Limerick Form and History Quiz

Limerick Form and History

• Limerick is a form of verse, usually humorous and rude, in five-line, predominantly trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA.
• The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, while the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
• The form appeared in England in the early 18th century and was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century.
• Gershon Legman held that the true limerick as a folk form is always obscene, while the clean limerick is a "periodic fad and object of magazine contests, rarely rising above mediocrity".
• The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth rhyming with one another and having three feet of three syllables each.
• The shorter third and fourth lines also rhyme with each other, but have only two feet of three syllables.
• The first line traditionally introduces a person and a place, with the place appearing at the end of the first line and establishing the rhyme scheme for the second and fifth lines.
• Ordinary speech stress is often distorted in the first line, and may be regarded as a feature of the form.
• Many limericks show some form of internal rhyme, alliteration or assonance, or some element of word play.
• The name Limerick for this type of poem may derive from a form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included "Will [or won't] you come (up) to Limerick?"
• Edward Lear wrote 212 limericks, mostly considered nonsense literature.
• The limerick form has been parodied in many ways and has been blended with reviews of popular films, creating so-called "filmericks".