NONSENSE STORIES AND POEMS

Lear is best known for his owl and pussy cat poem (you remember--they went to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat); the nonsensical writings here are likely to be less familiar to listeners, though they share the poet's fondness for rhythm, repetition, and word play that sound right but makes no sense if you stop and think about them for very long. Lear likes to make up odd places (Lake Pipple-Popple) and funny names (Quangle-Wangle), which narrator Claire Bloom's lovely voice glides over as she wends her way through his stories and verses. The fate of all the children in "Seven Families" is a bit of a downer; we like the more upbeat poems better. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]