Nonsense Verse in the Victorian Era
Edward Lear and Lewis Caroll
Nonsense verse is a kind of humorous or whimsical verse that defies the capability of being interpreted rationally or logically. For example, the works of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll such as the poem, ‘The Owl and the Pussycat,’ and the book ‘Alice in Wonderland’ respectively.
Both the abovementioned works are from the Victorian era, which is when children’s literature developed as we see it today. Although some scholars are of the opinion that nonsense literature has existed as long as language itself has existed, and some say that they hark back to the age of Ancient Greece, the works of Lear and Carroll are considered to the epitome of nonsense literature in the English language.
The ’no sense’ idea behind nonsense verse does not take away from its literary merit. The twentieth century has seen an increase in the scholarly studies in this area, which cannot really be classified as a genre or a mode.
One of the characteristic features of nonsense literature is that it introduces new words into the work, and the words, phrases or sentences in themselves cannot be interpreted to mean anything rational. Although writers like Shakespeare also introduced many new words into his works, however his work cannot be classified as nonsense because we can make logical sense of his phrases and sentences. Nonsense literature sets the usual world-view upside down, and this feature is known as ‘topsyturvydom,’ thereby subverting the accepted notions of the world.
In nonsense verse, concepts such as anthropomorphism and fantastical creatures are taken to a whole new extent and absurdity. Although other genres such as fold tales and fantasy are also known for including these features, the extent to which these cross the limits of sensibility is much higher in nonsense literature.
The Victorians had strong moral beliefs, and they were critical of the behavior of others. They are known for their rationality, and also irrationality, which we see in the works of nonsense verse. The Victorian sense, decorum, and propriety also caused the revolt against it in the form of nonsense literature, and nonsense verse.
During the Victorian age, there was much scientific progress happening in England. Edward Lear is known to have read and studied the work of Charles Darwin. John Gould was a natural-history entrepreneur with whom Lear had worked closely on developing his ideas. Gould had studied the work of Darwin, and both Lear and Gould’s works influenced each other.
The writings and beliefs of the Victorian age can be found reflected in the works of Lear. He lived securely in the Victorian society, and thus his work parodies the Victorian society more closely than Carroll’s. He parodied the life in London. Lewis Carroll, on the other hand, made jokes about the newly developing academia in Oxford.
Lear’s verse discusses the mind of the naturalist of his times. Carroll’s nonsense satirizes the rise of philosophical idealism and the university. He mocks the people who think for a living and generate absurd studies. Lear mocks the Victorian natural sciences, mostly the fields of taxonomy where each species has to be named. He also mocks the domestication of the wild.
English nonsense literature in the form of children’s writing, has its roots in the Romantic and Victorian periods. It is during the Romantic and Victorian era that a major interest in children and children’s literature began to take form, which created a market for Lear and Carroll. During the Victorian era, children, especially orphans were made to work in factories with horrible working conditions. Poor parents would sell their children to factories to work in them. Charles Dickens himself had to work in such conditions at one point during his childhood. Many writers such as Dickens and William Blake (Romantic era) had been writing about the condition of the slavery of such children. These gave rise to an interest in children’s literature.
The Victorian era has a reputation for being repressive, prudish, and religiously intolerant. The society was governed by strict and arbitrary rules. Nonsense verse developed during this time as a retaliation against such an environment. It was an outlet for psychological, social and philosophical anarchy. When the verse or literature is presented as a nonsense literature, it was safe to say things one wanted to say because they appeared to be meaningless, and thereby harmless. Lear and Carroll could not have been punished by the law for having written against the Victorian beliefs because what they wrote appeared to be nonsense or meaningless.
Taboos regarding sex are believed to have been an influence behind Lear’s work, especially his nonsense work. These taboos originated during the sixteenth century, and have continued to be a taboo to this day. Sexuality became a matter of enquiry both in public and private arenas, and Lear had to hide his homosexuality in the form of nonsense verse. During the Victorian era, Oscar Wilde was arrested because he had not tried to hide his homosexuality.
The main reasons I think that caused the development of nonsense verse during the Victorian era is the oppression of poor children, policing of sexuality, natural sciences discoveries, and scientific progress.
References
Pendlebury, Kathleen Sarah ‘Reading Nonsense: A Journey through the writing of Edward Lear’, Rhodes University, 2007
Gopnik, Adam ‘The sense beneath Edward Lear’s nonsense’, The New Yorker, April 16 2018
