The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

For the 1970 film, see The Owl and the Pussycat (film). For the film soundtrack, see The Owl and the Pussycat (album). For the song by Igor Stravinsky, see The Owl and the Pussy Cat (Stravinsky).

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
by Edward Lear
Edward Lear's illustration of the Owl and the Pussycat
IllustratorEdward Lear
CountryUnited Kingdom
Publication date1871
Full text
The Owl and the Pussy-cat at Wikisource
Reading of "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat"

"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1870 in the American magazine Our Young Folks[1] and again the following year in Lear's own book Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets. Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend and fellow poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds. The term "runcible", used for the phrase "runcible spoon", was invented for the poem.

  1. ^ Lucy Larcom, ed. (February 1870). "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat". Our Young Folks. VI (II): 111–112. Retrieved 5 August 2022.