Why are limericks funny

His daughter, called Nan, Ran away with a man, And as for the bucket, Nantucket. I would fix it at 3, For it's simpler, you see, Than 3 point 1 4 1 5 9.

There once was a man from Japan Whose limericks just didn't scan. When asked why this was, he answered, "Because I always try to cram as many syllables into the very last line as I possibly can. There once was a glorious cake. The sight of it made my heart ache. I ate the last slice, my heart turned to ice, So now a new cake I must bake.

A dying mosquito exclaimed, "A chemist has poisoned my brain! The limerick is never averse To expressing itself in a terse Economical style And yet, all the while The limerick is always a verse. There once was a farmer from Leeds Who swallowed a packet of seeds. Limericks generally use an anapestic metric foot , which is the snooty-English-teacher way of saying it uses a repeating rhythm of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable.

In a limerick, the first, second, and fifth lines each hold three stressed syllables, and the third and fourth lines each contain two stressed syllables. Clear as mud? Notice which syllables have harder beats than the rest:. This consistency, along with the rhyme scheme, is what holds a good limerick together. The final and loosest rule of limerick writing is its silly subject matter. Humor and wordplay almost always work their way into a good limerick.

So who made themselves the Kings and Queens of Poetry and invented all these rules? The name limerick was first formally recorded as the name of the five-line poem just two years before the beginning of the 20th century, when it appeared in the New English Dictionary. But the format itself is much older. Edward Lear is often, and incorrectly, called the father of the limerick for his appropriately titled collection of illustrated short poems, A B ook of Nonsense.

Undoubtedly, Lear was essential in popularizing the form. However, the actual invention of the limerick lies yet further back in time. These merrymakers were known to improvise limericks as a sporting event in the form of poetic insults.

Here we have a sample zinger from one of the minstrels, translated to English by James Clarence Mangan:. I sell the best Brandy and Sherry To make all my customers merry, But at times their finances Run short as it chances, And then I feel very sad, very. Searching any earlier in the poetry history books leads us deeper into ambiguity and speculation.

Some attribute the first limericks to soldiers coming home from the War of Spanish Succession — , others to William Shakespeare — or even Thomas Aquinas — But whenever the limerick was truly born, it retains its playful and humorous spirit.

The following three classic examples of the limerick were all written by one man, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne Swinburne was one of the most technically accomplished poets of the Victorian age. But as well as the variety of verse forms he mastered, he also wrote about a number of risque and taboo themes, especially sexual themes, in his work.

He was a colourful figure, known for his saucy private life as much as for his poetry, and tales of his fondness for flagellation and naked sliding down banisters are well-known.

There was a young girl of Aberystwyth Who took grain to the mill to get grist with. There was a young lady of Norway Who hung by her toes in a doorway. There was a young girl of Baroda Who built an erotic pagoda; The walls of its halls Were festooned with the balls And the tools of the fools that bestrode her. The following limerick was written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Senior , the American poet and polymath:. But man spoiled his chances by sinning. I met a lewd nude in Bermuda Who thought she was shrewd: I was shrewder; She thought it quite crude To be wooed in the nude; I pursued her, subdued her, and screwed her.

For inspiration, visit our page of quotes from Edward Lear or, if you like a spooky touch to your nonsense, explore the life of the whimsical and eminently Gothic writer and cartoonist Edward Gorey. All rights reserved. Limerick Examples. Edward Lear's Limericks Edward Lear , a famous British poet, and writer of literary nonsense, is widely considered the father of the limerick.

His limericks often consisted of stories about an old man: There was an Old Man with a beard Who said, "It is just as I feared! And finally, this Edward Lear limerick example describes an interesting character: There was a Young Person of Crete, Whose toilette was far from complete; She dressed in a sack, Spickle-speckled with black, That ombliferous person of Crete.

Classic Limericks The limerick is a classic verse form in English. Here follows some examples of limericks from famous authors: A famed poet and humorist, Dixon Lanier Merritt's limerick "A Wonderful Bird is the Pelican" is often misattributed to poet Ogden Nash: A wonderful bird is the pelican, His bill holds more than his belican. He can take in his beak, Enough food for a week, But I'm damned if I see how the helican. Loudly declared that he'd tho.

Men that he saw Dumping dirt near his door The drivers, therefore, didn't do. The author of the classic Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, also made great use of limerick poetry, as seen in "There was a Young Lady of Station:" There was a young lady of station "I love man" was her sole exclamation But when men cried, "You flatter" She replied, "Oh!

Isle of Man is the true explanation. Bees by W.