Beards

There was an old man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! -
    Two owls and a hen,
    Four larks and a wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard."

Unknown

The identity of this poet is not known. Their works, which are often of significant historical or cultural value, have been attributed to 'Unknown'. This designation is commonly used when the creator of works, ranging from ancient texts to more modern writings, remains anonymous or uncredited. Despite the lack of personal details, the impact and importance of these works endure, offering insight into the eras and cultures from which they originated.

Unknown

Nursery Rhyme. DCLVI. Relics.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CCLVI. Gaffers And Gammers.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. CCXIX. Riddles.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

Nursery Rhyme. XCIV. Proverbs.

Unknown , Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Book Of Nonsense Limerick 1.

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! -
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

Edward Lear

Nursery Rhyme. CCXC. Games.

    There were three jovial Welshmen,
        As I have heard them say,
    And they would go a-hunting
        Upon St. David's day.

    All the day they hunted,
        And nothing could they find
    But a ship a-sailing,
        A-sailing with the wind.

    One said it was a ship,
        The other he said, nay;
    The third said it was a house,
        With the chimney blown away.

    And all the night they hunted,
        And nothing could they find
    But the moon a-gliding,
        A-gliding with the wind.

    One said it was the moon,
        The other he said, nay;
    The third said it was a cheese,
        And half o't cut away.

    And all the day they hunted,
        And nothing could they ...

Unknown

The Shaven And Shorn Goat.

        'Tis strange to see a new-launched fashion
        Lay on the soul and grow a passion.
        To illustrate such folly, I
        Proffer some beast to the mind's eye.
        Now I select the goat. What then?
        I never said goats equal men.

        A goat of singularity -
        Not vainer than a goat need be -
        Lay on a thymy bank, and viewed
        Himself reflected in the flood.
        "Confound my beard!" he thought, and said;
        "How badly it becomes my head;
        Upon my honour! women might
        Take me to be some crazy wight."
        He sought the barber of the place, -
        A monkey 'twas, of Moorish race,
        Who shaved mankind, drew teeth, and bled.
        A pole diagonal - striped red,
  ...

John Gay

Owl And Farmer.

        An owl took, in a barn, a station
        As fittest for deep contemplation;
        There (like a Turk) upon a beam
        He sat, as Turks sit in hareem.

        So smokers, at the Magpie met,
        Peruse the 'Post-boy' or 'Gazette;'
        And thence foretell, in wise and sure hope,
        The future destinies of Europe.

        The farmer comes to see his sheaves.
        The owl his silent soul relieves;
        "Reason in man is sheer pretence,
        Would he - were he endowed with sense -
        Treat owls with scorning? He can praise
        The birds that twitter on the sprays:
        Linnets, and larks, and nightingales,
        Yet in the nobler owl he fails.
        Should I, by daylight, view my reign,
        Th...

John Gay

Beard And Baby

I say, as one who never feared
The wrath of a subscriber's bullet,
I pity him who has a beard
But has no little girl to pull it!

When wife and I have finished tea,
Our baby woos me with her prattle,
And, perching proudly on my knee,
She gives my petted whiskers battle.

With both her hands she tugs away,
While scolding at me kind o' spiteful;
You'll not believe me when I say
I find the torture quite delightful!

No other would presume, I ween,
To trifle with this hirsute wonder,
Else would I rise in vengeful mien
And rend his vandal frame asunder!

But when her baby fingers pull
This glossy, sleek, and silky treasure,
My cup of happiness is full -
I fairly glow with pride and pleasure!

And, sweeter still, through ...

Eugene Field

The Birds

    (To Edmund Gosse)

    Within mankind's duration, so they say,
    Khephren and Ninus lived but yesterday.
    Asia had no name till man was old
    And long had learned the use of iron and gold;
    And æons had passed, when the first corn was planted,
    Since first the use of syllables was granted.

    Men were on earth while climates slowly swung,
    Fanning wide zones to heat and cold, and long
    Subsidence turned great continents to sea,
    And seas dried up, dried up interminably,
    Age after age; enormous seas were dried
    Amid wastes of land.    And the last monsters died.

    Earth wore another face.    O since that prime
    Man with how many works has sprinkled time!
    Hammering, hewing, digging tunnels, roads;

John Collings Squire, Sir