Edward Lear / 爱德华·李尔

Edward Lear was an English artist and writer who was born in 1812. He is famous for a book of poems entitled ‘A book of Nonsense Verse’ and an additional poem call the ‘The Owl and the Pussy-cat’.

爱德华·利尔是英国艺术家和作家，1812年出生。他以一本文集《荒诞诗集》和另一首名为《猫头鹰与小猫》的诗而闻名。

Edward Lear was born in London to a very poor family. He was the youngest of their 21 children. Edward had epilepsy and suffered from ill health all life. As a child was often left in the charge of his older sister. She encouraged him to draw and paint.

爱德华·李尔出生在伦敦一个非常贫穷的家庭。他是家中21个孩子中最小的。爱德华患有癫痫，并终生身体不好。童年时，他常常由姐姐照看。姐姐鼓励他进行绘画和作画。

As he grew up, Edward soon realised he had a talent for art and found that he could make money from selling his paintings. He particularly like to paint pictures of landscapes and animals.

随着成长，爱德华很快意识到自己在艺术方面有天赋，并发现可以通过出售自己的画作赚钱。他尤其喜欢画风景和动物的画。

He frequently worked as an illustrator, working for such clients as the British Museum and London Zoo. In his lifetime he produced more than 10,000 pictures and published 3 books of bird and animal drawings. Because of his artistic talent, he earned enough money to allow him to travel abroad. In his lifetime, he travelled to Italy, Greece, Albania, Egypt, India and Sri Lanka and documented his adventures in 7 self-illustrated travel books.

他经常作为插画家工作，为大英博物馆和伦敦动物园等客户服务。在他的一生中，他创作了超过一万幅画作，并出版了三本鸟类和动物画册。由于他的艺术天赋，他赚到了足够多的钱，使他能够出国旅行。在他的一生中，他曾前往意大利、希腊、阿尔巴尼亚、埃及、印度和斯里兰卡，并在七本自绘插画的旅行书中记录了他的冒险经历。

Edward was also a talented poet and very fond of children. His first book of poems entitled ‘A Book of Nonsense’ was published in 1846. Nonsense verse is a style of poetry where the poem is full of absurd situations and characters, and includes made-up words. Such poems are often read to or read by children who find them extremely amusing.

爱德华也是一位才华横溢的诗人，非常喜爱儿童。他的第一本诗集《废话书》于1846年出版。废话诗是一种诗歌风格，诗中充满荒谬的情况和人物，并包含虚构的词语。这类诗常常被朗读给儿童听，或者由儿童自己朗读，他们会觉得非常有趣。

An example from this book of poems is ‘There was an Old Man with a Beard’:

这本诗集里的一个例子是《有一个长胡子的老人》：

There was an old man with a beard,

Who said, “It is just has I feared!

Two owls and a hen,

Four larks and a wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard”!

Many British people, when asked, will not recognise Edward Lear’s name. However, they will all remember Lear’s most famous nonsense poem entitled “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat”. This poem is frequently read to small children by their parents at home or by their teachers at school. This poem was written in 1872.

许多英国人，当被问及时，并不认识爱德华·李尔的名字。然而，他们都会记得李尔最著名的无稽诗《猫头鹰与小猫》。这首诗经常由父母在家里或者老师在学校给小孩子朗读。该诗写于1872年。

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.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sang to a small guitar,

“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,

What a beautiful Pussy you are,

You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!

How charmingly sweet you sing!

O let us be married! Too long have we tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?”

They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the Bong-Tree grows

And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood

With a ring at the end of his nose,

His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”

So they took it away, and were married the next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;

And hand in hand, on the end of the sand,

The danced by the light of the moon,

The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

Note: ‘Runcible’ is a made-up word. However, the word was used later to describe a piece of cutlery which consists of a fork and a spoon joined together like a pair of scissors.

注意：“Runcible”是一个虚构的词。然而，这个词后来被用来描述一种餐具，它由叉子和勺子组成，像剪刀一样连接在一起。

Edward Lear has been said to have inspired Lewis Carroll whose books such as ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Jabberwocky’ also contain brilliant nonsense rhymes. More recently, Edward Lear is said to have influence the comedian, actor and writer Spike Milliagan in his poems entitled ‘Granny’ and ‘Smiling Is Infectious’.

据说爱德华·利尔曾启发了刘易斯·卡罗尔，后者的作品如《爱丽丝梦游仙境》和《贾伯沃基》也包含精彩的无意义押韵。更近一些，据说爱德华·利尔影响了喜剧演员、演员和作家斯派克·米利根，他的诗作《奶奶》和《微笑是会传染的》就体现了这种影响。

After a lifetime of painting, writing and travelling, Edward Lear finally died in Sanremo, Italy in 1888.

在一生的绘画、写作和旅行之后，爱德华·利尔最终于1888年在意大利圣雷莫去世。