WRITER

Edward Lear

1812 - 1888

Photo of Edward Lear

Icon of person Edward Lear

Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals, making coloured drawings during his journeys (which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books) and as a minor illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems. As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Edward Lear has received more than 1,192,766 page views. His biography is available in 50 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 46 in 2019). Edward Lear is the 1,669th most popular writer (up from 1,731st in 2019), the 1,281st most popular biography from United Kingdom (up from 1,365th in 2019) and the 146th most popular British Writer.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 57.57

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 50

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.76

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.86

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Owl and the pussy-cat
Animals, Children's poetry, English, English Nonsense verses
After a courtship voyage of a year and a day, Owl and Pussy finally buy a ring from Piggy and are blissfully married.
The Quangle Wangle's hat
Children's poetry, English, English poetry, Imaginary creatures
Nonsense songs
English Nonsense verses, Children's poetry, English, English poetry
A book of nonsense
English Nonsense verses, Nonsense verses, Limericks
The Jumblies
Children's poetry, English, English poetry, Nonsense verses
Nonsense books
Juvenile Wit and humor, Nonsense verses, English wit and humor

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Edward Lear ranks 1,669 out of 7,302Before him are Walafrid Strabo, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Gampopa, Nicander, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, and Martin Opitz. After him are Quintus Smyrnaeus, Upton Sinclair, Martin Walser, Barbara Cartland, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, and Konstantin Paustovsky.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1812, Edward Lear ranks 23Before him are Pertevniyal Sultan, Robert Browning, Natalia Pushkina, James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, Friedrich von Flotow, and Paul Abadie. After him are Zuo Zongtang, Édouard Séguin, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès, Pierre de Decker, Ilija Garašanin, and Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. Among people deceased in 1888, Edward Lear ranks 29Before him are Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, Asa Gray, Annie Chapman, Namık Kemal, Ludvig Nobel, and Elizabeth Stride. After him are Jean-Marie Guyau, Princess Helena of Nassau, Charles Cros, Catherine Eddowes, Vsevolod Garshin, and Henri Herz.

Others Born in 1812

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1888

Go to all Rankings

In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, Edward Lear ranks 1,281 out of 8,785Before him are Sylvia Pankhurst (1882), Alexander of Hales (1175), David Byron (1947), Mark Sykes (1879), Shirley Bassey (1937), and Thomas Gresham (1519). After him are Mary Leakey (1913), Alexander I of Scotland (1078), Barbara Cartland (1901), John Horton Conway (1937), Clive Owen (1964), and Martin Frobisher (1535).

Among WRITERS In United Kingdom

Among writers born in United Kingdom, Edward Lear ranks 146Before him are Alasdair Gray (1934), Robert Faurisson (1929), A. S. Byatt (1936), Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837), Joseph Needham (1900), and Walafrid Strabo (808). After him are Barbara Cartland (1901), Branwell Brontë (1817), Lucinda Riley (1965), Arthur Machen (1863), Anne Perry (1938), and Ted Hughes (1930).