LimericksPresentation on Limerick history

and poetic structure

Emily Johnson

What is a Limerick? A Limerick is a very short poetic form It consists of just 5 lines LIMERICKS are meant to be funny. They often

contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, puns, and other figurative devices. The last line of a good limerick contains the 'punch line' or 'heart' of the joke.

They are not considered ‘cultivated poetry’ usually due to some of the content

Very popular form, even seen in Shakespeare!

Where did they come from?

Can be traced back to C14th Originally used as nursery rhymes and

children’s poems due to their simple structure

By the C15th, C16th and C17th they were part of adult poetic culture- but the content changed

Due to the bawdy and sometimes rude content they were often heard in pubs recited by drunkards

Why ‘Limerick’? Limerick is a place in Ireland They became pub songs in Limerick

and people would recite them whilst socialising with their friends

They don’t have to but the first line often refers to a place ‘Will you come up to Limerick?’- hence the name.

What does it look like? Limericks consist of 5 lines- aabba Lines 1, 2 and 5 have seven to ten

syllables and rhyme with one another Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven

syllables and also rhyme with each other

Topic and place There was a young girl of Dover,

Who rushed through a field of blue clover;But some very large bees,Stung her nose and her knees,The pain of which made her fall over.

There was a girl from Koahsiung…

Rhyme 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 joke? Limericks tend to end with humour-‘Have all built their nests in my beard!’

A limerick fan from Australiaregarded his work as a failure:His verses were fine, Until the fourth line?

The limerick is furtive and mean,You must keep her in close

quarantine,Or she sneaks to the slums,And promptly becomes,Disorderly, drunk and obscene.

Now your turn! Create a Limerick of your own… Create one that begin with a person

and place like the first examples Then try to create a more abstract

limerick with an abstract topic (like the last example)