There Was an Old Man of Kilkenny Lyrics
The old man of Kilkenny never has more than a penny. He spends all of it on onions and honey, and he is labelled wayward.
There Was an Old Man of Kilkenny
There was an Old Man of Kilkenny,
Who never had more than a penny;
He spent all that money,
In onions and honey,
That wayward Old Man of Kilkenny.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/there-was-an-old-man-of-kilkenny/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Edward Lear
- Tune
- Rolling and cheerful, with a chuckle at the onions
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| He spent all that money, | Open an empty palm and look at it. |
| In onions and honey, | Rub your tummy, then wrinkle your nose. |
What Does There Was an Old Man of Kilkenny Mean?
The limerick is built on a funny shopping list. The man has a single penny, a very small coin, and instead of buying something sensible he spends the lot on onions and honey. The two do not belong together, and that is what makes it silly. The last line calls him wayward, which means someone who does as he pleases and is hard to steer.
It sounds good, too. Kilkenny and penny rhyme, and so do money and honey. Kilkenny is a town in Ireland. The poem does not say whether he enjoyed his purchase.
History and Origin
A railway story told by Lear in More Nonsense goes like this: in a railway carriage in which an old gentleman insisted that the Earl of Derby wrote the first Book of Nonsense and that Edward Lear did not exist. Lear ended the argument by showing his name marked inside his hat and handkerchief.
Learning Activities
- Silly shopping: ask the child to say what they would spend one penny on, then make the oddest pair.
- Coin look: look at a small coin and talk about what it buys now.
- Rhyme chase: find rhymes for money and penny.
- Draw the basket: draw a basket of onions and a jar of honey.