Thursday, September 29, 2011

Poetry form Week 7: Limerick




Hello, This is Morning, I am backing up for Ava today, while she is spending time with her family..
This week, let's go for Limerick, which is a fun and beautiful poetry form. Everyone shall be able to cook up one after you read the definition, samples drawn from Poets from our own community, hope that you enjoy it and write and share...



What is a Limerick?
According to Shashi (quoted him below)
A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line anapestic or amphibrachic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (aabba), which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century. It was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century, although he did not use the term.

The following example of a limerick is of unknown origin.

The limerick* packs laughs anatomical                   *(pronounced "lim'rick" to preserve meter)
In space that is quite economical,
    But the good ones I've seen
    So seldom are clean,
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Gershon Legman, who compiled the largest and most scholarly anthology, held that the true limerick as a folk form is always obscene, and cites similar opinions by Arnold Bennett and George Bernard Shaw, describing the clean limerick as a periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity. From a folkloric point of view, the form is essentially transgressive; violation of taboo is part of its function.

Here are more samples from poets who participated so far at the Purple Tree House:

Ali! Ali! Ali! By kaykuala
                                   
Even at the pre-fight joint weighing-in
He would come swinging and ranting
He gave accurate predictions
Of his opponent’s derelictions
As they fall from grace to the ground reeling

Fire-Fighter Limerick by Zongrik

Some fire-fighters who loved to watch porn
Rallied  on an idea that’s now still-born.
They set up their truck
So porn stars could f__k.
Now they suffer the department’s full scorn.


A Funny One by Mike Patrick

There once was a lass from Kilkenny
who was born with one breast too many.
In a world of such hunger,
she was pleased with the number,
her babies were blessed with plenty.


A Man Named Happy  Sarah Johnston

I once knew a man named Happy
He was my old Grand Pappy
He was never on time
Till he fell on a dime
Now he dresses real snappy



A Fickle Limerick by Madkane

A popular gal who was fickle
Found herself in a terrible pickle:
A fellow she spurned
Launched a web site that turned
Her long wooers-list into a trickle.

Check out more limerick samples via the link below, feel free to write one, post in your blog, and link to Shashi’s post below by Sunday, have fun!





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

writing limerick is fun,

it is a practice of rhyming and make your poem in a limited form, 5 lines,
mostly.

Thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout out.

Ann LeFlore said...

Thank you so much for the mention of the limerick from Sarah Johnston. The link provided goes to the cooking blog site and the limerick is on this link.
http://gatelesspassage.com/2011/09/22/limerick-madness/

You might want to correct the linking for Sarah Johnston to go to the gateless passage instead of her cooking blog site Grandma Simpson's Kitchen in Roby Texas.

Thanks Ann LeFlore daughter of Sarah Johnston

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

Thanks very much for including my Fickle Limerick among your examples!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the informative article, it was a good read and I hope its ok that I share this with some facebook friends. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Lovely post Morning! And a bunch of great limericks to read as well!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for mentioning my limerick. Limericks are supposed to be bawdy, and i managed to find a true story that fit perfectly. Besides, if you get a chance to rhyme firetruck, always take it.

Ava said...

Thank you so much for covering for me!

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

Glad to see you here, Ann, Kane, ccchampange, zongrik, and Ava.

thanks for the comments.