The Morbids
This chapter considers Lear’s work in relation to his life-long struggle with depression, what he called in his diaries “the morbids”. It argues that Lear’s poetry draws on feelings of self-estrangement in characteristic and creative ways to create forms of absurdity central to his nonsense. It examines the prominence in his work of the words “never” and “despair”, and examines a group of works, many of them limericks, that represent suicide and other forms of violence. The chapter concludes with an extended close reading of “The Dong with a Luminous Nose”.
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2016 ◽
Vol 9
(1)
◽
pp. 65-82
2018 ◽
Vol 11
(2)
◽
pp. 132-146