Limericks — English Humorous Poems

Limericks are certainly not a modern invention. In fact, they are so old; nobody is quite sure how they started. To our mind the strongest and the most convincing point of view is that Irishmen began writing verses in rather peculiar way. It was about 800 AD. They did not have jokes in them in those days but they all had five lines and they all went with a swing when you said them. We would like to draw your attention that nobody knows for sure why a limerick is called limerick, but it is also the name of one of the most famous town in Ireland.

Looking deeper into information about limericks we have found that Irish soldiers sang the popular song “Will you come to Limerick?” In fact, a good limerick is not an easy thing to write. When you read them, you might think they are simple to invent, but they are not because there are rules you have to stick to. A limerick is composed of five lines, with lines one, two and five being longer than the third and fourth lines. That seems easy enough. However, there are strict rules that must be followed in the construction of these lines. The keyword is metre (meter). In a sense, the metre is the beat or the rhythm of the lines. Limericks are meant to be funny. They contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns and other figurative devices. The last line of a good limerick contains the punch line or heart of the joke. As you work with limericks, remember to have pun, we mean fun! Say the following limericks out loud and clap to the rhythm. Limericks should generally follow proper rules of grammar and usage, with word orders as natural as possible. Of course, speech can be substandard; pretentious, stilted etc., when appropriate to the speaker. Punctuation should be standard, except for the first words of lines being capitalized. This genre can and does take more low usages than other form of poetry.
One of the first complete books of limericks to be published was called “A book of Nonsense”. It was published in 1846 and the author was Edward Lear.

We can find limericks even in the plays of great Shakespeare “Othello”, “King Lear”. These humorous poems with five lines, the first two rhyming with the last are among, the merits of William Shakespeare plays. We’d like to pay your attention that his humor was based on absurd situations in these limericks.
Here are some examples of limericks.

There was a young lady of Niger,
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger;
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the tiger!

There was an old man with a beard
Who said, «It is just as I feared
Two owls and a hen
Four larks and a wren
Have all built their nests in my beard!

The teacher is here and there,
Her sounds are perfectly rare;
She teaches us to breathe
Under metronome rhythm,
And her marks are always «fair».

It’s true that the session has come.
I’m singing the Limerick Psalm.
And if the Good Lord
Hears my word,
Will he help me to pass my exam.

In 1960, a competition for the best limerick was by the “Daily Worker”. Many limericks were written by English pupils. Would you like to help them?

There was an old person of Deal
Who in walking used only his 1.
When they said, “Tell us why?”
He made no 2.
That mysterious old person of Deal.

◦ ◦ ◦
There was an old lady of France,
Who taught little ducklings to 3.
When she said, “Tick-a-tack!”
They only said, 4.
Which grieved that old lady of France.

◦ ◦ ◦
A cheerful old bear at the Zoo
Said, “I never have time 5.
When it bores me, you know,
To walk to and fro,
I revise it and walk 6.

◦ ◦ ◦
There was a young lady named Esther;
She lived in the Country of Leicester.
She went for a walk,
Had a very long 7.
And found she had gone to 8.

◦ ◦ ◦
There once was a girl named Sue,
Whose clothes were especially 9.
She fell in the mud,
And spoiled every 10.
This unfortunate girl named Sue.

◦ ◦ ◦
There was once a girl named Ruth,
Who pulled out a very loose 11.
She started to cry,
Was afraid she would 12.
But instead she grew a new tooth.

KEYS

1 — heel 2 — reply 3 — dance 4 — Quack
5 — to feel blue 6 — fro and to 7 — talk 8 — Chester 9 — new 10 — dud 11 — tooth 12 — die

collected by Ye. Sibirina
картинки к лимерикам —
http://mirtesen.ru/groups/30241914566/blog/43223310199