Limerick, << LIHM uhr ihk, >> is a form of humorous verse. It takes its name from the city of Limerick, Ireland. No one knows how or where the form originated. The limerick is a poem of five lines written in Poulter’s measure, a folk meter that consists of 13 beats (see Poetry (Rhythm and meter)). The first two lines rhyme with the fifth. The third line rhymes with the fourth.
Limericks may cover a wide range of subjects. The first line often begins: “There was a …” and ends with the name of a person or place. The last line ends with an unusual or far-fetched rhyme. Edward Lear’s A Book of Nonsense (1846) made the form popular. The following is a typical limerick by Lear:
Loading the player...There was a young lady of Wilts, Who walked up to Scotland on stilts; When they said it is shocking To show so much stocking, She answered, “Then what about kilts?”
Limerick by Edward Lear
