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Limerick poetry - Structure

Limerick poetry - Structure: Encyclopedia II - Limerick poetry - Structure

The rhyme scheme is usually aabba, with a rather rigid meter. The first, second, and fifth lines are three metrical feet; the third and fourth two metrical feet. The foot used is usually the amphibrach, a stressed syllable between two unstressed ones. However it can be considered an anapestic foot, two short syllables and then a long, the reverse of dactyl rhythm. However, many substitutions are common. The first line traditionally introduces a person and a location, and usually ends with the name of the location, though sometimes wit ...

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Limerick poetry, Limerick poetry - Structure, Limerick poetry - History, Limerick poetry - Origin of the name, Limerick poetry - Early examples, Limerick poetry - Edward Lear, Limerick poetry - Well-known authors, Limerick poetry - Recurring themes, Limerick poetry - Ribald verses, Limerick poetry - Nantucket, Limerick poetry - Uttoxeter and Exeter, Limerick poetry - Spelling, Limerick poetry - Anti-limericks, Limerick poetry - Non-rhyme, Limerick poetry - Structure, Limerick poetry - Limericks in other languages than English

Limerick poetry, Limerick poetry - Anti-limericks, Limerick poetry - Early examples, Limerick poetry - Edward Lear, Limerick poetry - History, Limerick poetry - Limericks in other languages than English, Limerick poetry - Nantucket, Limerick poetry - Non-rhyme, Limerick poetry - Origin of the name, Limerick poetry - Recurring themes, Limerick poetry - Ribald verses, Limerick poetry - Spelling, Limerick poetry - Structure, Limerick poetry - Uttoxeter and Exeter, Limerick poetry - Well-known authors, Clerihew

Limerick poetry: Encyclopedia II - Limerick poetry - Structure

Limerick poetry - Structure

The rhyme scheme is usually aabba, with a rather rigid meter. The first, second, and fifth lines are three metrical feet; the third and fourth two metrical feet. The foot used is usually the amphibrach, a stressed syllable between two unstressed ones. However it can be considered an anapestic foot, two short syllables and then a long, the reverse of dactyl rhythm. However, many substitutions are common.

The first line traditionally introduces a person and a location, and usually ends with the name of the location, though sometimes with that of the person. A true limerick is supposed to have a kind of twist to it. This may lie in the final line, or it may lie in the way the rhymes are often intentionally tortured, or in both. Though not a strict requirement, the best limericks are usually those that additionally show some form of internal rhyme, often alliteration, sometimes assonance or another form of rhyme.

Other related archives

1896, 1898, Arthur Sullivan, Clerihew, Dutch, Edward Lear, Esperanto, Exeter, Gershon Legman, Hans Alfredson, Isaac Asimov, Japanese, John Ciardi, John O'Mill, Lecherous Limericks, Limerick, Nantucket, OED, Ogden Nash, Sumer is icumen in, There once was a man from Nantucket, Tom o' Bedlam, Uttoxeter, Vyvyan Holland, alliteration, amphibrach, anapestic foot, assonance, comic, dactyl rhythm, dodoitsu, genre, hypersexual, internal rhyme, meter, metrical feet, mythopoeic, nonsense verse, obscenities, persona, poem, rhyme, ribald, science fiction, science-fiction, sexually perverse, trope, whalers

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Structure", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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