The Dong with a Luminous Nose

by Edward Lear

When his true love with the blue hands and the green hair sailed away, the Dong made himself an artificial nose with a light in it to watch for her.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Picture Books, Art, Childrens, Humor, Fantasy

44 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; and as a (minor) illustrator of Alfred Tennyson's poems.
As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.

Reviews

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

You must have a child's heart of silliness for maximum enjoyment. The poem lies under the category "nonsense," and the nonsense would make a child laugh. A man meets a girl with blue hands and green hair, a "Jumbly" girl. She goes away on a ship and with a broken heart the dong puts on a strap-on red nose, a long one, and hangs a lamp at the end in hopes of a search and find.

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

And since that day he wanders still
By lake and forest, marsh and hill,
Singing—'O somewhere, in valley or plain
'Might I find my Jumbly Girl again!
'For ever I'll seek by lake and shore
'Till I find my Jumbly Girl once more!'

The sadness of the story is heavier than the nonsense of the rhymes.
As ever, beautiful artwork by Gorey.


Feb 16, 19

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Gorey, Gorey - where would we be without you? Your love of words, your sense of humanity's ridiculousness? You mock everything with exactitude and art. You make us laugh at ourselves. And you are a dang-fine poet - you and Lear both.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, but something about this writing makes me wary. Can't really picture reading this to a kid in this day and age ('dong' is far too antiquated a slang term with too much loaded meaning now.)

[Sarkazm xD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Najbardziej urzekło mnie Takie Coś ;)

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Then, through the vast and gloomy dark,
There moves what seems a fiery spark,
A lonely spark with silvery rays
Piercing the coal0black night,-
A meteor strange and bright:-
Hither and thither the vision stays,
A single lurid light."

[Megan Salter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had not read Lear's text before Gorey's treatment of it, so I was rather surprised at the story. Gorey's illustrations - and most of all his hand-lettered text - really do have the ability to draw a reader into a different time and place. Memorable!

[Pi]

Można zapytać: A cóż to u licha jest? Ten cały DONG CO MA ŚWIECĄCY NOS? Co to za okładka i co to za wierszyki? Co to za bohaterowie abstrakcyjni? I co to w ogóle się w tej książce wyprawia? Jasne... można o to zapytać, a można po prostu wpaść w świat absurdu i zwinnej kreski.
Edward Leard, ze wstydem przyznaję, nie był mi wcześniej znany - ach co za strata! Lecz już jest i się w jego humorze, całkowicie oryginalnym świecie skocznych słów... zakochałam. Uwielbiam ten dowcip, angielskie szpileczki, bystre oko obserwatora, który rzeczywistość tłumaczy na swoje. To jest po prostu genialne!
A do tego ilustracje mistrza! Bohdana Butenki! Tak doskonale pasują do tego absurdu, tak idealnie wrzucają czytelnika w dziwność - nie wyobrażam sobie lepszych obrazów to tych tekstów.
Mamy tu kilka wierszyków i limeryków, które na każdej stronie zaskakują i słowem i ilustracjami. Nie mogę się oderwać od tej, przecież pozornie naiwnej sztuki. Takie to wszystko proste, a takie trudne do wymyślenia. Jaki umysł trzeba mieć, by urodzić Akonda ze Skwaka? A jaki, by go narysować?

"I w każdą noc, noc całą w krąg
Błądzi rozległą pustką Dong..."

Piękne i genialne, proste i trudne, pełne dziwnej prawdy - prawdy, która ubrała spodnie na lewą stronę i maszeruje przez wieś pod nosem mówiąc "Takie coś - takie ani to, ni sio, Żyło sobie w kraju Dżolibolibo..."

Mistrzostwo Leara i Butenki polega na prostocie i celności. Jeden zbzikowanym słowem skacze w rzeczywistość, a drugi szybką kreską ją podsumowuje. Ich talenty się dopełniają i ja jestem przeogromnie wdzięczna Wydawnictwu Dwie Siostry, które wskrzesiły, tak subtelnie, dokładnie, starannie - tę perełkę. Dla mnie to wielkie źródło inspiracji, to jak album, który przegląda się z uśmiechem i z uśmiechem pragnie się tworzyć swą własną interpretację codzienności.
Nie mogę nie wspomnieć o arcywspaniałym tłumaczeniu Andrzeja Nowickiego. To musiało być trudne, bo przecież nie da się dosłownie - a on zrobił to lekko, naturalnie, przyjemnie. Trudno mi sobie wyobrazić lepsze spolszczenie. Myślę, że to była bardzo wymagająca praca - praca wymagająca także wielkiego talentu.
W tej naprawdę pięknej książeczce znalazłam filozoficzne rozważania, zabawne mrugnięcia okiem, zabawę i tęsknotę, podróż... za jeden uśmiech, albo dwa. Oczywiście śmiałam się, ale także były chwile wzruszenia, bo to nie jest dosłowne, bo to jest głębsze, niż mogłoby się wydawać.

Takie sobie coś!
Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry
egzemplarz recenzencki

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

When awful darkness and silence reign
Over the great Gromboolian plain,
Through the long, long wintry nights;–
When the angry breakers roar
As they beat on the rocky shore;–
When Storm-clouds brood on the towering heights
Of the Hills of the Chankly Bore:–

This is a beautifully illustrated version of the classic nonsense poem by Edward Lear, who also wrote The Owl and the Pussycat. The illustrations are typical Edward Gorey pen and ink grayscale and they bring the love story between between a Jumbly girl and the Dong to life.

However, reader beware, this love story doesn't necessarily come with a happy ending!

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird, sad poem about a man/creature/Dong who lost a love. Jumblies arrived where the Dong lived, and he fell in love with a girl, but she left, so he was left trying to find her. That is where the sense of it is, as the rest is basically nonsense. The artwork is fantastic, the rhymes are fun, but I don't think I can really appreciate its value until I read it to my daughter one day. As it stands now, it's a silly nonsense poem that was only somewhat cute and interesting.

And just to say, I am not against nonsense. I loved the nonsense of the Alice in Wonderland books, I love the nonsense of Dr. Seuss, and I love nonsense in lots of other things I have come across. This just didn't really tickle me.

[Rick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading Edward Gorey 2023. Beautiful work by Gorey, and he creates a strong vision of the Jumbly world that Lear created. In reading about Gorey's influences, it feels like this was a true labor of love as well.

If I have a criticism, it is that both Lear's text and Gorey's drawings are so strong, that might cancel each other out, that one might not be able to appreciate one facet without being pulled out of that appreciation by the other. Too many riches?

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story of love and loss is wonderful. Right when I started reading it I kept thinking of Edward Gorey. I continuously kept looking between the story and the cover to make sure I wasn't mistaken in the author. Finally I saw that it was illustrated by Gorey! If you are a fan of Gorey's work you will enjoy this book by Lear.

[Melissa Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great set of poems for children to read. I particularly love this book as although each poem in itself is individual, they all interrelate in some way either through different landmarks on the mysterious island or through objects such as the Bong-tree. Would definitely recommend, though may not be suitable for very young children as some of the words are fairly tricky.

[Nitoy Gonzales · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit sad and gloomy tale for kids to read. The luminous nose indeed is silly perhaps that will put some smile to a kids face. I enjoyed the poem but it would be good to read the book twice appreciate the book more. The artwork is good just perfect to the sad vibe of the book.

[EileenMaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

He and Rudolf must have been best of friends - eventually

[Camilla]

For school.

[bryżit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pyszne!

[pwl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niby czysty nonsens, a tyle się da wyciągnąć.

[Courtney]

http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/dl...

I started it and then recalled that I didn’t really enjoy Sir Edward Lear, oh how Edward Gorey’s aesthetic can suck me in. Gonna mark it as abandoned so I can either avoid or come back to it.

[Zara · Rating 2 out of 5]

the Gorey illustrations are excellent.