Analysis on the Children’s Literature Genres Abecedarium and Limerick: The Picture Books by Edward Gorey

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze two different genres, an abecedarium and a limerick, which are common in Children’s Literature. The selected exemplars, The Gashlycrumb Tinies and A Limerick, were written by Edward Gorey. This analysis aims to identify stylistic, thematic, and rhetorical aspects in the exemplars, both in the written text and in the illustrations, through exploratory documental research and under the perspective of multimodality. As a result, traditional aspects of the genres are present in both the texts, such as the rhetorical and structural organization; while the theme is distinct because it is more tragical. However, balance between form and content in the books distances the reader and relieves the tension regarding the theme. Finally, the illustrations tell a story even when isolated from the verbal text, but they are complementary when verbal and non-verbal texts are seen as unit.