Just the Basics

I recently started a group on FaceBook called Addicted to Limericks .  It’s a place where folks are invited to post their favorites, and especially to try their hand a creating an original limerick of their own. 

Many – almost all – of the rhymes have been delightful, and a limerick  posted by one member often leads to several more as other members jump on the bandwagon.

There have been several posts from those who say they would like to participate but lack the skill or simply just don’t know how.  Today’s post is for them.

A limerick is a poem in five stanzas in which lines one, two and five rhyme with each other and line four rhymes with line three. 

Although some liberties may be taken with the meter – and often are – the beat goes like this: da DA, da da DA, da da DA….or:

{Using a dash (-) to indicate unaccented syllables and a caret (^) for accented syllables}

- ^ - - ^ - - ^

- ^ - - ^ - - ^

- ^ - - ^

- ^ - - ^

- ^ - - ^ - - ^

If, instead of dashes and carets, we use zeroes and ones, we get

01001001

01001001

01001

01001

01001001

which translates from binary to decimal as 4,802,890.  I have no idea what that means, but it’s obvious that decimal notation just isn’t as poetic.

But back to those liberties taken with the meter – the most common is dropping one of the unaccented syllables, usually in lines one, two or five; or plugging in an additional unaccented syllable, most commonly at the beginning of a line.

I’m going to stop trying to explain the mechanics of the limerick right here.  Everything I’ve said is true, but it doesn’t convey the pleasure involved – It’s about like expressing an orgasm as a function in a quadratic equation.

It is not mandatory, but the best limericks are humorous and often risqué.  They often make use of puns or contain plays on words and double entendre.

Even if you consider yourself poetically challenged, I would encourage you to try writing a limerick.  It’s easier than it looks, and (to use a New England term that is getting a lot of play these days) it’s wicked fun.