The Fifth Line

Edward Lear is known for the limericks in his ground-breaking work, A Book of Nonsense. They gave the limerick a popularity that endures to this day.
But his own verses threw away the limerick’s most important part - the twist in the final line that makes us chuckle.
Lear’s concern was Nonsense, a concept new to Victorian England. So he would establish a premise that was knowingly and joyfully absurd and, job done, his final line simply pointed back to the beginning.
To a modern eye, Lear’s poems are disappointing , because they don’t build up to anything. There’s no joke at the end. No twist. It’s pure let-down.
In The Fifth Line, John Arthur Nichol crafts a new limerick from the bones of every verse in A Book of Nonsense. His new verses include what we all expect from a limerick: a punch line. A sting in the tail. A chuckle at the end.
That's two hundred and twenty four limericks because, so that you can read the old and the new together, the book has Lear’s originals as well.
They're all here, from An Old Man With a Nose to A Young Lady Whose Bonnet, and everything in between.
If you've ever longed for the Old Man of Cape Horn to cheer up, or to rescue the Person of Cromer from his sudden and unexplained conclusion, or to silence that annoying Old Man with a Bell, then this is the book you've been waiting for.
Buy it now. Just for a laugh :)

Review Quotes:

Loved it!
Reedsy Discovery Reviewer.

“The Fifth line: Limericks After Lear is a fun little book of limericks.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… I love reading limericks. They are funny, witty, and amusing. This book also embodies all these traits. The author has done a great job adapting the limericks and even made most of them better than the original.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… I would happily recommend the book to all poetry lovers or to people that enjoy reading limericks.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… So in this slender volume you get the original and the remake side by side to compare and decide which one you prefer. Plus some adorable black and white drawings.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… Personally, I believe I liked the new versions more, they even made for an occasional laugh out loud moment. Though not like a proper laugh, more along the lines of a titter, snicker or a guffaw. But an adorable diversion, especially for fans of the jocular poetic art form that is a limerick.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… A very quick read and a perfectly entertaining way to spend 35 minutes or so. Actually, I wish my brain was more awake right now, so I’d review this in a limerick format, but no…maybe at a later date. Yeah, fun was had. Recommended. Thanks NetGalley.”
NetGalley Reviewer

“… Yeah, fun was had. Recommended.”
NetGalley Reviewer