POEMS: We got these from a page named “The Poetry Collection,” and with a title of “Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks,” we had to look.

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From Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven

There once was a girl named Lenore

And a bird and a bust and a door

And a guy with depression

And a whole lot of questions

And the bird always says “Nevermore.”

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Footprints in the Sand

There was a man who, at low tide

Would walk with the Lord by his side

Jesus said “Now look back;

You’ll see one set of tracks.

That’s when you got a piggy-back ride.”

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From “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

There once was a poet named Will

Who tramped his way over a hill

And was speechless for hours

Over some stupid flowers

This was years before TV, but still.

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FREEDOM: “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” ―Silence Dogood, likely the pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin.

Like many Founding Fathers, Franklin sometimes wrote anonymously or under an assumed name. This freedom of speech quote appeared in a 1722 letter to the editor of The New-England Courant and was signed with Franklin’s pen name.

Franklin believed freedom of speech was a “principal pillar of a free government” without which a constitution would dissolve and tyranny would prevail.

He saw free expression as a fundamental defense against oppressive regimes, noting that an official with the power to punish for words would wield a “destructive and terrible” weapon.