A Young Person’s Guide to Limerick metre and rhyme.

At Kalleh’s request here’s a limerick primer.

Limericks may look simple but they have very strict rules of metre and rhyme. That isn’t to say that you can’t write other great poems with great metre and rhyme but they won’t be limericks.

Limericks have the one of the following structures (each da is an unstressed syllable, each DUM is a stressed syllable. (For a perfect limerick the first of these is the ideal form. We’re not worried about perfection here though.)

da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da
da da DUM da da DUM da
da da DUM da da DUM da
da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM da
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da

It’s possible to bend the rules a bit sometimes, maybe losing the other starting da in some lines but basically that’s it. If it doesn’t essentially match one of those rhythms when you read it out, it may be a jolly fine poem but it isn’t a limerick.

Limericks also have to rhyme – specifically lines 1,2 and 5 must rhyme with each other and lines 3 and 4 must rhyme with each other.

A rhyme MUST include the last stressed syllable. This is NOT optional. If it doesn’t rhyme on the last stressed syllable then it doesn’t rhyme at all.

“Australia” can rhyme with “Dahlia” or “Westphalia”
(aus-TRALE-ee-a, DALE-ee-a, west-FALE-ee-a)
but it can’t rhyme with Albania (al-BANE-ee-a) because the “ALE/ANE” sounds are different.

The unstressed syllables that follow the stressed one should ideally be identical in the rhyming lines but you can get away with them also being rhyming.
You might get away with “PAINT me/FAINTly” but don’t count on it.

Optionally you can choose to rhyme syllables before the stressed one – as some do in our limerick game insisting on rhyming EVERY syllable of the place name.

And that’s it. Only a few rules to follow but if they aren’t followed it isn’t a limerick.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale,

quote:

Limericks also have to rhyme – specifically lines 1,2 and 5 must rhyme with each other and lines 3 and 4 must rhyme with each other.

While it is somethimes allowabable to use the same rhyming patternb for all five lines, it is not a usual occurence.

The following was posted by me previously as part of the discussion in the Horstead Keynes limerick game:

The aabba rhyme structure is not the only thing that defines a limerick, it must also have a particular meter in each of its lines. The technical definition of the meter according to my "Poet's Manual and Rhyming Dictionary" is:

The 1st, 2nd and 5th Lines have three feet consisting of one "iamb" and two "anapests", whilst the 3rd and 4th lines have two feet usually two "anapests". According to the same book an "iamb" is a unit of two syllables with the second one accented and an "anapest" is a unit of three syllables with the accent upon the third. So lines 3 & 4 should technically be no more than 6 syllables each.

In other words the rhythm of a limerick should be something akin to:

di-dah, la-di-dah, la-di-dah,
di-dah, la-di-dah, la-di-dah,
la-di-dah, la-di-dah,
la-di-dah, la-di-dah,
di-dah, la-di-dah, la-di-dah.

So according to that book's definition of the "perfect" meter for a limerick, none of your example patterns fit the bill, Bob.

In that same thread I also posted an attempt to write a limerick with the "perfect" metre, which I have also repeated here, but changed the place name to avoid a repeat of the discussion about whether or not "Guam" rhymed with "gum".

A pantiless lady from Rum
Once sat on a soft wad of gum,
As she rose to depart
And let go a big fart,
A bubble blew out of her bum.

quote:

attempt to write a limerick with the "perfect" metre

Not everyone's idea of "perfection" is equal, even though all are valid -- just slight variations on a general theme.

quote:

Not everyone's idea of "perfection" is equal, even though all are valid -- just slight variations on a general theme.

Agreed! Mine almost never fit that book's definition of perfect, that's why I was determined to try to write one, just to see if I could. I was only making the point because Bob mentioned the first of his various patterns of meter, was supposed to be the ideal one, and yet ironically not one of his proposed patterns actually met the definition I found, in the afore-mentioned book.

Tom, are you good and confused by now?

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
Tom, are you good and confused by now?

through (or total) anapest metre

Now a Learian limerick, it's true goes "iamb, anapest, anapest" but the ideal form (just ask the OEDILF) is "anapest anapest anapest"

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
Tom, are you good and confused by now?

No, actually I am a little lost over the terms, but I am understanding a lot of them by the context. (ie: me get "di-dah, la-di-dah, la-di-dah", but me no get "anapest", and "iamb") I am clearly not a poet, but I can try to rhyme that rhyming pattern more strictly.

I got that my poems were a little too packed with syllables, but my greater shocker was that I couldn't rhyme "Holiday" with "Rockaway". the way I read Mr. Hale's post, I need to rhyme the "rock" because that is the last "stressed" syllable. When I reviewed the limericks, most of them did fit that rule.

It seems this poetry thing is like walking and chewing gum at the same time. I can rhyme and I can think of funny jokes, and I can find the rhythm, but not all in one paragraph.

Thanks for this instructional thread.

Ithink one secret in many things is not to try too hard to be perfect. Many years ago, I tried to learn the guitar, being totally impressed by folk singers who could sing and carry on conversations while playing tunes on their instruments without apparent concern for what their fingers were doing. I found I could play the notes but I couldn't do anything else without messing up totally. But I kept at it and one day was absolutely astounded to realize I had answeered a question from my wife without missing a beat of something I was practicing. So it just takes time and a fantastic and wasteful outpouring of badly needed energy. to be successful