Owl and the Pussycat

Edward Lear's masterpiece is a nonsense poem that secretly tells the most tender love story in English. An owl and a pussycat fall in love, set sail in a beautiful pea-green boat with honey and plenty of money, and voyage to a distant land where the Bong-tree grows. There, by the light of the moon, they dance and marry. What could be absurd becomes genuinely moving. Lear's invented language rolls off the tongue (the runcible spoon has become part of English itself), and his singing rhythm has made this poem a beloved lullaby for generations. It endures because it understands that sometimes the deepest truths are spoken in the language of nonsense, and because it offers pure, uncomplicated joy.