The Fifth Line: Limericks After Lear Book One
If you’ve ever longed for the Old Man of Cape Horn to cheer up, or wanted to rescue the Person of Cromer from his unexplained conclusion, or silence that annoying Old Man with a Bell, then this is the book you’ve been waiting for.
One hundred and twelve brand new limericks based on Edward Lear’s verses in his ground-breaking work, A Book of Nonsense (1846 and 1863). Plus Lear’s original verses. That’s two hundred and twenty four limericks!
But why the new new take on old poems?
Because Edward Lear abandoned the most important part of the limerick - the fifth line - which as you know is the part of a limerick that makes us chuckle. Having established a premise that was knowingly and joyfully absurd, he would end with a line that simply repeated the rhyme and substance of the first.
The Fifth Line revisits every verse in A Book of Nonsense, wringing the best from all five lines for each of them. They’re all here, from An Old Man With a Nose to A Young Lady Whose Bonnet, and everything in between.
The Fifth Line: Limericks After Lear. Plus Lear. Plus new illustrations.