Limericks are called so because they are believed to have originated from a game created using the 18th-century Irish soldiers' song called “Will You Come Up to Limerick?” The name refers to the town of Limerick, Ireland, but it’s believed that the creation of the limerick poem began in England. Its purpose is to be able to subvert a social taboo in a clever way, thereby making a joke that would otherwise be considered too crass to be funny.
Writing a limerick can be a difficult task, you’ve got just about 34 syllables to express your idea, and ideally, you need to make it humorous and interesting, too. If you’re a keen poet or just an interested reader we’ve got the guide to teach you everything you need to know about this 5-lined poem.
What is a Limerick?
A limerick is a humorous, light-hearted poem. It’s as simple as that!
Creating limericks likely originated as a fun game to play while drinking. Limericks combine a specific rhyme scheme with a specific cadence, all while making a funny, witty, and/or clever commentary, typically on a less-than-proper topic.
Since their creation, the style and goal of limericks evolved to also include many rhymes suitable for children.
The tradition of creating limericks was popularized in the 19th century by a fellow named Edward Lear, who published a book full of limericks called The Book of Nonsense. He was known for creating whimsical nonsensical stories and poems that were a great hit with children.
The tradition of both child-appropriate and adult-humour limericks has stuck around to this day as a fun way to play with words and practise being clever.
Limerick Poem Rules
Limericks have a set of rules that you need to follow. The three top limerick rules are:
- They are five lines long.
- Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another, while lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other.
- They have a distinctive rhythm
- Bonus rule: They’re usually funny!
Let’s take a deeper look at these elements of limericks.
There are 5 lines in a limerick. They follow the basic rule of an AABBA rhyme scheme and a 3,3,2,2,3 stressed syllable scheme.
Rhyming a Limerick
The rhyme scheme of a limerick is known as “AABBA.”
This means that the final words in lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme. Those are the “A’s” in the rhyme scheme. The “B’s” are the last words of lines 3 and 4.
Let’s look at this example:
There was a Young Lady of Wales,
Who caught a large fish without scales;
When she lifted her hook
She exclaimed, "Only look!"
That ecstatic Young Lady of Wales.
-Edward Lear, “Book of Nonsense” (1846)
Edward Lear typically ended his limericks with one of the other “A” rhyming words, but a limerick needn’t do so; that was just his personal style.
You can see that lines 1, 2, and 5 all rhyme, with “Wales,” “scales,” and “Wales.” Likewise, lines 3 and 4 rhyme with “hook” and “look.” This matches the AABBA rhyme scheme.
If you're looking for a type of poetry that allows for more freedom, check out our guide on slam poetry.
The Rhythm of a Limerick
Limericks are in accentual verse, which means that the construction of a line is determined by the number of stressed syllables (called ‘feet’) no matter how many actual syllables there are. And because the syllables aren’t counted, limericks have a certain flexibility. In limericks, the stressed syllable pattern is: 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, which aligns with the A, A, B, B, A rhyme scheme we mentioned.
The word for the rhythm of “strong, weak, weak” syllables is called “anapaestic.”
Limericks don’t always strictly follow this rhythm rule but it is usually pretty close to this, that’s why limericks have that jaunty, light-hearted feel when you read them. Let’s take a look at this famous limerick:
There was an old man of Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
-Anonymous
If we follow the rhythm rules and emphasize the beats when we read it, it comes out like this:
there was an old man of Nantucket
who kept all his cash in a bucket;
but his daughter, named Nan,
ran away with a man,
and as for the bucket, Nantucket.
The different emphasis throughout comes together on the last word to make a slant-rhyme and drive home the joke: Nan took the bucket.
See? It’s simple!
Learn about epic poems with our poetry guide!
Examples of Limericks
To help you get a stronger grasp on the rhyme scheme, rhythm, and ideas for topics of limericks, here are some more limerick examples.
There was an old man of Peru,
Who dreamt he was eating his shoe.
He woke in the night,
With a terrible fright,
And found that his dream had come true.
- Anonymous
There once was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was much faster than light
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
- Anonymous
A great feature of the limerick is that you can make up your own words to suit your rhyme and syllable scheme as needed. In the poem above, the author made up two words that simultaneously rhyme with “pelican” and suit the needs of the poem’s story.
Edward Lear was also known for making up words in his poems, most notably the word “runcible.”
The authors of these two remained anonymous but maybe you’ll recognise these ones by Edward Lear:
There was a Young Lady whose chin
Resembled the point of a pin:
So she had it made sharp,
And purchased a harp,
And played several tunes with her chin.
- Edward Lear
There was an Old Person of Dean,
Who dined on one pea and one bean;
For he said, “More than that
would make me too fat,”
That cautious Old Person of Dean.
- Edward Lear
You can express different ideas with other types of poetry. Learn about free verse poetry with our guide!
You've probably heard this famous example of a limerick before:
Hickory Dickory dock,
the mouse ran up the clock;
the clock struck one
and down he run;
hickory Dickory dock.
-Charles Perrault
Or this more modern limerick example:
There were few who thought him a starter,
Many who thought themselves smarter.
But he ended PM,
CH and OM,
an Earl and a Knight of the Garter.
- Clement Attlee
Here is an example of a more “adult” limerick (don’t worry, we chose a mild one!):
A wonderful bird is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belican
He can take in his beak
Food enough for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican.
by Dixon Merritt
Notice that when you read them, they all have similar sounds and rhythms. You’ll also notice that they all have that light-hearted humorous feel to them that makes limericks so fun!
Learn how to write a different type of structured poem with our guide to writing sonnets.
How to Write a Limerick Poem
Now you’ve read about the rules and rhyming scheme of a limerick why not try writing one for yourself? Here are our tips for writing your own.
Tips on Writing a Limerick
The first thing you’ll need to do when writing your poem is decide on your topic. Try something simple, like something interesting you saw on a walk or at the shop, a commentary on your daily life, or something whimsical you’d like to say to make a child laugh.
Here are some simple limerick ideas to get you started:
- Animals
- People with specific jobs (mail carrier, cashier, pilot, painter, doctor, etc)
- Something funny that happened to you
- Something interesting you saw
- Imaginary people with made-up features (take a page from Edward Lear, who often included people with impossibly long noses or pointed chins, for example, in his limerick topics)
- Someone with a specific personality quirk
Choose an easy first line
An easy way to practise writing limericks is to choose an easy tried-and-true first line and go from there. Pick an easy name of a place or person that you can easily build your next line from.
To start with, simply pick the name of a place or person – like “New York” or “Sue” – and write your first line. For example:
There once was a man from New York.
Or
There was an old woman named Sue.
Then you can start looking for words that rhyme with “York” and “Sue” like “cork,” “fork,” “pork,” “stork,” or “blue,” “shoe,” or “woo,” until you find enough words to create the next line.
Once you’ve got your rhyming words, you can start thinking of a funny ending for your limerick. Of course, you might need to change your rhyming words to fit in with your funny ending. That’s fine just play around with it until you find the best combination.
Remember to add two shorter lines after line 2 that both rhyme as well.
Use a rhyming dictionary to get inspiration if you need it.
It takes some practice to get used to creating the right cadence, just like writing a haiku, but over time it’s easy to get the hang of writing limericks.
How to Write a Limerick for Kids
Writing for kids may be simpler than writing limericks for adults because it’s easier to be silly for silliness’ sake than trying to be clever with a double entendre or innuendo. If you’re having a hard time thinking of what to write, try writing a kid-friendly poem first!
Think of something silly that kids would also find humorous and simply write about that.
It can be anything really; a funny hat, a balloon, a whale, a cartoon character, a pet dog, you name it!
Then, have the character do something silly or interesting. Maybe the whale goes to the moon, but ends up going to soon, or something like that.
Writing limericks for kids is great for exercising your imagination because they don’t need to make any logical sense.
Writing for adults, however, will take some more thinking and wordsmithing (refer to the ‘pelican’ poem above).
Steps to Write a Limerick
To summarize: here are the steps to take when creating a limerick.
- Choose a topic to tell a short story
- Pick your rhyming words, but be open to changing them as needed
- Be sure your poem is 5 lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme
- Ensure your syllables match the convention
- Read your poem aloud to see if it works, and make changes as needed
Now that you know how to write a limerick, you can expand your poem-writing experience and learn about another style of poetry, like the style of poem known as a ballad!
There are many ways to express yourself and your ideas through creative writing and poetry, so keep practising and learning.
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