Nonsense Literature

Nonsense literature, or literary nonsense, is a genre of literature that is characterised by ambiguous meaning. It frequently features unexplained absurdity. The effect of nonsense literature on a reader is to leave them feeling both perplexed and amused.

This website contains the following examples of early nonsense literature:

Sixteen Wonderful Old Women — the first printed collection of limericks, published in 1820

A Book Of Nonsense by Edward Lear, first published in 1846; this was the first nonsense book by Edward Lear

More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. by Edward Lear, first published in 1872; this was the third nonsense book by Edward Lear