'The Waste Land In Five Limericks' by Wendy Cope

[elenbarathi]

T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land In Five Limericks

I

In April one seldom feels cheerful;
Dry stones, sun and dust make me fearful;
Clairvoyantes distress me,
Commuters depress me-
Met Stetson and gave him an earful.

IIShe sat on a mighty fine chair

Comments

[dreamilywistful]

Hahaha I love this! How clever!

[bohemiabythesea]

This is very very brilliant.

[veronica_milvus]

Wendy is fabulous. I love "wei la la, after that it gets deep".

Perhaps there are other poems we could limerickize, but sadly, this site will not be the place to post them.

[rymenhild]

The Dante/shantih rhyme is particularly inspired, I feel.

[zanylikethat]

I took an intensive T. S. Eliot seminar in undergrad. At the end of the semester, after we had struggled through the majority of his published work, including some grueling study of The Wasteland, my professor gave us all copies of this poem as a parting gift. I still have it hanging over my desk to keep me in good spirits. Love it!