Think About It. Ireland. Well, not really. Just don’t think we’ll have silly poetry again.
On Mary’s first visit to Erin,
Sister Esther was also therein.
Not taking their mother,
Would have prompted another,
Threat of a parent’s not sharin’.
See! No “silly” poetry. Genuine nonsense. Our subject is an intentionally humorous, often obscene form of art somehow credited to the gentle folks of the Irish County Limerick. Beneath the dignity of some, the style provides an excuse for the organization of clubs and contests worldwide. The form seems so simple that you may not notice that the structure is quite strict. A good example is the winner of a Writer’s Week prize in 1998.
Writing a Limerick’s absurd,
Line one and line five rhyme in word,
And just as you’ve reckoned
They rhyme with the second;
The fourth line must rhyme with the third.
You may not want to know or care that among aficionados words like anapestic, amphibrachic and assonance are liberally shared. More to the point perhaps is the opinion of highly celebrated George Bernard Shaw. On matters of philosophy and conduct, our convictions diverge widely. However in matters of fact, we can naturally agree. He is quoted as describing the clean limerick as a “periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity.” From a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function.” Hmm. I suppose we have heard “There was a young man from Nantucket.” Good old Anonymous checks in with a similar view.
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.
Seventeenth Century illustrator, author and poet Edward Lear is credited with popularizing the nonsense form with limericks being the primary poetic representative. He no doubt prompted the likes of Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll (Remember Alice?) and our favorite, Ogden Nash.
By way of final instruction should you try your hand, may I add my advice on the scheme.
The rhyme? A A B B A.
Keep that in mind, your O K.
If sy la’ ble you skip,
or have a loose lip,
Away from the Lim-rick you’ll stray.
The old faithful form is still sort of fun. And as you know Limerick is after all, a place in Ireland. Think About It.
By the way, a nod to Wikipedia for at least the beginnings of much of our research.