Limerick Poems

What is a Limerick Poetry?

A limerick is always short, usually popular rather than literary, often humorous and ribald, sometimes nonsensical, and never "unwitty" poem developed to a very specific structure. The rhyme scheme of most limericks is usually aabba, as in the following example:

Quote:No Limerick?

A poem presenting with rhyme
and which follows a rhythm in time
need not be what we call
a true Limerick at all
like a lemon, the cousin of lime.

Herbert Nehrlich

Historical Background

In the history of Irish literature the town of Croom, in Co. Limerick, an Irish Mid-Western city, is celebrated as the meeting place of the 18th century Fili na Maighe, the Gaelic poets of the Maigue. This was the original birth place of the Limerick, apparently a pub song or tavern chorus based on the refrain "Will you come up to Limerick?"

However, variants of the form of poetry referred to as Limerick can be found throughout known history. From the work of Greek classic poets to the first known English popular song, Sumer is icumen in (c. 1300) and the works of Shakespeare (Othello, King Lear, The Tempest and Hamlet all contain limericks within longer segments).

The first deliberate creation to match limerick form is usually considered Tom o' Bedlam (c. 1600):

Quote: From the hag and hungry goblin
That into rags would rend thee
And the spirit that stands
by the naked man,
In the book of the moons defend yee.

Edward Lear - The Poet Laureate of the Limerick



Limericks were made famous by Edward Lear, a famous author who wrote the "Book of Nonsense" in the 1800's, book proved to be extremely popular in the nineteenth century. Lear in all wrote 212 limericks, mostly aimed towards nonsense. In his time limericks accompanied an illustration on the same subject, and the final line of the limerick was a kind of conclusion, which usually was a variant of the first, ending in the same word. Many critics view Lear's devotion to the ridiculous as a method for dealing with or undermining the all-pervasive orderliness and industriousness of Victorian society. Regardless of impetus, the humor of Lear's poems has proved irrefutably timeless.

A typical example from Lear’s collection is this verse:

Quote:There was an Old Man who supposed
That the street door was partially closed;
But some very large rats
Ate his coats and his hats,
While that futile Old Gentleman dozed.

You can find more about the Limerick poetry of Edward Lear here >>

Contemporary Limerick Poetry & Modern Authors

Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote Lecherous Limericks (1975), More Lecherous Limericks (1976) and Still More Lecherous Limericks (1977); He wrote two later volumes in collaboration with poet John Ciardi: Limericks Too Gross (1978) and A Grossery of Limericks (1981).

In 1970, New York's Brandywine Press published The Limerick, a canonical work of bawdy limericks compiled by folklore scholar Gershon Legman, which had previously been printed only in Europe. This was followed by The New Limerick in 1977 (later re-released under the title More Limericks.) The former volume contained more than 1700 verses, the latter about 2700.

How to Write a Limerick Poems?

To write a limerick follow these simple steps:

• The first, second and fifth lines each shoudl have eight syllables, and rhyme with each other, while the middle lines have only six syllables and a separate rhyme.
• A true limerick is supposed to have a kind of twist to it. This may lie in the final line, or it may lie in the way the rhymes are often intentionally tortured, or in both.
• The first line traditionally introduces a person and a location, and usually ends with the name of the location, though sometimes with that of the person. So, begin by choosing a character and a place name. (Note here that if your place name is longer than one syllable you may expand your lines to nine instead of eight syllables.)
• Think of some words which rhyme with your place name. Because the limerick is meant to be humorous, your rhymes may be silly - for example: Peru; shoe; perfectly true.
• Use two of these words to end the first two lines of your limerick, which introduce your character. There was an old man from Peru, Who dreamed he was eating his shoe.
• Next, think of a problem for your character, and present it in your two short lines: He woke in a fright In the middle of the night,
• Finally, finish with a resolution (ending) to your limerick, which should make your reader laugh. And found it was perfectly true.
  

Anty Limericks

Sub-genre of limerick poems that take the twist and apply it to the limerick itself. You may think of anti-limericks as poems posing as limericks but defiantly not following the prescribed rhythm or rhyme pattern. They're rebels. ;-)

Here is a famous anti-limerick example:

There was a young lad of Honolulu
Whose limericks stopped at line two.

Limerick Authors - That'll be You!

Limerick authors are often anonymous.
Attribution? Completely antonymous!
Unnamed author above
and that fits hand-in-glove
with something that’s just as synonymous.

There’s a thread on our poetry forum
to contribute with the rest of the quorum
the living flesh of limericks
with just a few mouse clicks
but please help maintain the decorum.

Buttefly