Wit and Humour
Limericks
Learn what a limerick is, and enjoy some funny five-line poems.
A limerick is a funny, nonsense poem of five lines. Its rules are strict enough to write to, which makes it great fun to try!
Here's Edward Lear's famous one: "There was an Old Man with a beard, / Who said, It is just as I feared! / Two Owls and a Hen, / Four Larks and a Wren, / Have all built their nests in my beard!"
The rhymes: beard, feared, beard rhyme (lines 1, 2, 5); Hen, Wren rhyme (lines 3, 4). Label them: A, A, B, B, A.
| Line | Ends with | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | beard | A |
| 2 | feared | A |
| 3 | Hen | B |
| 4 | Wren | B |
| 5 | beard | A |
Rule 1: every limerick rhymes AABBA. Always!
Rule 2: length. Lines 1, 2 and 5 are long; lines 3 and 4 are short. Read Lear's aloud: the two short middle lines speed it up before the last line lands.
Rule 3: shape. Line 1 introduces a person or place. Lines 2 to 4 tell a silly story. Line 5 gives a surprise ending; that surprise is the whole point!
Another from the book: "There were two friends in Bengaluru's lanes, / One loved books, the other flew planes. / They'd laugh and they'd play, / In their own unique way, / Creating stories and flying in dreams' trains." Lanes, planes, trains: A. Play, way: B. Now write yours: "There was a child from ___ ..."
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