Hi there, I have always felt that on the occasions when I got understanding of a formal verse form and tried writing in it this led to an overall improvement in my writing. It was the reason I started the limerick thread. It is a simple form, with a good solid structure. It is short, and it is amusing. To my mind it is the beginners ideal introduction to the world of formal poetry. So here we go.
Do you understand this?
A limerick is a formal poetic construction of five anapaestic lines with three feet in the first second and fifth, and two in the third and fourth. The last syllable is often truncated in the final foot of a line.
It follows the rhyming scheme a.a.b.b.a. And is often comical or risque in character.
It has the wording of a formal definition, but don’t let that put you off, it is fairly simple really. These three examples might help.
A limerick’s made of five lines,
Three long and two short, you will find.
Long lines nine or eight
Syllables they may make
Five or six in the short you may find.
Content that’s absurd or makes fun
May be more risqué than The Sun.
Although rude, even lewd,
It should never be crude
But have double enterdres and puns.
“The Sun” is a British tabloid that features a ‘Page three girl’
A syllable is a group of letters containing one pronounced vowel. ‘Cat’ and ‘beat’ are single syllable words.
A foot is a basic unit of meter; a group of syllables of which one is stressed.
An anapaest is a foot consisting of two unstressed syllables and one stressed after them. An-na-paest is an anapaest.
Bookmarks