We shine a light on limericks, including everything from structure to examples <\/p>
A limerick is\u00a0a type of poem characterised by having five lines that always follow the pattern of AABBA (meaning the first two lines rhyme with each other, the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and the fifth line rhymes with the first two lines).<\/p>\n
Typically humorous in nature, though there\u2019s no reason why they couldn\u2019t have a serious theme, many limericks are packed full of innuendo (some are unashamedly crude\u00a0\u2013\u00a0those that begin with a mention of Nantucket spring to mind) but there are also plenty that have been written for children.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> \u00a0<\/p>\n Master of whimsy Edward Lear is said to have popularised limericks in the 19th century with his Book of Nonsense and Nonsense Songs<\/em>. Here is just one example, plucked from his extensive oeuvre:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There was an old man with a beard,<\/p>\n Who said \u201cIt is just as I feared! Four larks and a wren,<\/p>\n Have all built their nests in my beard!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n While the final word of the final line in many of Lear\u2019s limericks repeat a word from the first two lines (as seen in the example here), this is not compulsory when it comes to writing limericks\u00a0\u2013 the final line simply needs to rhyme with the first two lines.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Although Lear is credited with popularising limericks, it\u2019s thought they date back to at least the 18th\u00a0century, although no one is quite sure when the first limerick was written.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n According to Encyclopaedia Britannica<\/a>, one theory is that limericks got their name from the chorus of an 18th-century Irish soldiers\u2019 song: \u2018Will You Come Up to Limerick?\u2019, with verses being added off the cuff and most likely containing that old limerick poem staple: innuendo.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Main image \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n We shine a light on limericks, including everything from structure to examples <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29420,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-scaled.jpg",2560,1448,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-300x170.jpg",300,170,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-768x435.jpg",768,435,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-1024x579.jpg",800,452,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-1536x869.jpg",1536,869,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/06\/what-is-a-limerick-2048x1159.jpg",2048,1159,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"We shine a light on limericks, including everything from structure to examples","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/29419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Limerick examples<\/h2>\n
\u00a0Who invented limericks?<\/h2>\n
Why are they called limericks and are they Irish?<\/h2>\n
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