Limerick Poems
J. Whitesides
Limerick: The Humor Poem
Definition of a Limerick: Noun
A light humorous, nonsensical,
or bawdy verse of five anapestic
lines usually with the rhyme
scheme aabba.
What is Meter?
• Meter = a recurring pattern of stressed
(accented, or long) and unstressed (unaccented,
or short) syllables in lines of a set length.
Types of meter: Need this Year. Need next year.
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*Iambic= Unstressed + Stressed Two Syllables (Sonnets)
Trochaic/Trochee= Stressed + Unstressed Two Syllables
Spondaic/Spondee= Stressed + Stressed Two Syllables
*Anapestic= Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed Three Syllables (Limericks)
Dactylic= Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed Three Syllables
Pyrrhic= Unstressed + Unstressed Two Syllables
Anapestic What?
• An anapestic foot is two unstressed
syllables followed by a stressed syllable.
We could write the rhythm like this:
• da da DUM
• A line of anapestic tetrameter is four of
these in a row:
• da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da
DUM
STILL DO Not GET IT?
Anapestic rhythmic pattern that has two light
stresses followed by a final heavy stress.
• We will look at some examples in a
minute but think of it this way:
• This is a rhythmic pattern, just like a song, so
sometimes it helps to sing your poem to
“Hickory Dickory Dock”, and keep the beat in
the lines you are considering without forcing the
sense or the diction or the syntax of the line.
Other Rhythms?
• An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable. The rhythm
can be written as:
• da DUM The da-DUM of a human heartbeat
is the most common example of this rhythm.
A line of iambic pentameter is five iambic
feet in a row:
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
How is Rhythm Different
than Rhyme?
• A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming
lines in a poem or song. It is usually
referred to by using letters to indicate which
lines rhyme. In other words, it is the pattern
of end rhymes or lines. A rhyme scheme
gives the scheme of the rhyme.
Limerick Poems Broken Down
“But poor Keats, he went out of his head, (a)
And he ranted and raved in his bed, (a)
I'm a real desperate mannie, (b)
Pray get me my Fanny, (b)
But as he jumped up he keeled over dead.” (a)
“Upon John Keat’s Death,” (Boston Revie)
Limerick Poems Broken Down
“There was an old man from Peru, (a)
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe, (a)
He awoke in the night, (b)
With a terrible fright, (b)
To discover it was totally true.” (a)
Shel Silverstein
Here’s Another Cornier One
“Harry Potter is his name, (a)
He's spent some years full of fame (a)
He beat the dark lord, (b)
A good broom someone could afford (b)
But Quirrel ruined his game.” (a)
Anonymous
Now, let’s see what you can
come up with!