The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

"The Owl and the Pussy-cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published during 1871 as part of his book Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets. Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend and fellow poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds. The term "runcible", used for the phrase "runcible spoon", was invented for the poem.

For the 1970 film, see The Owl and the Pussycat (film). For the film soundtrack, see The Owl and the Pussycat (album).

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
by Edward Lear
Edward Lear's illustration of the Owl and the Pussycat
IllustratorEdward Lear
CountryUnited Kingdom
Publication date1867
Read onlineThe Owl and the Pussy-Cat at Wikisource

Synopsis

"The Owl and the Pussy-cat" features four anthropomorphic animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey – and tells the story of the love between the title characters who marry in the land "where the Bong-tree grows".

Unfinished sequel

Portions of an unfinished sequel, "The Children of the Owl and the Pussy-cat" were published first posthumously, during 1938. The children are part fowl and part cat, and love to eat mice.

The family live by places with strange names. The Cat dies, falling from a tall tree, making the Owl become a single parent. The death causes the Owl great sadness. The money is all spent, but the Owl still sings to the original guitar.[1]

Media
The "piggy-wig" in the land of Bong-trees
  • Beatrix Potter wrote a prequel, The Tale of Little Pig Robinson, telling the background story of the pig character.
  • The story has been set to music and animated many times, such as by:
  • It was the main topic of The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See..., a 1968 children's musical play about Lear's nonsense poems. The play was written by Sheila Ruskin and David Wood.[4]
  • In 1998, Naxos Records produced album "Seven Ages: An Anthology of Poetry with Music" which contains a recording of John Cleese reading The Owl and the Pussycat on track 15.[5]
  • Composer Deborah Kavasch of the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble (established at the University of California, San Diego, 1972) composed The Owl and the Pussycat, a setting of the poem, for the ensemble. It was published in 1980 by Edition Reimers.[6]

See also

References
  1. Lear, Edward. "The Children of the Owl and the Pussy-cat". nonsenselit.org.
  2. Stevens, Denis (1970). A History of Song. Vol. The Norton Library 536. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 179. ISBN 0393005364..
  3. "Details of the 45 rpm record of Elton Hayes' recordings of Edward Lear songs". 45cat.com/. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  4. "The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See..." davidwood.org.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  5. "SEVEN AGES - An Anthology of Poetry with Music - NA218912". www.naxos.com. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  6. Kavasch, Deborah. The Owl and the Pussycat. Edition Reimers. OCLC 11872626.
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