At The Zoo
This poem ends in a literary joke. Normally the last word of the last line would rhyme with the last word of the preceding line. There is even a perfect word to end this poem and make it rhyme - "stunk". Thackeray chose to end the poem with "smelt". You can almost hear the "sting" of the drum that ends a lame joke, "ba dum ching!" To me that makes it funnier!
At The Zoo
Poem
First I saw the white bear, then I saw the black;
Then I saw the camel with a hump upon his back;
Then I saw the grey wolf, with mutton in his maw;
Then I saw the wombat waddle in the straw;
Then I saw the elephant a-waving of his trunk;
Then I saw the monkeys - mercy, how unpleasantly they smelt!
Notes
Written by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863).
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Thanks to Monique Palomares for the illustration.
