“The
nonsense genre involves playing with words and rhyme, writing riddles with no
answers, and composing limericks that make no sense. Although English nonsense verse was first invented in 1611,
its use dwindled until its revival in the nineteenth century by authors such as
Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll. Lear primarily wrote absurd limericks intended
for children, though many might also contain political commentary. In this era
of word games, Lear's nonsensical use of words and rhyme to create not only limericks
but near-gibberish stories illustrates the movement towards using this genre, a
kind of fantasy, as a harmless escape from life while still tackling larger
issues. Lewis Carroll, another master of nonsense verse writing around the same
time, brilliantly delivers a critique of the English school system with his
character Alice as she constantly misapplies her rote-learned classroom
teachings.”
"Why
is a raven like a writing desk?"
“Technically this riddle has many answers. People have
had a lot of time to think up something clever. A satisfying answer is,
"Poe wrote on both," given by puzzle enthusiast Sam Lloyd. More in the
spirit of the nonsense genre, Aldous Huxley ventured, "Because there is a
'b' in both and an 'n' in neither." Beautifully bizarre. The unanswerable riddle has been
answered, though. Lewis Carroll
said that, in the original book, there was no answer but to end the pain of
ceaseless inquisitive fan letters, though, he went ahead and thought up an
adequate response that he put in preface to later editions. Carroll's answer to “Why a raven is like a
writing desk? "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat;
and it is never put with the wrong end in front!" Carroll
spelled 'never,' as 'nevar' — 'raven' spelled backwards — but a proofreader
erased the inverted pun before it was published.”
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