Audiobook · read by volunteers
How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers
Robert Williams Wood (1868–1955)
Read by Andrea L · 1 chapter · 9 min
About the book
How do you tell a parrot from a carrot? A plover from a clover? A bay from a jay? Robert Williams Wood answers with a cheerful mixture of puns, rhymes and nonsense, in a little book that pairs birds with plants whose names sound almost alike. Each pair is described in comic verse, with a mock-serious tone that makes the absurdity even funnier. It is a charming example of light verse from the early twentieth century, written by a man who was in fact a distinguished scientist. The verses are short, the rhymes are bold and the jokes land without any help from the pictures that fill the printed book. Andrea L reads the poem in around twelve minutes, an easy and cheerful listen that is perfect for children and for anyone who likes wordplay.
Introduction
Robert Williams Wood (1868-1955) was an American physicist who taught at Johns Hopkins University and made important contributions to the study of optics, including pioneering work with ultraviolet light. He was also known for a lively sense of humour, and he wrote and illustrated a number of humorous books in his spare time. How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers, published in 1907, is the best known of them and has been reprinted many times.
The book is a parody of the field guides that were popular among nature lovers at the time. Instead of helping readers identify real species, it presents a series of pairs of things whose names rhyme or sound alike, such as birds and flowers, and it supplies a short verse explaining how to distinguish them. The jokes depend on puns and on the earnest tone of the instructions. Wood drew the illustrations himself, which are part of the fun in the printed book, but the verses stand up very well when read aloud.
This recording is a single section lasting about twelve minutes. It is read by LibriVox volunteer Andrea L. It is short enough to enjoy several times in a row, and it makes a good introduction to the tradition of nonsense verse for younger listeners. Adults will smile at the scientist's willingness to play, and at the way a silly premise can produce real craft in rhyme.
Public domain
Robert Williams Wood died in 1955: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text