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Edward Lear is remembered, and rightly so, as the Father of the Limerick. Were it not for him, this little five line verse form may never have become such a beloved, ubiquitous part of our literary and popular culture.
Yet the very thing that makes the limerick so appealing held no appeal for Edward Lear. The final line of his verses brought no twist, and sought no giggle. It was a summing up, and nothing more.
But Lear had opened Victorian eyes to the possibilities inherent in the limerick: A Book of Nonsense was a runaway bestseller.
In 1872 Lear published one hundred new limericks, hoping to repeat his earlier success. But while his original verses are still fondly remembered today, still anthologised, still quoted in mainstream and social media, his next hundred limericks are unknown.
Why?
Because the limerick had moved on without him, acquiring a life of its own and romping towards the twentieth century with outlandish, irreverent and often obscene delight.
And Lear couldn’t follow. It just wasn’t in his nature to go there. So having launched the boat, he now stood alone on the dock and watched it sail off into the distance.
Limericks After Lear breathes new life into Edward Lear’s creations. Book One, The Fifth Line, took A Book of Nonsense as its starting point and sent all 112 verses off in new directions.
Book Two retrieves those lost, forgotten verses of 1872 and presents them complete: all 100 of Lear’s originals, plus a brand new limerick for each that, I hope, will make you giggle.
They’re family-friendly, too: )
