Arguably, there isn’t a poetry form more fun than the Limerick. It makes us laugh and blush, and its jaunty rhythm with rigid structure makes it oh-so-easy to memorize. Fortunately, it’s also easy to write.
The Limerick’s simplicity is one of the reasons it just keeps on hanging on. It is made up of five anapestic lines, and the uncomplicated rhyme scheme is aabba. The first, second, and fifth lines are trimeter, while the third and fourth are dimeter. Many times, the third and fourth lines are written as a solitary line with an internal rhyme. In short, the first and second line rhyme together, the third and fourth line rhyme together, and the fifth line can either rhyme with the first line or repeat the first line.
Here is a well-known limerick by the affable Ogden Nash:
There was a young belle of old Natchez
Whose garments were always in patchez.
When comments arose
On the state of her clothes,
She replied, “When Ah itchez, Ah scratchez.”
Try It: Write a Limerick
Following the classic rhyme scheme, write your own laughable limerick. Draw from the funny moments in the past, embarrassing gaffs, or glean from the stories you’ve heard. Share your limerick in the comment section below, we’ll be reading (and laughing).
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Featured Poem
Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s poetry prompt. Here is a poem from Rick we enjoyed:
Ghost
We sit and talk.
You, the father’s ghost,
somewhere in the dust
that falls constantly to earth.
I have a face for you now,
a mosaic in glass. In my dreams
your hands created it,
like the pieces of the angels
formed for the Sunday sunshine.
But there are the houses of memory,
the chairs moved in the night. You
can see the scars on the floors.
I can hear the tolling bells of my crying
from the blue mouths on my skin,
ringing in my aging ears.
In the snowfall of a winter mind,
your prints are lighter, after all,
you are a ghost now, your weight
is really only mine
until I am weightless too.
—Rick Maxson
Photo by Ace Armstrong. Creative Commons via Flickr.
Browse more writing prompts
Browse poetry teaching resources
How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
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Rick Maxson says
There once was a poet named Frost,
who chose a less travelled road at great cost.
It wasn’t made known that his mother
said, I would, were it me, take the other,
for there’s a wall ‘round the bend to be crossed.
L.L. Barkat says
There once was a funny man, Richard
who painted a humorous picture.
He did it with words
While I listened to birds
And my tea almost lost its dear fixture.
Rick Maxson says
Ha ha. Good one!
Heather Eure says
Love this! Haha!!
Rick Maxson says
A composer wrote music quite well,
the sonata his particular skill.
In his boat he would sing,
but when the boom made a swing
the singer wound up in the swell.
Heather Eure says
Is it a compliment to say you’re a natural limerick writer? So funny!
Rick Maxson says
Richard Parker, a tiger well known,
on a lifeboat with one of his own,
metaphorically human,
meant to subtly illumen-
ate—truth varies until you pick one.
Heather Eure says
Richard Parker! Yay!
Monica Sharman says
Relentless, insatiable deadlines!
This manuscript’s still full of red lines.
First I’ll sweat through the edits
and check all the credits
then chill with my favorite red wine.
Heather Eure says
Aren’t you clever?
The last line spoke to me. 😉
Monica Sharman says
Dear Santa, when you get this letter
I will not have behaved any better.
Since I’ve been quite a jerk,
save your reindeer some work:
Might as well skip my house altogether.
Monica Sharman says
Santa Writes Back
Dear Monica, thank you for writing.
Your letter was actually inviting.
Since you wanted what’s best
for Rudolph and the rest,
on your rooftop we will be alighting.
Heather Eure says
Santa clearly likes you more. Here was his last response to me:
Heather, you’ve been quite a pain
Writing letters again and again.
You think it is cool
To break every rule.
No. You can’t have that castle in Spain.
Heather Eure says
Monica, I’ve written a similar letter for the past 40 years. 🙁
Mikels Skele says
You’ve asked us to write a small poem,
a limerick, (at least as I know ’em,)
in spite of the fact
that poets lack tact;
and you’ll reap them as fast as we sow ’em.
Katie says
There once was a reader of books,
she looked and she looked and she looked,
But couldn’t find any good reads,
None whatever to meet her needs,
So a bookless journey she took.
(these have been fun – thanks to everyone for sharing!)
Katie says
Okay – a few changes on my limerick:
There once was a lady of books,
She looked and she looked and she looked,
But couldn’t find any good reads,
None at all to meet her needs,
So a bookless vacation she took!
(a bit of background: My family teases me that wherever I go – trip or not – I look like a “bag lady” due to my ever-present tote bag(s) of books;) *Actually, it would be highly unusual for me not to find any good reads!
aidyn says
those were awesome