What Nonsense! - Poems Selected by William Cole - Drawings by Tomi Ungerer

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

A curated collection of humorous poems and playful verse, selected by William Cole and brought to life with drawings by Tomi Ungerer. The contents gather well-known children’s poetic pieces and nursery-style rhymes, moving through whimsical characters, odd situations, and memorable sing-song phrasing. The front matter includes publication and copyright information and credits for permissions to reuse poem material. The book is organized as a structured table of contents guiding readers through the sequence of featured poems.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages88

Reading Time2 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Introduction

Poems

CAe..магсаеетемитн Oh,What Nonsense! poems selecteda by WILLIAM COLEdrawings by TOMI UNGERER What Nonsense! # METHUEN CHILDREN’S BOOKS LONDON Text Copyrigbt C1966by William ColeIllustrations Copyrigbt C1966 by Tomi UngererFirst publisbed in.1966 by The Viking Press,IncFirst publisbed in Great Britain in I968 by Metbwen c Co Ltd,11 New Fetter Lane,London EC4Reprinted 1969 and 1971 Printed in Great Britain by Fletcher c Son Ltd,NorwichSBN 416429408 Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to use material ownedby them.Every reasonableeffort has been made to clear the use of the poems in this volume with the copyright owners.If notified of anyomissions the editor and publisher will gladly make the proper corrections in future editions. Appleton-Century,for “Jumble Jingle”and “Tom Tickleby and His Nose”from I Have a Song to Sing to You by Laura Richards,Copyright 1938 by D.Appleton-Century Co.,Inc.;and for “Merry Thoughts”from Mery-go- round by Laura Richards,Copyright 1935 by D.Appleton-Century Co.,Inc. Curtis Brown,Ltd.for“Cow"from Boy Blawe's Book of Beasts by William Jay Smith,Copyright,◎1956,I957,byWilliam Jay Smith,published by Atlantic Monthly Press. Beatrice Curtis Brown,for"A New Song to Sing about Jonathan Bing"from Jonatban Bing and otber Poems byBeatrice Curtis Brown,published by Oxford University Press.Copyright 1936-1964 by Beatrice Curtis Brown. Dennis Dobson,London,for"On the Ning Nang Nong"and“A Thousand Hairy Savages”from Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan. The Dolphin Publishing Company,Limited,for "Tragedy"from Life Tbrougb Yowng Eyes by W.Cheney.Faber&Faber Limited,and Doubleday &Company Inc.,for "Dinky"and "The Lizard"from Tbe Collected PoemsofTbeodore Roetbke.William Heinemann Ltd,for"Mr Kartoffel"from Tbe Wandering Moon by James Reeves. Houghton Miffin Company,for"The Man in the Onion Bed"from I Met AMan by John Ciardi.Copyright,C 1961 by John Ciardi. J.B.Lippincott Company,for"The Happy Family"from Tbe Man Wbo Sang Tbe Sillies by John Ciardi.Copyright,◎1961 The Curtis Publishing Company. Little,Brown and Co.,for“The Folk Who Live in Backward Town”from Hello and Good-by by Mary Ann Hober-man,Copyright,C1959 by Mary Ann and Norman Hoberman;for“Just Because”from Take Sky by DavidMcCord,Copyright,C1961,I962by David McCord;and for"The Bufalo"from Tirra Lirra by Laura E.Richards,Copyright,1934 by Laura E.Richards. The Macmillan Company,for"Don't Ever Seize a Weasel by the Tail"from A Gopber in the Garden by JackPrelutsky.Copyright, 1966 by Jack Prelutsky. Methuen &Co.,Ltd.for"Sir Smasham Uppe"from Tbe Flattered Flying Fish and Otber Poems by E.V.Rieu,Copyright,1962 by E.V.Rieu.And for"Old Mr Bows"from Clinkerdump by Wilma Horsbrugh. Oxford University Press,for“The Tickle Rhyme”from The Tale of the Monster Horse by Ian Serraillier. Pantheon Books,A Division of Random House,Inc.,for"The Contrary Waiter"from Stuff and Nonsense byEdgar Parker.Copyright,C1961 by Edgar Parker. Jack Prelutsky for his poem "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous to the Sublimely Ridiculous to the RidiculouslySublime”. Shel Silverstein,for his poems “Beware,My Child”,"Boa Constrictor",and "Mr Spats”. Contents 9 Introduction Beware,My Child,Shel SilversteinThe Folk Who Live in Backward Town, 11 Mary Ann Hoberman12The Cares of a Caretaker,Wallace Irwin14Some Families of My Acquaintance,Laura E.Richards18AThousand Hairy Savages,Spike Milligan20The Minister in the Pulpit,Scottish Nursery Rhyme21Way Down South Where Bananas Grow,Anonymous22The Man in the Onion Bed,John Ciardi23The Contrary W aiter,Edgar Parker24From the Sublime to the Ridiculous to the Sublimely Ridiculous to the Ridiculously Sublime,Jack Prelutsky26Dinky,Theodore Roethke27Boa Constrictor,Shel Silverstein28Advice to Children,Carolyn Wells30There Were Three Ghostesses,Anonymous32 There Was a Young Lady Residing at Prague,Anonymous 33The Happy Family,John Ciardi34Cinderella,Counting-out

FAQs

Who selected the poems in What Nonsense!?

William Cole selected the poems, as indicated in the title area of the document.

Who provided the drawings for the collection?

Tomi Ungerer provided the drawings, shown directly in the document’s title line.

How is the book organized for readers?

The document includes a table of contents listing the featured poems in sequence, beginning with an Introduction and then individual poems with page references.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford