
Owl and the Pussycat
1871
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
Owl and the Pussycat
1871
II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
Owl and the Pussycat
1871
III
Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
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,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
What do you think?
1. Read the following poem by Edward
Lear.
2. What do you think about it?
3. Do you think it is a good one to share
with children? Why or why not?
Edward Lear (1812-1888)
Published A Book of Nonsense
(1846) when he was thirty-four.
• Professionally, Lear was an
illustrator
•He was recognized for his drawings of
birds,
•He wrote and illustrated several journals
during his European travels,
•He acted for a while as Queen Victoria's
drawing master at Osborne House.
• The public did not know who the
author was until his name appeared
on the title page of the 1861
enlarged edition.
• Lear lived to see thirty more
editions printed before he died.
A Book of Nonsense
1846
There was an Old Derry down Derry, who loved to see little folks merry;
So he made them a Book, and with laughter they shook
At the fun of that Derry down Derry.
There was an old man with a beard
Although his name became famous from his nonsense
books, many people didn’t believe he existed.
Drawings such as this one demonstrate Lear’s artistic capabilities
from Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria and the Kingdom of
Naples (1852)
“Scilla”
Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae,
or Parrots
42 lithographs with original
hand-color
Published only 125 sets.
Changed the history of
natural history illustration
from engraving to
lithography.
“Lear worked in great
detail, outlining every
feather and filling in the
details with fine lines. This
scientific accuracy
extended to every part of
the bird, from the beak to
the claws.” from Christine
Jackson’s Bird Illustrators
The Purpose of Nonsense
Four Ideas:
1. The most important purpose is the delight of nonsense
for its own sake.
2. Its principal value is that people who read and appreciate
nonsense are better equipped to cope with the madness
of the modern world, especially as reported via the print
and electronic media. (Kenneth Gangemi)
3. The purpose of nonsense is to give young children a
sense of self-assurance as they feel able to distinguish
between sense and nonsense. (Kornei Chukovsky)
4. Nonsense offers that ability to confront without
consequence the more weighty problems of life (Donald Grey)
Jabberwocky
• Lewis Carrol’s nonsense
poem found in Through
the Looking-Glass, and
What Alice Found There
(1871) is generally
considered to be one of
the greatest nonsense
poems written in the
English language.
• The word “jabberwocky”
is also occasionally used
as a synonym of
nonsense.
Jabberwocky
page 150-51
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGCJFFxoHJ4
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Social Constraints
Breaking social constraints,
Carnival
Social Constraints
1. What is a “good” child like? Name some of his/her
characteristics?
2. How free are children to do whatever they wish?
3. What are some things that children should not do?
4. Who makes the rules that children are supposed to
follow?
–
–
Who decides what is good and bad for a child to do?
How do they make these decisions?
Social Constraints
•
•
•
•
•
Rules from parents
Rules at school
Religious guidelines
Peer pressure
Laws of propriety (socially acceptable behavior)
– Fashion
– language/behavior
– Selfishness/selflessness
– Behavior toward opposite sex
Breaking social constraints
in literature
• gives a feeling of power when readers
identify with characters who break the
rules.
• challenges the norms and conventions of
society by testing them.
• provides a site for humor.
The Carnival Tradition
Carnival is a festive season when the normal rules of
society don’t apply. It occurs immediately before Lent;
usually during February or March. (Lent is a time on the
Christian calendar when followers give up eating meat
and/or give up something they really like in order to
prepare for the passion of Christ.) It typically involves a
public celebration or parade combining some elements
of a circus and public street party. People often dress up
or masquerade during the celebrations.
• If you know you will give up for a month something that you really
like, what will you do on the day before you give it up?
Popular Carnivals today
– Carnival at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
– Mardi Gras in New Orleans. USA
– Carnival in Venice, Italy
Carnival Venice
Carnival at Rio
Mardi Gras
Carnival
• Carnival is a time or space in which the normal
rules of society don’t apply.
• Carnivalesque literature highlights this kind of
atmosphere.
• Nonsense is one way of rejecting the formal
rules of society. This makes it empowering.
• The “grotesque” is an aspect of carnival that
celebrates the physical body and the lower
bodily functions.
Carnival
• It’s a joyful & wild celebration, to escape the pressures of
life.
• Joyfully overturn the “rules” of society. Anti authority.
• Brings a sense of freedom and power. People do what
they feel like.
• Can be a means of control because happens within a
certain space and time. When it ends, people are more
willingly follows the rules of society again.
• A famous scene of a Renaissance carnival appears in
the opening chapters of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo, the hunchback, becomes
the King of Fools and is paraded like a hero through the
streets.
Social Constraints
• What is a “good” child like?
• What are some things that children should
not do?
• Who makes the rules that children are
supposed to follow?
Social Constraints
•
•
•
•
•
Rules from parents
Rules at school
Religious guidelines
Peer pressure
Laws of propriety (socially acceptable behavior)
– Fashion
– language/behavior
– Selfishness/selflessness
– Behavior toward opposite sex
Breaking social constraints
in literature
• gives a feeling of power when readers
identify with characters who break the
rules.
• challenges the norms and conventions of
society by testing them
• Brings humor
Humor in Children’s Literature
Why is there so much?
Why do people love humor?
Why do children love humor?
Humor
Three theories about why
we find things funny.
1. Superiority (Aristotle)
2. Incongruity (Hutcheson)
3. Release from Social
Constraint (Freud)
Superiority
“It’s not my tragedy.”
•
•
•
•
We laugh when other people look foolish
because it make us feel superior.
The laugher looks down on what he laughs at.
Enjoyment of other people’s mistakes
When the Dodo wants to be respected, but
when uses big words but obviously doesn’t
really know what he’s talking about, he looks
foolish.
Incongruity
We laugh when we notice the
incongruity, when something
doesn’t match the expectation.
The noticing is more important than the actual
incongruity.
• A very short and fat man holding hands with a
very tall, thin woman.
• A very sophisticated-looking person acts silly
• Exaggeration & Surprise
• Seeing a white rabbit with a waistcoat and a
watch, and not thinking it odd, at first.
Release from social
restraint
We laugh when social rules are
•
•
•
•
broken.
Being shockingly crude. Bad language.
Scatological humor: Poopoo peepee.
A lot of sexual humor
Defiance & Violence sometimes (It’s not
•
funny if anyone we care about really gets hurt).
The violence in the Duchess’s house.
–
–
“Speak roughly to your little boy
And beat him when he sneezes.”
Humor in Alice
• What did you find funny?
• Or what do you think is intended to be
humorous?
• Explain why you think it’s funny.
The Adventures of
Captain
Underpants
Dav Pilkey
Captain Underpants
Think about these questions as we read.
• Where do you see nonsense? How do you react to it?
• Do you like George and Harold? Why or why not?
• Why do you think it has become immensely popular?
• How are the rules of society inverted? (In what ways is it
carnivalesque?)