The Learian Limericks Augmented and Revised
[I never thought they needed augmentation and/or revision; anyway here is Mr Jeliss’s presentation of his ‘improvements’ — Marco.]
Many of the nonsense verses of Edward Lear which take the form now known as a limerick end with a line that merely repeats the first line with but slight variation. Since his time the necessity for the last line to provide a twist in the tail, or a kick in the pants in our less genteel age, has become apparent. Accordingly I have undertaken, in what I hope will be taken to be sincere affection for the originals, and not sacrilege, to provide some of Mr Lear’s limericks with a little more punch in their final lines. Unfortunately many modern writers seem to think that all limericks should be obscene and some have ‘reduced’ Lear’s work in this way. My aim has been to ‘enhance’ his work with a little added wit or humour of a simple kind. The new lines are in italic.
[This project reminds me of Arthur’s tour de force in The Edwardian Leer, an ‘uncensored’ version of all 112 limericks from the Book of Nonsense.]