Limerick (poetry)

Template:Short description Template:Redirect A limerick (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a form of verse that appeared in England in the early years of the 18th century.<ref>An interesting and highly esoteric verse in Limerick form is found in the diary of the Rev. John Thomlinson (1692–1761):

1717. Sept. 17th. One Dr. Bainbridge went from Cambridge to Oxon [Oxford] to be astronomy professor, and reading a lecture happened to say de Polis et Axis, instead of Crazy. Upon which one said, Dr. Bainbridge was sent from Cambridge,—to read lectures de Polis et Axis; but lett them that brought him hither, return him thither, and teach him his rules of syntaxis. From Six North Country Diaries, Publications of the Surtees Society, Vol. CXVIII for the year MCMX, p. 78. Andrews & Co., Durham, etc. 1910.</ref> In combination with a refrain, it forms a limerick song, a traditional humorous drinking song often with obscene verses. It is written in five-line, predominantly [[Anapaest|Template:Tooltip]] and amphibrach<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century,<ref>Brandreth, page 108</ref> although he did not use the term. From a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function. According to Gershon Legman, who compiled the largest and most scholarly anthology, this folk form is always obscene<ref>Legman 1988, pp. x-xi.</ref> and the exchange of limericks is almost exclusive to comparatively well-educated men. Women are figuring in limericks almost exclusively as "villains or victims". Legman dismissed the "clean" limerick as a "periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity". Its humour is not in the "punch line" ending but rather in the tension between meaning and its lack.<ref name=":0">Tigges, Wim. "The Limerick: The Sonnet of Nonsense?". Explorations in the Field of Nonsense. ed. Wim Tigges. 1987. page 117</ref>

The following example is a limerick of unknown origin:

<poem>

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.<ref>Feinberg, Leonard. The Secret of Humor. Rodopi, 1978. Template:ISBN. p102</ref> </poem>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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File:Limerick on the walls of Limerick.jpg

A limerick displayed on a plaque in the city of Limerick, Ireland

Form

File:Hercules & Waggoner2.jpg

An illustration of the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner by Walter Crane in the limerick collection "Baby's Own Aesop" (1887)

The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth rhyming with one another and having three feet of three syllables each; and the shorter third and fourth lines also rhyming with each other, but having only two feet of three syllables. The third and fourth lines are usually anapaestic, or one iamb followed by one anapaest. The first, second and fifth are usually either anapaests or amphibrachs.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The first line traditionally introduces a person and a place, with the place appearing at the end of the first line and establishing the rhyme scheme for the second and fifth lines. In early limericks, the last line was often essentially a repeat of the first line, although this is no longer customary.

Within the genre, ordinary speech stress is often distorted in the first line, and may be regarded as a feature of the form: "There was a young man from the coast"; "There once was a girl from Detroit..." Legman takes this as a convention whereby prosody is violated simultaneously with propriety.<ref>Legman 1988, p. xliv.</ref> Exploitation of geographical names, especially exotic ones, is also common, and has been seen as invoking memories of geography lessons in order to subvert the decorum taught in the schoolroom.

The most prized limericks incorporate a kind of twist, which may be revealed in the final line or lie in the way the rhymes are often intentionally tortured, or both. Many limericks show some form of internal rhyme, alliteration or assonance, or some element of word play. Verses in limerick form are sometimes combined with a refrain to form a limerick song, a traditional humorous drinking song often with obscene verses.

David Abercrombie, a phonetician, takes a different view of the limerick.<ref>Abercrombie, David, Studies in Phonetics and Linguistics 1965 Oxford University Press: Chapter 3 A Phonetician's View of Verse Structure.</ref> It is this: Lines one, two, and five have three feet, that is to say three stressed syllables, while lines three and four have two stressed syllables. The number and placement of the unstressed syllables is rather flexible. There is at least one unstressed syllable between the stresses but there may be more – as long as there are not so many as to make it impossible to keep the equal spacing of the stresses.

Etymology

The origin of the name limerick for this type of poem is debated. The name is generally taken to be a reference to the City or County of Limerick in Ireland<ref>Loomis 1963, pp. 153–157.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> sometimes particularly to the Maigue Poets, and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included "Will [or won't] you come (up) to Limerick?"<ref>The phrase "come to Limerick" is known in American Slang since the Civil War, as documented in the Historical Dictionary of American Slang and subsequent posts on the American Dialect Society List. One meaning for the phrase, proposed by Stephen Goranson on ADS-list, would be a reference to the Treaty of Limerick, and mean surrender, settle, get to the point, get with the program.</ref>

Although the New English Dictionary records the first usage of the word limerick for this type of poem in England in 1898 and in the United States in 1902, in recent years several earlier examples have been documented, the earliest being an 1880 reference, in a Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper, to an apparently well-known tune,<ref>reported by Stephen Goranson on the ADS-list and in comments at the Oxford Etymologist blog</ref>

<poem>

There was a young rustic named Mallory, who drew but a very small salary.

When he went to the show,

his purse made him go

to a seat in the uppermost gallery. </poem> Tune: Won't you come to Limerick.<ref>Saint John Daily News, Saint John, New Brunswick Edward Willis, Proprietor Tuesday Nov 30, 1880 Vol. XLII, no. 281 page 4, column 5 [headline:] Wise and Otherwise</ref> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Edward Lear

File:1862ca-a-book-of-nonsense--edward-lear-001.jpg

A Book of Nonsense (ca. 1875 James Miller edition) by Edward Lear

The limerick form was popularized by Edward Lear in his first A Book of Nonsense (1846) and a later work, More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872). Lear wrote 212 limericks, mostly considered nonsense literature. It was customary at the time for limericks to accompany an absurd illustration of the same subject, and for the final line of the limerick to be a variant of the first line ending in the same word, but with slight differences that create a nonsensical, circular effect. The humour is not in the "punch line" ending but rather in the tension between meaning and its lack.<ref name=":0" />

The following is an example of one of Edward Lear's limericks.

File:There was a Young Person of Smyrna.ogg

There was a Young Person of Smyrna

<poem>

There was a Young Person of Smyrna Whose grandmother threatened to burn her.

But she seized on the cat,

and said 'Granny, burn that!

You incongruous old woman of Smyrna!' </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Lear's limericks were often typeset in three or four lines, according to the space available under the accompanying picture.

Variations

The limerick form has been parodied in many ways. The following example is of unknown origin:

<poem>

There was a young man from Japan Whose limericks never would scan.

And when they asked why,

He said "I do try!

But when I get to the last line I try to fit in as many words as I can." </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Other parodies deliberately break the rhyme scheme, like the following example, attributed to W.S. Gilbert:

<poem>

There was an old man of St. Bees, Who was stung in the arm by a wasp,

When asked, "Does it hurt?"

He replied, "No, it doesn't,

I'm so glad it wasn't a hornet."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Wells 1903, pp. xix-xxxiii.</ref> </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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Comedian John Clarke also parodied Lear's style:

<poem>

There was an old man with a beard, A funny old man with a beard

He had a big beard

A great big old beard

That amusing old man with a beard.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The American film reviewer Ezra Haber Glenn has blended the limerick form with reviews of popular films, creating so-called "filmericks".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For example, on Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist Bicycle Thieves:

<poem>

De Sica shoots Rome neo-real, The poor have been dealt a raw deal.

A bike is required

Or Ricci gets fired:

All men must eventually steal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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The British wordplay and recreational mathematics expert Leigh Mercer (1893–1977) devised the following mathematical limerick:

Template:Math

This is read as follows:

<poem>

A dozen, a gross, and a score Plus three times the square root of four

Divided by seven

Plus five times eleven

Is nine squared and not a bit more.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> </poem> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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See also

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• Moskalik
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References

Bibliography

• Baring-Gould, William Stuart and Ceil Baring-Gould (1988). The Annotated Mother Goose, New York: Random House.
• Brandreth, Gyles (1986). Everyman's Word Games
• Cohen, Gerald (compiler) (October–November 2010). "Stephen Goranson's research into _limerick_: a preliminary report". Comments on Etymology vol. 40, no. 1–2. pp. 2–11.
• Legman, Gershon (1964). The Horn Book, University Press.
• Legman, Gershon (1988). The Limerick, New York:Random House.
• Loomis, C. Grant (July, 1963). Western Folklore, Vol. 22, No. 3
• Wells, Carolyn (1903). A Nonsense Anthology, Charles Scribner's Sons.

External links

• Norman Douglas, Some Limericks Cypher Press reprint.
• Edward Lear's A Book of Nonsense from Project Gutenberg
• "Aesthetic Realism and Expression", a lecture by Eli Siegel using Edward Lear's iconic limericks from A Book of Nonsense [1].
• OEDILF – A limerick dictionary, with 120,324 Limericks as of May 2023
• Jenni Nuttall, "#notalimerick"
• 'Limericks (5-line verse)' file at Limerick City Library, Ireland
• There Once Was a Serpent: A History of Theology in Limericks, Richard Kieckhefer

Limerick bibliographies

• Deex, Arthur, Arthur Deex's comprehensive annotated Limerick Bibliography
• Dilcher, Karl, The Karl Dilcher bibliography of limerick books.
• "Limerick Poems and Civil Wars" (on the origin of the name) [2]
• "The Curious Story of the Limerick" Dr Matthew Potter published by Limerick Writers' Centre Publishing www.limerickwriterscentre.com