Limericks

Limericks have five lines and a rhyming scheme of AABBA. The first two and the last lines have eight to ten syllables each and rhyme together. The middle two lines have five to seven syllables and rhyme with each other.

Limericks first appeared in the early 18^th century. They were frequently men’s obscene humorous drinking songs. Their contemporary equivalent would probably be bawdy rugby songs. (Other sports may be included!)

The following is an anonymous limerick which is not coarse:

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.

The next one is also anonymous and fairly innocent:

The thoughts of the rabbit on sex

Are seldom, if ever, complex;

For a rabbit in need

Is a rabbit indeed.

And does just as a person expects.

They were popularised in the 19^th century by Edward Lear, though his limericks were not lewd and were written and illustrated to entertain children. It’s easy to assume that most of the limericks that are heard were composed by him. That is the mistake I made about the young lady who rode on the tiger. It led me to wonder when the first limericks were written.

It has been suggested that St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) wrote the first one in Latin in the 13^th century, though it seems to be more of a prayer than a joke.

Sit vitiorum meorum evacuatio

Concupiscentae et libidinis exterminatio,

Caritatis et patientiae,

Humilitaris et obedientiae,

Omniumque virtutum augmentatio.

It was translated approximately by Fred Hornaday (1973-present) as:

To circumvent brimstone and fire

Expelling unsav’ry desire

I piously pray

And devoutly obey

As my soul soars progressively higher.

James V. Schall, S.J. (1928-2019) was an American writer, philosopher, and teacher who wrote a limerick encapsulating the philosophy of Aquinas.

There once was a Jesuit knight

Who proved with his logic air-tight

That all of infinity’s

Touched by divinity

Starting with ‘Let there be light.’

This verse form was not known as limerick to Edward Lear. The name seems to derive from a parlour game played in Limerick in Ireland in which the refrain asks ‘Will (or won’t) you come up to Limerick?’

There is a plaque in Limerick, in County Limerick which says:

The Limerick is furtive and mean

You must keep her in close quarantine,

Or she sneaks up the slums

And promptly becomes

Disorderly drunk and obscene.

Writing limericks can be a lot of fun and there are many examples of different forms.

A H Reginald Buller (1874-1944) was a British Canadian botanist and mycologist who wrote the following famous scientific limerick called Relativity:

 There was a young lady named Bright,

Whose speed was far faster than light;

She set out one day,

In a relative way,

 And returned on the previous night.

Some writers set out to deliberately flout the ‘guidelines.’

There was a young man from Japan

Whose limericks never would scan,

And when they asked why,

He said, ‘I do try!

But when I get to the last line I try to fit in as many words as I can.’

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) was an American writer and polymath, acclaimed as one of the finest writers of his day.

God’s plan made a hopeful beginning,

But man spoiled his chances by sinning.

We trust that the story

Will end in God’s glory,

But at present the other side’s winning.

To finish, here is a very clever limerick created by Leigh Mercer (1893-1977) a man who indulged in wordplay and puzzles.

 

 12 + 144 + 20 + 3√4/7 + (5 x 11) = 9²+ 0

It reads as follows:

A dozen, a gross, and a score

Plus three times the square root of four

Divided by seven

Plus five times eleven

Is nine squared and not a bit more.