A Nonsense Alphabet (I)
Edward Lear
Teacher card
- Published
- 1871, in Nonsense Songs
- Length
- 182 lines, 368 words, 1 word in 46 is long
- Year band
- Reading load: Years 3–4. A guide from word length, not a curriculum level.
- Themes
- birthday
- Time
- 5–10 min, depending on the activity
The text
A was once an apple-pie,Pidy,Widy,Tidy,Pidy,Nice insidy,Apple-pie!
B was once a little bear,Beary,Wary,Hairy,Beary,Taky cary,Little bear!
C was once a little cake,Caky,Baky,Maky,Caky,Taky caky,Little cake!
D was once a little doll,Dolly,Molly,Polly,Nolly,Nursy dolly,Little doll!
E was once a little eel,Eely,Weely,Peely,Eely,Twirly, tweely,Little eel!
F was once a little fish,Fishy,Wishy,Squishy,Fishy,In a dishy,Little fish!
G was once a little goose,Goosy,Moosy,Boosey,Goosey,Waddly-woosy,Little goose!
H was once a little hen,Henny,Chenny,Tenny,Henny.Eggsy-any,Little hen?
I was once a bottle of inkInky,Dinky,Thinky,Inky,Blacky minky,Bottle of ink!
J was once a jar of jam,Jammy,Mammy,Clammy,Jammy,Sweety, swammy,Jar of jam!
K was once a little kite,Kity,Whity,Flighty,Kity,Out of sighty,Little kite!
L was once a little lark,Larky,Marky,Harky,Larky,In the parky,Little lark!
M was once a little mouse,Mousy,Bousy,Sousy,Mousy,In the housy,Little mouse!
N was once a little needle,Needly,Tweedly,Threedly,Needly,Wisky, wheedly,Little needle!
O was once a little owl,Owly,Prowly,Howly,Owly,Browny fowly,Little owl!
P was once a little pump,Pumpy,Slumpy,Flumpy,Pumpy,Dumpy, thumpy,Little pump!
Q was once a little quail,Quaily,Faily,Daily,Quaily,Stumpy-taily,Little quail!
R was once a little rose,Rosy,Posy,Nosy,Rosy,Blows-y, grows-y,Little rose!
S was once a little shrimp,Shrimpy,Nimpy,Flimpy,Shrimpy.Jumpy, jimpy,Little shrimp!
T was once a little thrush,Thrushy,Hushy,Bushy,Thrushy,Flitty, flushy,Little thrush!
U was once a little urn,Urny,Burny,Turny,Urny,Bubbly, burny,Little urn!
V was once a little vine,Viny,Winy,Twiny,Viny,Twisty-twiny,Little vine!
W was once a whale,Whaly,Scaly,Shaly,Whaly,Tumbly-taily,Mighty whale!
X was once a great king Xerxes,Xerxy,Perxy,Turxy,Xerxy,Linxy, lurxy,Great King Xerxes!
Y was once a little yew,Yewdy,Fewdy,Crudy,Yewdy,Growdy, grewdy,Little yew!
Z was once a piece of zinc,Tinky,Winky,Blinky,Tinky,Tinkly minky,Piece of zinc!
Edward Lear (died 1888), Nonsense Songs (1871), lines 2081–2463 of Project Gutenberg ebook #13647. Public domain in Australia: the author died before 1955. Copied word for word and checked against the ebook.
What to do with it
- Its lines are dealt for names in posy cardsin posy · 442 lines · about 5–10 min
See how posy takes lines from this poem, then make a card for someone using them.
posy.popplepoetry.com/sources#le-alpha-1
Send the whole hand-out
https://popplepoetry.com/find/lear-nonsense-alphabet · popplepoetry.com