Posted by Atticus on August 10, 2004, at 20:37:23
In reply to Atticus the great definer of limericks...., posted by Jai Narayan on August 10, 2004, at 19:52:22
It's embarrassing to admit that although one line of my family actually came from Limerick, I've never written one. What I do know is that they are typically five lines long, and rhyme scheme for the lines goes A,A,B,B,A -- with the fifth line usually including some kind of punch line, preferably a bawdy or scatological one.
An example from the Victorian era with a false rhyme in line five that works best when read aloud, as limericks are intended to be:
"There was a young man from Westphalia,
Painted his arse up to look like a dahlia,
The color, I declare,
Was beyond compare,
But the aroma, I fear, was a failure."
It's not Yeats, but it gets the job done in a pub full of drunken Irishmen. ;) Atticus
poster:Atticus
thread:376151
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040729/msgs/376181.html