{"id":13995,"date":"2014-11-14T12:16:15","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T18:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/?p=13995"},"modified":"2014-11-14T12:16:15","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T18:16:15","slug":"book-report-limericks-by-edward-lear-c-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/14\/book-report-limericks-by-edward-lear-c-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Report: Limericks<\/i> by Edward Lear &c (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/a>This book<\/a> is just what it says: A collection of limericks, the five line poem type.<\/p>\n

The book contains 212 limericks by Edward Lear, the English writer who popularized the form. His limericks are a bit of nonsence, and the fifth line pretty much just restates the first line without the clever twist that later limericks employed. So we get things like this:<\/p>\n

There was a Young Person in Pink,
\n\tWho called out for something to drink;
\n\tBut they said, “O my daughter,
\n\tThere’s nothing but water!”
\nWhich vexed that Young Person in Pink.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and:<\/p>\n

There was an Old Person of Fife,
\n\tWho was greatly disgusted with life;
\n\tThey sang him a ballad,
\n\tAnd fed him on salad,
\nWhich cured that old Person of Fife.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the main course of Lear, we get 28 limericks from Punch<\/em> magazine and then 20 other limericks. These last 48 are in the contemporary form with a little more punchline to the last line, but none of them stuck with me or inspired me to memorize them and tell them to others.<\/p>\n

I’m not really consumed with the urge to try out the form, either.<\/p>\n

So skip this book unless you’re a real scholar on poetry forms or want something to browse through during football games and don’t mind re-reading the same limerick a couple of times because you’d forgotten you’d read it before third down.<\/p>\n

Books mentioned in this review:<\/b>
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