What is a limerick?

What is a limerick?

A limerick is a type of poem characterised by having five lines that always follow the pattern of AABBA (meaning the first two lines rhyme with each other, the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and the fifth line rhymes with the first two lines).

Typically humorous in nature, though there's no reason why they couldn't have a serious theme, many limericks are packed full of innuendo (some are unashamedly crude – those that begin with a mention of Nantucket spring to mind) but there are also plenty that have been written for children.

Limerick examples

Master of whimsy Edward Lear is said to have popularised limericks in the 19th century with his Book of Nonsense and Nonsense Songs. Here is just one example, plucked from his extensive oeuvre:

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!"

While the final word of the final line in many of Lear's limericks repeat a word from the first two lines (as seen in the example here), this is not compulsory when it comes to writing limericks – the final line simply needs to rhyme with the first two lines.

Who invented limericks?

Although Lear is credited with popularising limericks, it's thought they date back to at least the 18th century, although no one is quite sure when the first limerick was written.

Why are they called limericks and are they Irish?

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, one theory is that limericks got their name from the chorus of an 18th-century Irish soldiers’ song: 'Will You Come Up to Limerick?', with verses being added off the cuff and most likely containing that old limerick poem staple: innuendo.

---

Main image © Getty Images