The Duck and the Kangaroo Summary & Analysis
by Edward Lear

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"The Duck and the Kangaroo" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear. It was first published in Lear's 1870 collection, Nonsense Songs. The poem depicts a dialogue between a pond-bound duck and the kangaroo who represents the duck's greatest chance at freedom. The duck persuades the kangaroo to take the duck around the world on its back. While "The Duck and the Kangaroo" does not share the structure or the precise meter of Lear's limericks, his greatest claim to fame, the poem includes Lear's signature wordplay and his use of anthropomorphism, in which he gives animal characters very human traits and interactions).

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