She Sells Seashells By The Seashore #PoetryFriday

Greetings from Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast of England! I’ve just arrived today to begin a week of hiking the Southwest Coast Path with my husband and exploring the amazing world of Mary Anning, a 19th century fossil collector and amateur paleontologist.

Mary is thought to be the inspiration for the children’s tongue twister, She Sells Seashells By The Seashore. (Click here to read my slice about Mary and the trip’s inspiration.) If so, those weren’t shells she was selling!

Here is the complete text:

She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

While researching my trip and literary connections, I stumbled up this silly limerick about Lyme Regis written by 19th century art critic and limerick writer William Cosmo Monkhouse. (Click here. You HAVE to see what he looks like!) Just for fun!

There once was an old man of Lyme 
Who married three wives at a time, 
When asked, “Why a third?” 
He replied, ” One’s absurd! 
And bigamy, sir, is a crime.”

See you soon!

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My dear cyber friend and digital literacy mentor Carol at Beyond Literacy Link is graciously hosting this week’s Poetry Friday. Why not join us there and spread some poetry love!