there once was a reader in texas

br> I always thought Edward Lear cheated by essentially recapping the final line — not really writing a fifth line at all:

A very old lady from Stockton
Kept acting like she was from Brockton.
She ate almond chews
And cried in her shoes,
That desperate old lady from Stockton.

I mean, come on. The whole point of a limerick is to punch you with the surprise of the last line. It's especially great when you hear the setup and wonder how they're going to arrive at the punch. A favorite:

A student from dear old Bryn Mawr
Committed a dreadful faux pas:
She loosened a stay
On her décolleté
Thus exposing her je ne sais quoi.

Excellent!

As for Lear, I understand that he was trying to write *anti*limericks (at least arguably). The nerd-cool comic strip Bloom County often did this too, putting the punchline in the penultimate position, and then a deflating comment, to great comic effect.

Still, in Lear's case, it ends up sounding lazy to my ears.

Here: I'll do my own. How's this, Lear fans?

There was an old man from Peru
Who simply did not like Peru.
He hated Peru
Though he lived in Peru,
That bumptious old man from Peru.