"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" is a nonsense poem by

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limerick (poetry), limericks, a form he popularised. ...

, first published in 1870 in the American magazine '' Our Young Folks'' and again the following year in Lear's own 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 John Addington Symonds Jr. (; 5 October 1840 – 19 April 1893) was an English poet and literary critic. A cultural historian, he was known for his work on the Renaissance, as well as numerous biographies of writers and artists. Although mar ...

and his wife Catherine Symonds. The term " runcible", used for the phrase "runcible spoon", was invented for the poem. It is believed that the cat in the poem was based on Lear's own pet cat,

Foss Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term encompassing free ...

Synopsis

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" features four

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey – and tells the story of the love between the title characters who sail off to 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, leaving the Owl a single parent. The death causes the Owl great sadness. The money is all spent, but the Owl still sings to the original guitar.

Derivative works

British picture book author

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

stated that her work ''

The Tale of Little Pig Robinson ''The Tale of Little Pig Robinson'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter as part of the Peter Rabbit series. The book contains eight chapters and numerous illustrations. Though the book was one of Potter's last public ...

'' was the backstory of the character Piggy from "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat". The text has been set to music many times, such as by

Victor Hely-Hutchinson Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the ''Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely ...

, whose 1927 setting was recorded by

Elton Hayes Elton Hayes (16 February 1915 – 23 September 2001) was a British actor and guitarist. Life and career Elton Hayes was born in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, England. Both his parents were actors, and he made his first stage appearance aged nin ...

in 1953 for

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Sch ...

in 1951, using twelve-tone technique for the accompanying flute, guitar, and cello, but

sprechgesang (, "spoken singing") and (, "spoken voice"), more commonly known as speak-singing in English, are expressionist musical vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, is directly related to the operatic re ...

for the vocal part, and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

, who composed his setting in October 1966. American avant-garde artist and composer

Laurie Anderson Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson (born June 5, 1947) is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting,Amirkhanian, Cha ...

's fifth album, ''

Bright Red ''Bright Red'' is the fifth studio album by American avant-garde musician Laurie Anderson, released by Warner Bros. in 1994. The album continues the more pop-oriented direction Anderson launched with '' Strange Angels''. Produced by Brian Eno ( ...

'' (1994), features the track "Beautiful Pea Green Boat", which incorporates lyrics from the poem. "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" 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 Sheila Ruskin (born 28 March 1946) is an English actress. She played Vipsania in the BBC adaptation of '' I, Claudius'' (1976); Kassia in the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Keeper of Traken'' (1981); and Alta One in the ''Blake's 7'' episode "Red ...

and David Wood. In 1996,

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...

published a children's novel, ''The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat'', based on the poem. Idle's narration of the audiobook was nominated for the 1998

Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality "spoken ...

. In 1998,

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about ...

produced the album ''Seven Ages: An Anthology of Poetry with Music'', which contains a recording of

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

reading "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" on track 15.

References

External links

* * *
The Owl and the Pussy-cat in many languages
(archive from 1 August 2015; accessed 10 July 2019)

– audio of The Owl and The Pussycat (''Anthology of English Verse'', vol. 1) {{DEFAULTSORT:Owl And The Pussycat 1871 poems 19th-century British children's literature British humorous poems Children's poems Fictional guitarists Poetry by Edward Lear Poems about birds Poems about cats Poems about talking animals Anthropomorphic owls Anthropomorphic cats

Synopsis

Unfinished sequel

Derivative works

See also

References

External links