A limerick is a form of verse, usually humorous and frequently rude, in five-line, predominantly anapestic trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme.
The following example is a limerick of unknown origin:
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
Anapestic tetrameter is a poetic meter that has four anapestic metrical feet per line. Each foot has two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. It is sometimes referred to as a “reverse dactyl”, and shares the rapid, driving pace of the dactyl
Anapestic tetrameter is written like this:
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
So, the structure of a limerick looks like this:
1) 12 syllables (A)
2) 12 syllables (A)
3) 5-6 syllables (B)
4) 5-6 syllables (B)
5) 12 syllables (A)
Make sure to follow anapestic tetrameter for lines 1, 2, and 5.
Implement
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