Lisa's Journal

Limericks!
For fun (my idea of fun, anyway), here is a guide demonstrating how to write limericks in the various possible metres, with examples.

Everyone knows that limericks have to rhyme in a particular way, but not everyone realises that they also have a specific rhythm: a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

A proper limerick must have three stressed syllables in the first line, three in the second, two each in the third and fourth lines, and three again in the third.

Each stressed syllable shouldn't have more than two unstressed ones on either side of it (though this rule is a little looser at the start and end of each line).

Here's an example (stressed syllables are in bold):

If your limerick doesn't quite glide
Make sure stresses are rightly applied:
Three, three, two, two, and three
Is the limerick's key,
And two unstressed ones on either side.

The two most common rhythmic patterns used in limericks are the anapaest and the amphibrach.

The anapaest goes da-da-DA, like the word "understand", or the start of a limerick "There was once / a young man...". Here's an example:

Though the Anapaest bounces along,
(First two weak beats, and then comes a strong)
There's a drawback - just one -
It's addictively fun
And you'll never get rid of its song.

The amphibrach goes da-DA-da, like the word "amazing" or the start of a limerick "There once was / a girl from...". Another example:

The Amphibrach isn't too scary:
Two light beats, like wings on a fairy
Surround one that's heavy
And help it to levi-
Tate, unlike a miner's canary.

The rarest pattern in limericks is the dactyl (DA-da-da, like the word "merrily", or the start of a limerick "Tigers are / always quite...").

Limericks written, for vanity,
Only in dactyls? Insanity!
Whether erotic, or
Just idiotic, or
Neither, they'll lead to profanity.

You're allowed to bend the rules a bit at the ends of lines, by adding or dropping a syllable; if you can, try to keep the rhythm going by making the next line begin with fewer or more unstressed syllables, e.g.

There was a young girl called Lorraine
Whose ambition was driving a train...

Here the first line ends early: it should go "da-DA-da / da-DA-da / da-DA-da", and instead it goes "da-DA-da / da-DA-da / da-DA-".

But I've added a syllable at the start of the next line, so the rhythm has changed from going da-DA-da to going da-da-DA (technically, from amphibrachs to anapaests). This is perfectly acceptable; just don't switch in the middle of a line, because it's too confusing.

And that's how you write properly rhythmical limericks!

Does all this make sense?

(No, I don't know what happened to Lorraine, having just made those lines up on the spur of the moment; anyone want to finish that one off for me?)