There once was a man from Pawtucket
And played on his knee a gutbucket
With his clever word play
People would dance the night away
And sculpted him a statue in Nantucket.
We’’re sure you expected that one to lead up to a different final line. Limericks are humorous 5-line poems, with bouncy rhythm such as AABBA. These poems are short, often nonsensical, and frequently in “poor taste.” The meter is anapestic, two short syllables followed by one syllable, da-da-DUM. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Lines 3 and 4 lines share a different rhyme. The spirit is whimsical, witty, humorous, and sometimes bawdy!
Although the inventor or the lyrical poetry is unknown, the form of the limerick verse appeared in England in the early 18th century. Edward Lear popularized limericks in his writing in the 19th century. Lear was a poet, artist, and musician and the author of children’s books. A Book of Nonsense published in 1846, hosted a family-friendly collection of rhymes and meters. What they have to do with the Irish is unclear, but since Limerick is a town in Ireland, there is a long-standing, if inexplicable, association. And so our thoughts turn to limericks as the weather turns to St. Patrick’s Day each year.
Sit down and give one a try, you might have a full page of ideas, but from experience, you’ll change the lines a few times before it sounds just right!