Can you believe we are at Day 12 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge already? Today is L. Yes I know. You expected me to write about Love or Laughter, right? Last year I did write about Love. Today, I figured we’d start the week with a good dose of laughter and I’ve got…
…L for Limerick
Of all the poetry forms, the limerick is one of my favorites. (Fine, laugh!). Limericks are usually funny and often irreverent, nonsensical and bawdy. My first introduction to limericks was via my Uncle, who could compose them on the go and kept us in splits!
Believed to have originated around 1700 and invented by soldiers returning from France to Limerick, Ireland, the limerick is a five-line poem with one couplet and one triplet. The first two lines have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with each other and have the same rhythm. The third and fourth lines, which are shorter and have five to seven syllables, rhyme together have the same rhythm. The fifth line has the same rhythm as the first line, and is sometimes the same as the first line, or rhymes with it. The limerick follows the AABBA rhyme scheme.
This limerick won an Irish ‘Listowel Writers Week’ prize in 1998 – and is a perfect example for the structure:
Writing a Limerick’s absurd,
Line one and line five rhyme in word,
And just as you’ve reckoned
They rhyme with the second;
The fourth line must rhyme with the third.
Oh, there’s plenty of word play, puns, idioms, onomatopoeia and more.
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
Limericks became a popular form and one of the most well-known works is of Edward Lear – who preferred to call them “nonsense” rather than “limerick”. His self-illustrated Book of Nonsense was published in 1846.
Another book “The Limerick” considered the largest and most scholarly anthology edited by G Legman, states that the true limerick as a folk form is always lewd. The book has over 1700 examples with notes and variants of the Limerick. I have the first edition of this book.
Limericks are also very popular in children’s verse. Think Mother Goose nursery rhymes – thought to be among the oldest published limericks. Most people will recognize this one, originally from 1744!
Hickory, Dickory Dock,
A Mouse ran up the Clock,
The Clock Struck One,
The Mouse fell down,
And Hickory Dickory Dock.
And of course this one:
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Understanding the limerick’s rhyming scheme
The limerick follows the “AABBA” rhyming scheme. This is because the last words in lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Those are the “A’s” in the rhyme scheme. The “B’s” are the last words of lines 3 and 4. See this example:
There was a young fellow named Hall
Who fell in the spring in the fall.
‘Twould have been a sad thing
Had he died in the spring,
But he didn’t—he died in the fall.
The words hall, fall and fall rhyme – these are the A words.
Thing and spring, which rhyme are the B words.
What about the rhythm?
A limerick’s rhythm is called “anapaestic”. When you recite the limerick, you’ll notice that the first two lines and the last line have three “beats”, while the third and fourth lines have two “beats”. Read the above limerick again to feel it!
And now, let’s enjoy some limericks!
A couple of classics:
There is a clever old miser who tries
every method to economize.
He said with a wink,
“I save gallons of ink
by simply not dotting my “i’s” !”
And this:
A rare old bird is the pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He keeps in his beak
enough food for a week.
I am damned if I know how the hellican!
The following limerick is of unknown origin:
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical
Sury is very good at writing limericks and one of his specialties is creating one to go with all the articles he publishes! Here are two by him:
Under the banyan tree
sat the naked yogi.
People, keen to visit
asked; “true is it,
that is not he but she?!”
♥
A soldier at the border
has quite a queer disorder.
Uses shaving cream and toothpaste
to shave and brush teeth in haste
but not necessarily in that order!
Do you enjoy limericks? Have you written any?
Which is your favorite? Please share in the comments!
Let’s visit these blogs today!
Sheethal of Rambled Scribblings
Gauri Kekre of Mind Brew
I am reading just when the others are sound asleep and stuffing my mouth to stifle the chuckles 😀
Limericks are my favourite nonsense verses and you just started my week with a huge smile. Loved the ones by Sury. He should publish a book of those 😉
😀 Sury has published several! And he usually has his audience in splits.
Thank you, Shailaja! I love the bad, bad ones!
Hahaha! What a wonderful way to start the week!!
I haven’t written any limericks, but I’ve always enjoyed them.
Happy (Tamil) New Year to you and your family!
Thank you Pro!
And thank you for the New Year wishes! Same to you!
You took me back to the school days! Loved reading the limericks, I should try writing one at least.
You should, Pratibha! They are such fun!
I guess beneath the shield of nonsense, they make the greatest sense 😀 Loved the whole collection 🙂 I love the sound of the name ‘ Limerick’ 😀 That’s so tangily sweet 🙂 MY first A to Z post for the day, and I’ve begun my day with a lime-licked smile…oops, limericked smile 🙂 Thanks, Vidya 🙂 Special appreciation to the two limericks at the bottom 🙂 Loved the soldier 🙂
Sreeja, I love you. That is all! I especially appreciate your knack of pointing out the things that matter and referring to something you read earlier on my blogs. It means very much to me! You’re a star!
Whoever invented the Limericks need to be given a Nobel for literature.. I can only recall and smile at the innumerable limericks we exchanged at school and laughed our guts out, tho most of them were quite unprintable :-).. yes indeed, it is an art.. a very noble art 🙂
Ravi, I completely agree! My most favorite ones are quite unprintable! I have the whole set of Rugby jokes books, courtesy my Uncle. By the way – the book I mentioned – The Limerick – is full of unprintables too! 😀
There is in Vidya a good teacher
But she practices and no mere preacher
Each day I learn a thing or two
Limerick came in passing too
Everyday her blog sports new feature
Mr KP. I just stood up and applauded with reverence!
Love your comment! 🙂
This is just so great, Vidya! What a fun post on the New Year day! I am not the one to write verses, but I enjoy many kinds, and now including Limericks 🙂 The selection you share here is quite a nice one. And Sury’s are very good too…do share some more when you can. And you did very well by spreading some Limerick love and laughter!
Beloo, 🙂 So sweet to read your comment!
By the way, I was going to post a Languages post today – Vidur (my son) was supposed to write it – but he had too much to do, so I told him to chill. 🙂
I devoured your post
Like a good sunday roast
It cleared my brain fog,
from reading too many blogs
Compliments to you, a fabulous host
There you inspired my first limerick 🙂
Ida
Reflex Reactions
I love reading limericks, but I can’t imagine writing them! Such a fun post Vidya! ♥
Limericks are so much fun! Just loved your informative post about them, Vidya. I remember as a child having a favourite story book full of stories and rhymes. The section with Edward Lear’s limericks were wonderful.
Very enjoyable!
http://cattitudeandgratitude.blogspot.ca/2014/04/l-is-for-legendary-leftover-loup.html
I have never tried Limericks..Maybe I should…And I hope this comment goes through! sigh!
Oh how I love limericks! They always bring a smile. Great teaching tool too for pronunciation practice.
This one was my favourite as a kid:
There was a young lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
Sury’s are great – as as his puns!
Ah, Corinne – that’s one of my favorites too! I almost added it, and thought I’d end up overloading the post!
Thanks! 😀
I love reading limericks… 🙂 they are so fun and interesting. Thanks got sharing some wonderful pieces
Love this, Vidya! Limericks were always my favorite as a kid!
Great post Vidya! I had the good fortune to have lived in Limerick where humour is indeed part and parcel of daily life.
Wow, Anyta! That is so exciting! 🙂 So is there a limerick you particularly like?
Thanks Vidya. A favorite limerick is by Dixon Merritt
A wonderful bird is the Pelican
His bill can hold more than a belican
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I’m damned if I see how he helican
Great laughs and you taught me something too. Thanks.
Limericks are fun! 😀 The ones I remember aren’t really suitable for a G-rated audience however. 😉 Can’t believe we’re up to L already!
How fun! I had forgotten about limericks until reading this post. I love Sury’s – how clever! And, I love the ones the readers have posted in the comments. Thank you for the heart-smile – what a wonderful way to open the week!
Wonderful reading them. I like your first one and the pelican:)Thanks for putting a smile on my face:)
Hi Vidya, I do enjoy a good limerick. Here is my best effort:
This limerick’s off just a little.
Amiss by a jot or a tittle.
It hardly meets
The level of Keats,
But amuse you? I’m hoping that it’ll.
Oh, and your post made me smile. Thank you.
Bob, that’s so sweet!
Thank you so much for coming by!
Heading over to your place now!
This was hilarious.. The flee, fly flea.. My favourite. I live your choice of topic Vidya.
Even though I have known limericks all my life, I never really knew the basics. Thanks for such a lovely post.And I love your concept of collecting smiles 🙂
How fun! I think the last I wrote a limerick was high school! Wow, it’s been years!
Happy new year ! I liked this collection 🙂 wish I could write like this 🙁
Interesting word for L Vidya!
Hehe 🙂 Vidya this has to be my fav L post! I used to be so fond of Limericks as a kid, wrote few too!! Loved the last one a lot! 😀
Limericks sure are a great pun and loads of fun, can’t remember any favorite but i do like them. I did not know that nursery rhymes were limericks too.
Great read.
Aw. Love those limericks by Sury. I love the fun topics you pick for the challenge, Vidya!
Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2014, My Latest post
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
had fun reading this ! remembered my school days !
I was trying to remember a nice one for you, but my mind isnt working tonight – it’s on strike!
Jemima
Fellow #TeamDamyanti
Blogging from Alpha to Zulu in April
Love to laugh and love poetry but never really appreciated limericks but you make some valid points. Maybe it is time to look a little closer – thank you
Carol @ Battered Hope
The limericks are great fun!
I’m thinking that this is a great way to get youngsters interested in poetry, especially the ones who have a natural aversion to poetry. They often view poetry as something “stuffy”. Teach them the limerick structure, and then let them write their own limericks. That should get them hooked on poetry. Don’t you think? (Well, hopefully…)