A LIMERICK is a poem, often very funny, composed of five lines.
Limericks make you smart!
Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme.
Limericks need to rhyme in the pattern – AABBA
Each line has a specific number of syllables, usually –
88558 or 99669
HOMEWORK:
*Write your own limerick tonight and post it in the comments of this blog post by tomorrow, Tuesday 4/24/11.
Click to learn about Syllable rules.
Fill in the blanks to create a quick and easy limerick for practice. See how easy it is?
There once was a peasant named Meg,
Who accidentally broke her __________.
She slipped on the __________.
Not once but thrice
Take no pity on her, I __________.
Step 1: Rhythm and Rhyme
- The limerick has a very distinct set of rules it follows for both rhythm and rhyme. With only five lines to work with in the entire poem, such a rule can make for difficult word maneuvering.
Rhythm
- Rhythm is established in poetry by meter, or the way the stress patterns falls on word syllables. There are two established rhythms in the limerick:
- Lines 1, 2 and 5 contain 7 to 10 syllables that follow the stress pattern da-DA da-da-DA da-da-DA.
- Lines 3 and 4 contain between 5 to 7 syllables each and follow a da-DA da-da-DA stress pattern.
TIP: You can drum out the meter on your desktop if it helps!
Rhyme
- Rhyme is a fun way to make a poem sound catchy. In the limerick it also offers a sing-song quality to the words. The overall rhyme pattern will be AABBA.
- Lines 1, 2 and 5 share an end rhyme.
- Lines 3 and 4 share an end rhyme.
- When you put the rhythm and rhyme together, it’ll look a little something like this:
- There WAS an old MAN down in PRAGUE (A)
- whose WIFE ran aWAY with a DOG. (A)
- He CRIED all night AND day, (B)
- a PAthetic DISplay, (B)
- while DROWNing himSELF in the GROG. (A)
- Note that the stressed syllables are bold and in all capitals. You can hear the way it sounds when you read it out loud. The rhyme pattern has been added in parenthesis at the end of each line, and as you read over it you can hear it as well.
Step 2: Who, What, Where, When and Sometimes Why?
- The neat thing about limericks is that they tell a story about someone. It may not always be a pleasant story, but the over-dramatized misery or extremity of the situation is often part of what makes the limerick funny. In essence, writing a limerick rhyme by rhyme is like setting a joke up for its punchline. There once was a man down in Prague whose wife ran away with a dog… You know this absurd scenario has to end badly, but it’s so outlandish you can’t help but laugh.
- Before you begin writing your limerick, you’ll want to take some time to figure out a couple of important factors. You only have five lines in which to tell this story, so let’s break it down line by line.
- In the first line you’ll want to introduce your main character and setting. In the example poem we have a man down in Prague. Remember the more zany the setting, the funnier the limerick will be.
- Come up with a list of words that rhyme with your end word in line one. Our situation was that his wife ran away with a dog.
- You want establish your main character’s situation in line two.
- Line three and four are the perfect place to show how the character’s situation went out of control. Our poor man was crying and making a real pathetic display of things.
- Line five is the punchline! This is where you resolve the story and bring it to a close. The man couldn’t cope with it, so he fell into a bottle.
Ol' King Cole's Castle 
This limerick is from Eric, our Red limerick master.
There once was a block of ice
That tasted alot like rice
It fell off the table
And into the stable
And crushed the little white mice
There was a kid that was dumb,
all he did was drink bottles of rum.
He didn’t learn at school,
he thought he was so cool.
Now he’s grown up, he’s a bum!
There once was a girl who liked fashion
It was one of her favorite passions
She went to the mall
Had a great big fall
And sent all the clothes racks crashin’
There once was a cat named Daisy
Who turned out to be quite crazy
Ate tuna and fish
Then she got her wish
For she now is fat and lazy
Catherine was the name of a gal,
She did not have many close pals,
She felt trapped in her home,
Almost always alone,
When will she fly free like an owl?
Deep down I dearly love my sister
Although sometimes she is a blister
She makes steam come out my ears
And sometimes even tears
She is a devil in her young years
Hey Mr.Cole Here is my limerick
There once was a boy with a goat
Who lived very near by a moat
He tumbled and fell
Into a deep well
And unfortunately couldn’t float
There once was a toast named Minjae
And Michael shot him with a death ray
Minjae burnt into flames
Though it is Zo he blames
I made a cool sculpture out of clay
Justin Bieber
There once was a guy named Justin
And people’s ears he was bustin’
He sings like a girl
SImon wants to hurl
His songs really need some dustin’
A Swan and Her Lawn
I’ll tell you a fun story
my story is not gory
there once was swan
who mowed her own lawn
the nice swan’s name was Tory
There once was a guy named Bieber,
He gave lots of girls his fever,
He always did the hair flip,
And also called the hair whip,
With lots of fans called beliebers.
Gay Couples
There once was a girl named Bob
She dated a girl named Rob
People called them gay
So they madly say,
“Shut up, you’re making us sob!”
Justin DREW Bieber
There was once a young man named Drew
He has an amazing hair-do
He sings first-class songs
And he’s never wrong
But sadly none of this is true
The flying penguins
3AC
Lachlan is a wonderful guy
That guy was almost never shy
Lachlan was a very good friend
Almost never seemed out of trend
He was honest and never lied
The Man Named Tim
There was once a father named Kirk
Who wielded a black, deadly, dirk
With his scary might
He killed kids all night
Until the day he went berserk
Old John the Penguin
There once was a penguin called Old John
He was best friends with a young fawn
They played cards in the shade
And forever they played
Until Old John died one day at dawn
There once was a dude named Crude
Whose words were extremely rude
Batted his mother
Sat on his brother
Except now he had no food
(his muma cant cook anymore cos rude crude batted her off a cliff)
Old Rye the Klutzy Fry
There once was a man called Old Rye
He’s a wrinkled, elderly guy
When he took a jog
He tripped on a log
And now he is called “Klutzy Fry”
Bob
There once was a servant called Bob,
Who once had earned a paid job,
You want to know why?
Because he was very sly,
And he died cause of a mob.
I Rock
There once was an owl named Joe.
His best friend was a girl called Moe.
When he sang a song,
Moe ran on and on
And one day it started to snow.
Ebaisha, the Pizza Lover
There once was a girl called Elisa
She really loved to eat ham pizza
When she went to the store
She always asked for more
Until her name became Louisa
The old man
There once was an old man from France,
Who spent all his time in dance.
He would dance day and night,
But was such a terrible site,
That nobody gave him a glance.
There once was a girl named cat
Who loved wearing a her big pink hat
People called her Pink
S she spilled red ink
On her very pretty big hat
There was once was a man named Bob
Who broke his hand on a door knob
He wished he was rich
But lived in a ditch
For he couldn’t find a good job
The Pig
There once was a pig named Kyle.
He enjoyed running the mile.
He loves to eat wood.
Pig food is no good.
He wants a human lifestyle.
There once was a dog named Little Lap,
Who wore a special kind of red cap.
He finds a tasty bone,
But see where it is thrown,
In the pool, so you can’t use a map
I don’t think it is funny
There once was a girl who had get
A little dog, all dirty and met
He shook out his soaked coat
Which tainted her tote
Switch 1, 2, 5, see what you wet
TAHWS= WHATs 😀
There once was a boy who has a toy
A toy was look like a little boy
So he thew that to the store
And this is the time ignore
This is the time he hate soy
Cody Simpson The Singer
There once was a guy named Cody
Who always liked to watch Moby
He made a bad song
Now he is a gong
I think he just sucks at singing.
There was once a food called a fry,
Which got like eaten by a guy.
But Evelyn is a girl,
And she really liked the curl
of the fry which for she would cry.
O.o
XD
There once was a long trial of ants,
They were all wearing cargo pants,
They went to a ball,
And sang in the hall,
And then did a fun little dance
Bob, Who Wasn’t as Good as Rob
3AC
Flying Penguins
There was once a boy who was named bob
Whenever he pitched it was a lob
One day he was called dolt
He was not quite the bolt
He will never be as good as rob
The Song in Drama
In drama we are singing a song
Its measure does not go with a gong
The fact that it’s Broadway
And not going my way
Definitely not a sing-a-long
Lena
There once was a strange girl named Lena
Likes owls, like a mortal Athena
Thing is, she hates all mice
But maybe she likes rice
Laughing like a happy hyena
The women
There was once a women named Jill,
All she wanted was dollar bills,
Once she tried to rob
a rich, named bob
But she ended up in Brazil
Knights and Their Gold
I once knew a few very brave knights
They triumphed in all of their many fights
They had huge stacks of gold
To hold them ‘till they’re old
Until a thief stabbed them in the night
Mace
There once was a girl named Mace
Who went to a running race
She tripped and fell
rolled to a well
never again she wore a shoe lace