A limerick is a five-line poem written with one couplet and one triplet. If a couplet is a two-line rhymed poem, then a triplet would be a three-line rhymed poem. The rhyme pattern is a a b b a with lines 1, 2 and 5 containing 3 beats and rhyming, and lines 3 and 4 having two beats and rhyming. Some people say that the limerick was invented by soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700's.
Limericks are meant to be funny. They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns, and other figurative devices. The last line of a good limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or "heart of the joke." As you work with limericks, remember to have pun, I mean FUN! Say the following limericks out loud and clap to the rhythm.
L1 (3 beats "a") A flea and a fly in a flue
L2 (3 beats "a") Were caught, so what could they do?
L3 (2 beats "b") Said the fly, "Let us flee."
L4 (2 beats "b") "Let us fly," said the flea.
L5 (3 beats "a") So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
-Anonymous
You will soon hear the distinctive beat pattern of all limericks. The rhythm is just as important in a limerick as the rhyme. Try completing this limerick.
(3 beats "a") There once was a pauper named Meg
(3 beats "a") Who accidentally broke her _______.
(2 beats "b") She slipped on the ______.
(2 beats "b") Not once, but thrice.
(3 beats "a") Take no pity on her, I __________.
Lyrical Lesson: Limericks
1. Practice the rhythm of limericks by clapping you hands or snapping your fingers.
2. Think of some funny names, places, or situations.
3. Using the a a b b a 5-line form, write an original limerick.
4. How would you illustrate the page if your poem was published in a book of limericks? What types of art would you use?
SOURCES and resources:
EXAMPLES & LAGNIAPPE
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'
by Edward Lear
Limericks have been around for quite a while and most likely had their beginning in Ireland, perhaps originating as drinking songs in the local Irish pubs.
A limerick is composed of five lines, with lines one, two and five being longer than the third and fourth lines. That seems easy enough. However, there are strict rules that must be followed in the construction of these lines. The keyword is metre (meter). In a sense, the metre is the beat or the rhythm of the line. TIP #1 There is an easy way to remember the metre.
Recite out loud the first line of the old Christmas classic, 'Twas the night be-fore Christ-mas and all through the house. In this line you can hear the compelling beat: da da DUM. This unit of the beat is called a metrical foot but, unlike the Christmas poem, a limerick contains three metrical feet in lines one, two and five, and two metrical feet in lines three and four. Hence:
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
TIP #2 The rule is, you must stick to this metre in the composition of your limerick.
The metrical foot, da da DUM, is called an anapest, and, as has been said, there are three anapests in the first, second and fifth lines and two anapests in lines three and four. From an anonymous writer comes this example:
Said an ape as he swung by his tail,
To his off-spring both fe-male and male;
"From your off-spring, my dears,
In a cou-ple of years,
May e-volve a pro-fess-or at Yale.
TIP #3 There are exceptions to this rule!
There is the option of making the first foot an iamb, which is da DUM. Thus, a line could have one iamb and two anapests. For example, There once was a man from New York. I have written the follow, using an iamb at the beginning of lines one, two and five. Lines three and four begin with anapests.
A din-o once said to his friend,
I think that our kind will soon end.
Ev-o-lu-tion it's called,
But it seems to be stalled,
Un-less there's a monk-ey to send.
TIP #4 There is another exception.
The metrical feet at the end of the lines of a limerick can contain an extra "quiet" syllable, as in da da DUM da. For example, There was once a young man from Mount Vernon. However, when this is done, each of the matching lines (i.e., one, two and five or three and four) must also end in an extra unaccented syllable."There's another exception to the limerick rules: A limerick, being primarily a humorous verse form, may violate any rule if its text states or implies a reason for doing so." |
TIP #5 If a limerick does not flow easily when read out loud, something is probably wrong
The easiest way to find the error of your ways and to get back on the proper metrical track is to do what I have do. Bold the accent word or syllable... da da DUM.TIP #6 You will never get away with writing a limerick that does not rhyme.
The last word of lines one, two and five must rhyme with each other, and so must the last words of lines three and four. It is an aabba pattern, and there are only rare exceptions.My girlfriend had put on my sweater,
The one with my big high school letter,
And it then seemed to me,
And I'm sure you'll agree,
On her it looked quite a bit better.
TIP #7 There are exceptions to this rule also.
While here are strict guidelines about rhyming that are adhered to by compulsive limericks writers, many of these rules are ignored in the writing of "recreational" limericks.There once was an old man named Cohen,
Who cut off the foot of Tim Bowen.
Now it wasn't that hard,
For Tim slept in the yard,
And Cohen clipped Bowen while mowin'.
Remember... Just because two words look the same does not mean they rhyme. Rhyme is not found in what we see, but in what we hear. Be careful when choosing your end rhymes, for there are some words with more than one pronunciation.To my ear, this next limerick could be a "near" or "slant rhyme" depending upon your accent. You decide.
There once was a fellow named Jerry,
Who sought to write limericks for Mary.
Perplexed, our dear poet
With E-How's help wrote it.
And Mary he later did marry.
TIP #8 There is a tradition regarding the opening line of a classic limerick.
The classic standard for a first line is to use it to identify a character, as in "There once was a fellow named Jake," or "A silly old man they called Ned" (each of these opening lines has one iamb and two anapests).Another use of the opening line is to identify a location, as in "There once was a gal from New York." Again, the meter is a single iamb, followed by two anapests. A limerick by Stephen Cass, published in the book The Penguin Book of Limericks, begins with a line having three anapests as it introduces both a character and a location.
A psychiatrist fellow from Rye
Went to visit another close by,
Who said, with a grin,
As he welcomed him in:
"Hello, Smith! You're all right! How am I?"
TIP #9 A good limerick must be clever.
- The classic limericks starts with the introduction of a character, or identifies the location of an event or both within the first line, the next line might be used to identify a characteristic, an occupation, or some other feature of the character.
- The next two lines are a set up for the final line.
- A limerick is like a clever joke, holding the listeners' attention and then surprising them with the clever twist or turn in the punch line, that will be dealt with in more detail in the next section.
It was a change of season that prompted a clever limerist, who uses the pen name Cap'n Bean, to send me the following Fall greeting.
There was nothing dramatic, shocking or compelling about Cap'n Bean's playful tale of a common Fall occurrence. His metre was perfect (as his always is) and the final line brings a smile. Cap'n Bean often inspires me to send one back on the topic he has picked. Thinking of Fall and the gathering of the colorful leaves lead me to respond.The autumn's a colorful blur,
And the thousands of leaves will deter
A lawn that's kept neat
When you rake to the street,
And the wind blow 'em back where they were.
How I love when the leaves change their hue,
For when all of the raking is through,
I'll take just a while
And Jump in the pile -
There's a kid in me, just as in you!
TIP #10 Some of the best limericks make clever use of the double-entendre.
A classic example of a double- entendre (kid style):
Why was 10 afraid of 7? Because Seven "eight' nine. When read out loud it sounds like 7 ATE 9! The double-entendre is with the word 8/ate. It can mean two different things. Right away you can see that homonyms can be a fun way to play with words in a limerick.
TIP #11 Good limericks often end with a bang.
A twist, a punchline or an enexpected ending work well. It is fun to use a spoonerism, which The American Heritage Dictionary defines as "An unintentional transportation of sounds of two or more words." The dictionary uses as an example the line, "Let me sew" you to your seat" as a distortion of "Let me show you to your seat."
TIP #12 Always remember, no one has ever gotten rich from writing limericks.
There once was a man with a yearning,So he came to me looking for learning,
But I set his head right,
Said, "Write only at night,"
For you'll need your day job to keep earning."
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