There was an old person of Dover

Edward Lear

Teacher card

Published: 1846, in The Book of Nonsense
Length: 5 lines, 34 words, no long words
Year band: Reading load: Years 3–4. A guide from word length, not a curriculum level.
Time: 3–5 min, depending on the activity

The text

There was an old person of Dover,Who rushed through a field of blue Clover;But some very large bees,Stung his nose and his knees,So he very soon went back to Dover.

Edward Lear (died 1888), The Book of Nonsense (1846), lines 435–439 of Project Gutenberg ebook #982. Public domain in Australia: the author died before 1955. Copied word for word and checked against the ebook.

What to do with it

One link and one task line for each activity. Send a student the one you want them to do, or print this page and hand it round; each link has a QR code.

Solve the word hidden in itin riddle · about 3–5 min
Task for students (you can change the sentence before you print; nothing is saved)Work out the word hidden in the passage: each line holds one of its letters, in order.
Work out the word hidden in the passage: each line holds one of its letters, in order.
riddle.popplepoetry.com/?p=5

Send the whole hand-out

This page’s link. Students open it, read the text and pick what to do; nothing asks them to sign in.

Link for the whole text

https://popplepoetry.com/find/lear-there-was-an-old-person-of-dover · popplepoetry.com