Styles and Techniques: Limerick

The limerick is one of the most recognized of all poetry styles. Short, humorous and/or nonsensical poems, limericks consist of five lines with a rhyming scheme of A-A-B-B-A. Lines 1, 2, and 5 are eight or nine syllables long, and lines 3 and 4 are five to six syllables long. Here is a silly little limerick that I wrote today...it's based on a true story!

There once was a lady of Lee

Who cried out with a hysteric plea

To her side we did rush

Her sobbings to hush

Once again, she had spotted a bee

Verses in limerick-form are often combined to create limerick songs, humorous drinking songs often containing vulgar or obscene verses. In fact, many limericks written in the 20th century are credited to drunkards!

Simple limericks are quite easy to write. You do not have to think hard about what to put in a limerick, because the ending result does not have to make sense. I wrote the "bee" limerick in around three minutes, and most of that was spent thinking of a topic.

~ Adam B.