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What is a limerick?
A limerick is a five-line poem in which the first, the second and fifth line rhyme with each other and have seven to ten syllables each. The third line rhymes with the fourth and have five to seven syllables each.
Originally popularized in English by Edward Lear. Limericks are witty, humorous, and sometimes obscene, but with humorous intent.
Example of a limerick - A limerick about limericks.
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
In space that is quite economical,
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
[Source: Wikipedia Author: unknown]
Gershon Legman, who compiled the largest and most scholarly collection, held that the true limerick, "as a folk form is always obscene".
History of the Limerick – The oldest of ‘em all
The limerick form can be traced back several hundred years. The oldest recorded poem fitting the metrical pattern is in Latin from Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274).
Sit vitiorum meorum evacuatio
Concupiscentae et libidinis exterminatio,
Caritatis et patientiae,
Humilitatis et obedientiae,
Omniumque virtutum augmentatio.
Translated into Enlish means:
Let my viciousness be emptied,
Desire and lust banished,
Charity and patience,
Humility and obedience,
And all the virtues increased
Variants of the form of poetry referred to as Limerick poems can be traced back to the fourteenth century English history. Limericks were used in Nursery Rhymes and other poems for children. But as limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and bawdy or sexual in nature they were often repeated by beggars or the working classes in the British pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventh centuries. The poets who created these limericks were therefore often drunkards! Limericks were also referred to as dirty.
Where does the term 'Limerick' come from?
The word derives from the Irish town of Limerick. Apparently a pub song or tavern chorus based on the refrain "Will you come up to Limerick?" where, of course, such bawdy songs that were later called 'Limericks' were sung.
Give me some examples!
When a youngster would ask me for an example, I would provide some educational limericks.
What a wonderful bird is a Pelican,
His bill holds more food than his belican.
He can take in his beak,
Food for more than a week,
I just wonder how the helican.
You would have noted that the spellings are incorrect. 'belican' = belly can and 'helican' = hell he can. Spellings have been changed to add to the comical effect here. If you look at this pic of a pelican below you'll see for yourself that its quite true too!
[Picture source: Google Images]
Another educational one that explains the Theory of relativity of Einstein;
A rocket inventor named Bright
Once traveled much faster than light.
He started one day
In the relative way
And returned the previous night.
Some rather interesting, clean ones that could be handed out to youngsters are listed below:
There were three little birds in a wood
Who always sang hymns when they could.
What the words were about
You could never make out,
But you felt it was doing them good.
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!'
[Edward Lear]
There was an old man of Peru
who dreamt he ate a shoe.
He woke in the night
with a terrible fright
And found out that it was quite true.
There once was a young girl named Jill.
Who was scared by the sight of a drill.
She brushed every day
So her dentist would say,
“Your teeth are so perfect; no bill.”
Since I had never penned a limerick of my own, I attempted my first one which goes thus:
Having taken up the challenge to write
I Stayed up all day and night,
to write a verse
for bad or worse
I just hoped I could get this right!
[Gopinath Mavinkurve - Hey that's me!]
Hey I got it right, right? That may not be so elegant but that was fun!
Don’t they say that limericks are generally mischievous, naughty, lewd and almost obscene? Yes several of them are. I would select some more and post some of them selectively sometime soon. So gathering some courage, I penned another:
“Should I tell them or just play a trick?”
He scratched his head, this maverick,
A really naughty one,
Just for the fun,
Oh, such is the lure of a limerick!
[Gopinath Mavinkurve - Hey that's me again!]
If you have come across a really good, interesting limericks, do post them in the comments section! I will post them along with my collection. You could even pen one yourself! Due credit/mention of contributor/author will be given
Just try it out - It is easy - Look, even I did it!
Credits for sources have been provided wherever available
