Papers by Michael Heyman
For the last eighteen hundred years, Indian arts have been seen in terms of strictly classified e... more For the last eighteen hundred years, Indian arts have been seen in terms of strictly classified emotional effects known as the nine rasas. "The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense" celebrates, for the very first time, what Sukumar Ray called the 'spirit of whimsy', or the tenth rasa, through the topsy-turvy, irreverent, melodic genre of nonsense literature. This fabulous selection of poetry and prose, brilliantly translated from seventeen Indian languages across India, includes works by Rabindranath Tagore, Sukumar Ray, Vinda Karandikar, Gulzar, Dash Benhur, Manoj Das, Navakanta Barua, Mangesh Padgavkar, Sri Sri, Vaikom Mohammad Basheer, Kunjunni and other known, lesser-known and previously unpublished authors. In forms as varied as stories and songs for children and adults, lullabies, folk tales, Bollywood song lyrics and medieval court verse, the writers open doors to wildly imaginative worlds populated by peculiar characters and fantastical creatures, where only nonsense makes perfect sense.
The European Journal of Humour Research
Past studies of American nonsense literature have tended to lump it together with the British, fo... more Past studies of American nonsense literature have tended to lump it together with the British, for many good reasons. This article, however, distinguishes American nonsense, not just from the British, but from any other tradition, by way of its folk origins and cultural context. One of the least-recognized writers of nonsense is Carl Sandburg, who is famous for his iconic American poetry, but his Rootabaga Stories (1922-30) are some of the best and most distinctive representatives of the genre. Sandburg’s nonsense short stories are lyrical and strange, but their value lies also in their distinctive American origins. They are distinguished in having particularly American themes, cultural tendencies, and geography, but also in their formal techniques, which hearken back to American folklore and the tall tale in particular, as in W. B. Laughead’s Paul Bunyan (1922).
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 2021
Why is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland still so popular? The answer is nonsense...
Page 1. Isles of Boshen Edward Lear's Literary Nonsense in Context Michael Benjamin Heym... more Page 1. Isles of Boshen Edward Lear's Literary Nonsense in Context Michael Benjamin Heyman Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD University of Glasgow Department of English Literature June 1999 © Michael Benjamin Heyman, 1999 Page 2. ...
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2012
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2012
Isles of Boshen Edward Lear's Literary Nonsense in Context Michael Benjamin Heyman Thesis submitt... more Isles of Boshen Edward Lear's Literary Nonsense in Context Michael Benjamin Heyman Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD University of Glasgow Department of English Literature June 1999 © Michael Benjamin Heyman, 1999.
Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, 2015
Essays & Journal Articles by Michael Heyman
Pacific Coast Philology, 2021
This essay explores the nonsensical elements of the composition and staging of “A Short Program o... more This essay explores the nonsensical elements of the composition and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” a fifty-minute poetry reading by Michael Heyman and Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. prepared for the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association’s 2019 annual conference, “Send in the Clowns,” focusing primarily on the theory and practice of nonsense in relation to the writing and staging of “A Short Program of Poems for Young People, in Four Chapters,” which was performed in San Diego by Joseph T. Thomas, Jr. and Michael Heyman at the 2019 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association conference, “Send in the Clowns.”
The Horn Book, 2006
An exploration of Anushka Ravishankar's early body of nonsense literature.
Poetry International, 2018
A special feature on children's poetry, including an introduction and a handful of children's poe... more A special feature on children's poetry, including an introduction and a handful of children's poems by Derek Beaulieu, Nada Gordon, Michael Heyman, JonArno Lawson, Anushka Ravishankar, and others.
European Journal of Humour Research, 2017
Past studies of American nonsense literature have tended to lump it together with the British, fo... more Past studies of American nonsense literature have tended to lump it together with the British, for many good reasons. This article, however, distinguishes American nonsense from the British by way of its folk origins and cultural context. One of the least-recognized writers of nonsense is Carl Sandburg, who is famous for his iconic American poetry, but his Rootabaga Stories (1922–30) are some of the best and most distinctive representatives of the genre. Sandburg's nonsense short stories are lyrical and strange, but their value lies also in their distinctive American origins. They are distinguished in having particularly American themes, cultural tendencies, and geography, but also in their formal techniques, which hearken back to American folklore and the tall tale in particular, as in W. B. Laughead's Paul Bunyan (1922).
Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2005
This somewhat informal article analyzes Edward Lear's literary nonsense from the perspective of i... more This somewhat informal article analyzes Edward Lear's literary nonsense from the perspective of interactivity and reader-response theory, taking into account the combination of text and illustration. It is a beginner's guide to how Lear's nonsense functions, its pedagogical value, and the sometimes subversive results.
The Lion and The Unicorn, 2011
... will be an institution standing free from those who founded it: a capable new slate of editor... more ... will be an institution standing free from those who founded it: a capable new slate of editors (David Russell, Karin Westman, and Naomi Wood) will guide ... Winning the award for Most Cynical Cash-in, Shoe-la-la, is Sex in the City for “ritzy-glitzy / glamour girl”-poetasters-in-training ...
The Lion and the Unicorn, 2009
Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 2005
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Papers by Michael Heyman
Essays & Journal Articles by Michael Heyman
Michael Heyman
Berklee College of Music
When Anita Tarr and Richard Flynn discuss children’s poetry in their 2002 special issue of the ChLA Quarterly, they state that “No one needs a reminder of how prevalent poetry is in children’s lives, ranging from nursery rhymes to advertisement jingles to song lyrics to poetry in the classroom” (2). Does it matter that two of the four examples here are actually music, rather than what most would call poetry? Tarr and Flynn, like most critics of children’s literature, discuss poetry and music interchangeably, and not without some good reasons grounded in the history and nature of “verse,” but this is no new trend. In some of the earliest children’s literature, also, artists and publishers have freely thrown around categorical terms like “poetry,” “verse,” and “song” as if they are all the same. We need look no further than Watts’s Divine and Moral Songs (1715) and Newbury’s Pretty Little Pocket-Book (1744), which is, as the title states, “A Little Song-Book.” Perhaps such distinctions do not matter: we seem to have gotten on fairly well as writers and readers of children’s poetry without further delineation into persnickety classifications of quasi-musical terms. Yet, even within these iconic examples we see a crucial difference: Watts’s songs were actually meant to be musical—written for, and sung to the tunes of popular hymns that children would know. The hymns, combined with Watts’s new lyrics, would surely create a new kind of experience inseparable from the strictly musical element. Newbery’s “songs,” on the other hand, are just bits of stiffly lyrical verse, far removed from actual music. The difference, I argue in this chapter, is worth noting. Recently there have been calls for the inclusion of material culture or cognitive approaches to children’s literature criticism, but I would contend that a musical approach is even more fundamental—that, in many cases, it is the hidden aesthetic. In this chapter, I discuss the function of music in relation to children’s poetry, in terms of its utility and usefulness as critical criteria. Some of music’s functions have been noted, such as certain performative aspects, the pleasure it provides, and its utility as mnemonic device or aid to physical pronunciation. More dangerous is the area of how meaning changes when words are performed as music. This elusive musical “meaning” or what Leonard Bernstein called “that terrible bugaboo,” should be a crucial element of hermeneutics, just as illustrations are inseparable from picture book text. Using texts that were written as actual music, I posit critical approaches based in part on the musical elements, on how music “quickens” (to use Maurice Sendak’s term) text, giving life and rhythm. This will begin with Watts’s Divine Songs but move primarily to Edward Lear’s nonsense songs and the sheet music included in their publication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBQOqxOgWoI