and go on
Who formed an original _plan_.
finishing the last line with _limb_ or _hen_ or _bun_. A serious writer
could do that with impunity, and indeed with praise, but the more
exacting traditions of Limerical composition insist that, having fixed
on _Ham_ as the end of the first line, you must find two other rhymes
to _Ham_, and good rhymes too. This is why there is so large a body of
uncompleted Limericks. For many years I have been trying to finish the
following unfinished masterpiece:--
There was a young man who said “_Hell!_
I don’t think I feel very well----”
That was composed on the Gallipoli Peninsula; in fact it was composed
under fire; indeed I remember now that we were going over the top at
the time. But in the quiet days of Peace I can get no further with it.
It only shows how much easier it is to begin a Limerick than to end it.
Apart from the subtle phrasing of the second line this poem is
noteworthy because it is cast in the classic form. All the best
Limericks are about a young man, or else an old one, who said some
short sharp monosyllable in the first line. For example:--