[Ads-l] Limerick: Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

On July 3, 2020 I posted a message about my exploration of the
provenance of a popular verse about the pelican. Top researcher Bill
Mullins sent me a fantastic citation that illuminates this topic.
Based on Bill's citation the leading candidate for creator of the
pelican poem is now C. M. Marshton who has been described as "one of
the editors of the Chicago Record-Herald".

The Quote Investigator entry has been updated, but there may be a
delay of several hours before the latest version of the article is
propagated through the distributed network.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/06/20/pelican/

Below is Bill's citation which is  the earliest instance of the poem
known to me. The existence of an earlier instance in the “St
Petersburg Independent” has been claimed in a contemporary newspaper,
but I have not verified it.

[ref] 1913 April 2, The Tampa Morning Tribune, Real Florida "Poetry",
Quote Page 20, Column 2 and 3, Tampa, Florida. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
It has remained for one rhymer to produce one little "piece" that
saves the season from utter mediocrity. This benefactor dwells in
Chicago and he has written a classic--one which merits conspicuous
publication in all the high-class literary journals. The author is C.
M. Marshton, one of the editors of the Chicago Record-Herald, and the
"poem" was written and sent by him to relatives who were spending the
winter at St. Petersburg . . .

At the risk of infringing on a copyright, the Tribune prints the
masterpiece of the Florida poetry season of 1912-13. Here it is:

A gorgeous bird is the pelican,
Whose beak will hold more than his bellican.
He can put in his beak
Food enough for a week.
But I'm d---- if I see how in hellecan.
[End excerpt]

I found a precursor verse containing a partial match which appeared
within an advertisement printed in "The Evening World" of New York
City on January 25, 1908. The verse highlighted the number of fish
that the pelican's capacious beak could hold, and it employed the
rhyme of "beak" and "week":

[ref] 1908 January 25, The Evening World, (Advertisement promoting
purchase of newspaper ads in "The Evening World"), Quote Page 10,
Column 7, New York. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
AN ANIMAL ALPHABET

P Stands for Pelican
A bird whose great beak
Will hold more fish than
You could eat in a week.
[End excerpt]

[Begin acknowledgement]
Many thanks to Bill Mullins who located the crucial citation dated
April 2, 1913.
[Begin acknowledgement]

Garson O'Toole
QuoteInvestigator.com

On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 2:12 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Many quotation references include the following limerick (or something similar):
>
> Oh, a wondrous bird is the pelican!
> His beak holds more than his belican.
> He takes in his beak
> Food enough for a week.
> But I’ll be darned if I know how the helican.
>
> References usually credit the verse to Dixon Lanier Merritt. The date
> specified is either 1910 or 1913. The Associated Press obituary of
> Merritt in 1972 also gave him credit.
>
> Now the Quote Investigator website has an entry on the topic. I found
> that Merritt did publish the limerick in 1913, but he disclaimed
> authorship repeatedly. Details are available in the QI article.
>
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/06/20/pelican/
>
> Garson O'Toole
> Quotenvestigator.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org