GREETINGS BLOGGERS AND WELCOME TO LIMERICK WEDNESDAY

After the seriousness of the last two days I though a little light-hearted verse was in order. I hope my actions have not scared too many of you away and you are still willing to participate, and like me - learn a thing or three.

What is a Limerick?
A Limerick is a five line poem that dates back to fourteenth century England. Limericks were short short, easily composed and often contained terms of a coarse and sexual nature. They were often recited by working classes and beggars in English pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. As the poets that created limericks were viewed as drunks, Limericks were often view as rude and vulgar in nature.

The word ‘Limerick’ is thought to be named after an old Irish town of Limerick. It is believed that drunken pubs and taverns across England would sing out "Will you come up to Limerick?" where these ‘lewd‘ naughty songs were sung.

Limericks were sometimes used in nursery rhymes and other poems for children, such as this popular one:

Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock

How does one write a Limerick?
Simple, write a five-lined poem of varied length, in a manner that combines a triplet and a couplet . (A triplet is a three-line rhymed poem. A couplet a two-lined rhyming poem.) It is important to note that the rhythm is as important as the rhyme in this style of poetry.

Traditionally Limericks should be risque, without offending the majority of it's readers . This may prove a challenge for some bloggers but give it a bash(not literally that is), although literal devices are very much part of Limericks. As are puns, juxtapositions, idioms and figurative expressions. Most importantly, Limericks should be funny and contain a punchline , 'the heart of the joke'.

Some examples to help you put them together:

When limerick writers convene,
Their reason for making the scene,
Is to make tepid jokes,
Meant for church going folks,
Into verses perverse and obscene.
By Pierce Evans

And let me the canakin clink, clink;
And let me the canakin clink
A soldier's a man;
A life's but a span;
Why, then, let a soldier drink.
By Shakespeare from Othello (Act II Scene III)

There once was a fellow from Xiangling
Whose greatest delight was in mangling
Poems. He would drop
Words between lines and lop
Their ends off, and leave readers dang
By Elliott Moreton

Or this one, an alternate limerick edited version created by Shakespeare based on his famous Sonnet 116, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” (one of my favourite favourites):

I once loved a lassie from Greenleigh
Whose comportment was naught short of queenly.
When she grows old and stout,
Wracked with chilblains and gout,
I'll embrace her no less, but more keenly

What is the Limerick format and rythym?

1. The limerick format is a A A B B A rhythym pattern.
2. Lines 1, 2 and 5 containing a three beat rhyme and have 7 to 10 syllables that rhyme with one another.
3. Lines 3 and 4 have a two beat rhyme and have a five to seven syllables which also rhyme with each other.

This is just a guide as you can see from the examples quotes. The example below tries to explain a limerick in the poem and illustrates the use of repeated lines:

There was a young poet quite fine,
Whose limericks repeated a line.
Though this was redundant,
Though this was redundant,
His limericks repeated a line.
By Carl Muckenhoupt

There was a young cannibal Ned,
Who used to eat onions in bed;
His mother said, "Sonny,
It's not very funny,
Why don't you eat people instead ?
By Gillian Nash

A newspaper poet for Hearst
Deprived of his reason
By uncontrolled sneezing
Was by phantasmal demons coerced
To write all of his limericks reversed.
By Elliott Moreton

About the only way I could get this right was to tap or clapping out the A A B B A rhythm as you compose. I suggest tapping on the desk as opposed to snapping your fingers - you co-workers look less strangly at you. It helps to think of funny situations, places, names and expressions. You will soon pick up the distinctive beat and rhyming pattern of all Limericks.

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.
Anonymous

And finally, two examples written by Edward Lear:
There was a Young Lady of Portugal,
Whose ideas were excessively nautical:
She climbed up a tree,
To examine the sea,

But declared she would never leave Portugal.
There was an Old Man with a nose,
Who said, 'If you choose to suppose,
That my nose is too long,
You are certainly wrong!'
That remarkable Man with a nose.