The limerick is a form of "light" or amusing verse. It has a definite form with a specific rhythm (beat) and rhyme arrangement.
Rhythm:
Here is how the lines should go:
1. ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
2. ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
3. ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
4. ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
5. ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM ta-ta-TUM
You can change this slightly by adding on an extra syllable to the beginning or end of any line, but this is about all the freedom you are allowed.
Rhyme:
The three long lines (1,2, & 5) must rhyme
The two short lines (3 & 4) must rhyme
******
Hints and Suggestions that might help you.
Most (but not all) limericks begin with the phrase
"There once was a __________ from ________."
or
"There was a ________ _____________ from _________."
You don't have to use this beginning, but it is an easy one. In the first blank spot you can put "lady" ("young lady") or "fellow" ("old fellow") or whatever. In the second blank you can put the name of a town or school or any word that tells where the subject is from. It can be a real place on an imaginary one.
Generally it works well to follow this pattern.
Line 1: Tell who it is you are talking about and where he is from
Line 2: Tell something about the person or describe him in some way
Line 3 & 4: Build up or demonstrate whatever peculiarity you have mentioned in line 2
Line 5: Round off the Limerick with an unexpected and funny conclusion, based on whatever you talked about in the first four lines.
An old favorite
There once was a lady from
Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They came back from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger
Some others to make you smile
There was an old lady from
Herm,
Who tied bows on the tail of a worm;
She said, "You look festive
But don't become restive
You'll wriggle 'em off if you squirm."
An oyster from Kalamazoo
Confessed he was feeling quite blue
"For," he said "as a rule,
When the weather turns cool
I most always get put in a stew."
There's a clever old miser who
tries
Every method to e-con-o-mize.
He said with a wink
"I save gallons of ink
By simply not dotting my i's."**
There was an old codger of
Broome,
Who kept a baboon in his room.
"It reminds me." he said,
Of a friend who is dead."
But he never would tell us of whom.**
A rocket explorer named Wright
Once traveled much faster than light.
He set out one day
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.**
A tutor who tooted the flute,
Tried to teach two young tooters to toot
Said the two to the tutor
Is it harder to toot or
To tutor two tooters to toot?
There was a young lady who
tried
A diet of apples and died.
The unfortunate miss
Really perished of this:
Too much cider inside her inside.**
There was a young lady of
Kent,
Who always said just what she meant;
People said, "She's a dear,
So unique, so sincere,"
But they shunned her by common consent.**
A farmer once called his cow
'Zephyr,'
She seemed such a lovable heifer.
When the farmer drew near
She kicked on his ear
And now he is very much deafer!
Some that are a little different
No matter how grouchy you're
feeling
You'll find a smile more or less healing,
It grows in a wreath
All around the front teeth
Thus preventing the face from congealing**
I wish that my room had a
floor
I don't care so much for a door
But this walking around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore!
And one President Woodrow Wilson was fond of quoting:
As a beauty I'm not a great
star
There are others more handsome by far
But my face, I don't mind it,
Because I'm behind it&endash;
'Tis the folks in the front that I jar!**
LIMERICK LINKS
Giggle Poetry's Limerick Lesson
** Limericks marked are from Louis Untermeyer, ed. Lots of Limericks. New York, Bell Publishing, 1961.