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The Owl and the Pussy-cat
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The owl and the pussy-cat, illustration by Edward Lear from his Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871).
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The owl and the pussy-cat, illustration by Edward Lear from his Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871).
The owl and the pussy-cat, illustration by Edward Lear from his Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871).

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

poem by Lear
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Article History

The Owl and the Pussy-cat, nonsense poem by Edward Lear, published in Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871). One of the best known and most frequently anthologized of Lear’s poems, it was written and illustrated for a young daughter of the English man of letters John Addington Symonds. The poem was also published as a book.

The characters of this lilting, joyful poem, like those in many of Lear’s nonsense poems, are creatures who embark on a journey of discovery: “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea/ In a beautiful pea-green boat,/ They took some honey, and plenty of money/ Wrapped up in a five-pound note.”

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.