The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast, 1807.
1 media/ButterflysBall_thumb.jpg 2020-07-21T17:04:58+00:00 Marianne Hansen e5c1491b9c20d37a95fc0356366eeb2ddecf682b 18 1 Roscoe, William, and William Mulready, illustrator. The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast. London: Printed for J. Harris, 1807. plain 2020-07-21T17:04:58+00:00 Marianne Hansen e5c1491b9c20d37a95fc0356366eeb2ddecf682bThis page is referenced by:
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Nonsense Books
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onsense literature is often children’s literature — silly and lighthearted, evoking wonder and the imagination as much as any fairy tale. Absurd situations are presented as if they were ordinary, and nonsense words used as if one could understand them. Playful illustrations increase the reader’s enjoyment and sometimes, as with Tenniel’s illustration of the Jabberwock, provide an essential clue as to the author’s intent.
The oldest nonsense texts in English are traditional nursery rhymes. The House that Jack Built circles round and round, adding an additional layer of absurdity with each repetition and straining the memory of the reader.
The "Song of Sixpence" reminds us that these rhymes also have tunes that were handed down, as well as traditional actions, like grabbing the nose of the listening toddler to imitate the blackbird at the end of the verse.
The nineteenth century saw new nonsense texts as well. Among the most delightful was The Butterfly’s Ball, an early example of a book without educational or moral purpose, published just for fun.
The two great nonsense poets of the century were Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Lear concentrated on the limerick form, although excluding the vulgarity which is now its hallmark. He was also an artist and illustrated his Book of Nonsense himself.
Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, includes the poem “Jabberwocky”, the meaning of which has never been satisfactorily explained, but which gave us useful words, like brillig, frabjous, and vorpal, with which to perplex our friends. -
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The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast
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Roscoe, William, and William Mulready, illustrator. The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast. London: Printed for J. Harris, 1807.
Two of our copies of this book are on the Internet Archive: one plain and one with the illustrations colored.
