" On the Ning Nang Nong " is a poem by the comedian Spike Milligan featured in his 1959 book Silly Verse for Kids . In 1998 it was voted the UK's favourite comic poem in a nationwide poll, ahead of other nonsense poems by poets such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear .
19-552: This nonsense verse , set to music, became popular in Australia where it was performed weekly on the ABC children's programme Play School ; however, it is now only shown on occasion. In December 2007 it was reported that, according to OFSTED , it is among the ten most commonly taught poems in primary schools in the UK. It features on the albums No One's Gonna Change Our World , There's
38-612: A Bear in There and Play School Favourites , and on the B-side of Milligan's own " Badjelly the Witch ". The 18-line poem opens with: Several subsequent lines also use the phrase "Nong Nang Ning" or "Nong Ning Nang" (but never "Ning Nong Nang", "Nang Ning Nong" or "Nang Nong Ning"). The poem ends with the climax "Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!" Various animals, plants and created objects "say" or, more often, "go" various sounds (capitalization in
57-470: A Jesuit boys-only Jesuit high school in Cleveland, Ohio . He graduated from John Carroll University with a degree in communications in 1982. Since 1982, he has worked for American Greetings Corporation —one of the largest creative divisions in the world—where he is currently the senior editor, working on greeting cards, songs, and electronic greetings. He has toured more than 500 elementary schools in
76-404: A clear meaning or any meaning at all. Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear both made good use of this type of nonsense in some of their verse. These poems are well formed in terms of grammar and syntax, and each nonsense word is of a clear part of speech . The first verse of Lewis Carroll's " Jabberwocky " illustrates this nonsense technique, despite Humpty Dumpty 's later clear explanation of some of
95-403: A gurled, With all her faulty bagnose! Here, awoy fills the place of "away" in the expression "far away", but also suggests the exclamation "ahoy", suitable to a voyage. Likewise, worled and gurled suggest "world" and "girl" but have the -ed form of a past-tense verb. "Somforbe" could possibly be a noun, possibly a slurred verb phrase. In the sense that it is a slurred verb, it could be
114-688: A paper bag The reason you will see no doubt It is to keep the lightning out But what these unobservant birds Have failed to notice is that herds Of wandering bears may come with buns And steal the bags to hold the crumbs. More contemporary examples of nonsense verse include the Vogon poetry from Douglas Adams 's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , and the 1972 song " Prisencolinensinainciusol " by Italian multi-talent Adriano Celentano . Russian nonsense poets include Daniil Kharms and Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy , particularly his work under
133-516: A sieve. However, the significance of the color of the heads and hands is not apparent and the verse appears to be nonsense. Some nonsense verse simply presents contradictory or impossible scenarios in a matter-of-fact tone, like this example from Brian P. Cleary 's Rainbow Soup: Adventures in Poetry (Millbrook Press, 2004): One tall midget reached up high, Touched the ground above the sky, Tied his loafers , licked his tongue, And told about
152-724: Is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature. Limericks are probably the best known form of nonsense verse, although they tend nowadays to be used for straightforward humour, rather than having a nonsensical effect. Among writers in English noted for nonsense verse are Edward Lear , Lewis Carroll , Mervyn Peake , Edward Gorey , Colin West , Dr. Seuss , and Spike Milligan . The Martian Poets and Ivor Cutler are considered by some to be in
171-614: Is best known for his books written for grade-school children that explore grammar in humorous ways; he also controls a line of gift books for grownups. He is the senior editor for digital content at American Greetings, and his greetings have been performed by Dolly Parton , Christina Aguilera , Smokey Robinson , William Shatner , Meghan Trainor and others. Cleary was born in Lakewood, Ohio , one of nine children, attended elementary school in three different states (Kansas, Minnesota and Ohio) and graduated from Saint Ignatius High School ,
190-700: The Noseybum, With it its young abideth. It's not yet found in Brehm. It's not yet found in Meyer. And neither in Brockhaus. It trotted from my lyre, Its first time in the light. Upon its noses strideth (As said before) thencefrom, With it its young abideth, Onward the Noseybum. The following observation by F.W. Bernstein has practically become a German proverb. Die schärfsten Kritiker der Elche waren früher selber welche The sharpest critics of
209-689: The U.S. and Europe as a visiting author making presentations to students and staff. Cleary created the best-selling "Words are CATegorical" series for grade school readers, a 27-volume set with more than 3 million copies in print published by Lerner Publishing Group . Kirkus Reviews praised his book on Adjectives, as, "Neat, clever, commnendable, and groovy." " He has also written humor essays for national and local magazines and newspapers. His cartoon writings have been published in more than 600 newspapers worldwide. His books have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. His poetry has been anthologized alongside Jack Prelutsky , Kenn Nesbitt , and Lemony Snicket in
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#1732790644992228-527: The bee he stung. He painted, then, an oval square The color of the bald man's hair, And in the painting you could hear What's undetected by the ear. Likewise, a poem sometimes attributed to Christopher Isherwood and first found in the anthology Poems Past and Present (Harold Dew, 1946 edition, J M Dent & Sons, Canada – attributed to "Anon") makes grammatical and semantic sense and yet lies so earnestly and absurdly that it qualifies as complete nonsense: The common cormorant or shag Lays eggs inside
247-545: The elks used to be ones themselves Julio Cortázar , the Argentinian writer, was famous for playing with language in several works. Besides the above, there is a special variation of Nonsense Verses called 颠倒歌 (upside down songs) in Chinese. They tend to make stuff happen the opposite way, for example: Brian P. Cleary Brian P. Cleary (born October 1, 1959) is an American humorist , poet , and author . He
266-642: The most widely known, and are both still popular, while Robert Gernhardt is a contemporary example. Morgenstern's " Das Nasobēm " is an imaginary being like the Jabberwock, although less frightful: Auf seinen Nasen schreitet einher das Nasobēm, von seinem Kind begleitet. Es steht noch nicht im Brehm . Es steht noch nicht im Meyer . Und auch im Brockhaus nicht. Es trat aus meiner Leyer zum ersten Mal ans Licht. Auf seinen Nasen schreitet (wie schon gesagt) seitdem, von seinem Kind begleitet, einher das Nasobēm. Upon its noses strideth Onward
285-414: The nonsense tradition. In some cases, the humor of nonsense verse relies on the incompatibility of phrases which make grammatical sense but semantic nonsense – at least in certain interpretations – as in the traditional: 'I see' said the blind man to his deaf and dumb daughter as he picked up his hammer and saw. Compare amphigory . Other nonsense verse makes use of nonsense words —words without
304-446: The original): cows go "Bong!", monkeys say "Boo!", trees go "Ping!", tea pots "Jibber-Jabber Joo", mice go "Clang!". Some do this more than once in the poem. The poem's rhyme scheme is AABCCBDDBAACCDDAA. A musical version appears in the 1975 British sex farce Confessions of a Pop Performer . This article about children's literature is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nonsense verse Nonsense verse
323-493: The pseudonym Kozma Prutkov , and some French exponents are Charles Cros and Robert Desnos . The best-known Dutch Nonsense poet is Cees Buddingh'. On Indian language Bengali Sukumar Roy is the pioneer of nonsense poems and is very famous for writing children's literature. Abol Tabol is the best collection of nonsense verse in Bengali language . Among German nonsense writers, Christian Morgenstern and Ringelnatz are
342-463: The unclear words within it: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Other nonsense verse uses muddled or ambiguous grammar as well as invented words, as in John Lennon 's "The Faulty Bagnose": The Mungle pilgriffs far awoy Religeorge too thee worled. Sam fells on the waysock-side And somforbe on
361-510: The word "stumbled", as in Sam fell onto the drunk side and stumbled on a girl. However, not all nonsense verse relies on word play. Some simply illustrate nonsensical situations. For instance, Edward Lear's poem, "The Jumblies" has a comprehensible chorus: Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live; Their heads are green, and their hands are blue And they went to sea in
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