Limericks A Poetry Unit in Conjunction with the China Unit in Social Studies

1. Limericks A Poetry Unit in Conjunction with the China Unit in Social Studies

2. Limericks supposedly originated in Limerick, Ireland, although no one really knows where they began. The limerick is usually a humorous, nonsense verse consisting of a triplet (three lines) and a couplet (two lines)- a five line poem.

3. Covering a wide range of subjects, the first line of many limericks start with the phrase, “There once was…” or “There was a/an…” and ends with the name of a person or place.

4. There once was a fire breathing dragon…

5. Lines 1,2, and 5 are the triplet and rhyme; lines 3 and 4 are the couplet and rhyme. Limericks have a definite beat or meter. The usual plan goes something like this: (rhyme scheme) da da DA da da DA da da DA a da da DA da da DA da da DA a da da DA da da DA b da da DA da da DA b da da DA da da DA da da DA a

6. Each DA is a “foot.” The number of feet per line looks like this: 3, 3, 2, 2, 3*Note- few limericks follow the meter perfectly. See the example below: “The Giant” by David Harrison (rhyme scheme) u / u u / u u / There once was a giant named Jones a u / u u / u u / Who lived in a castle of stones. a u / u u / And often, he said b u / u u / “I’d sure like some bread b u u / u u / u u / But I hate grinding up all these bones.” a

7. But in spite of variations, what makes a limerick a limerick is that it “feels” like one: •The majority of its feet are anapests (da da DA) A metrical foot composed of two short syllables followed by one long one, as in the word seventeen •Each line contains the usual number of accented feet (3, 3, 2, 2, 3) •The rhyme scheme follows the plan ( a, a, b, b, a)

8. Hints for Writing Limericks • Many limericks start with “There once was…” or “There was a/an…” • Pick a topic, such as school. Make a list of as many “things” associated with that topic. For example: bus, lunch, books, rules, class, math… • Then, make lists of words that rhyme with those words. For example: bus- cuss, fuss, Russ; lunch- hunch, bunch, crunch; books- crooks, cooks, looks; rule- fool, stool, school; class- pass, mass; math- path, laugh, wrath

9. • Then, just play around with the words… There once was a kid named Russ who always rode on the bus… • After getting some sentences that seem to make sense, work on blending them together so they form a logical story. • Once you have them organized- rearrange and manipulate the words so that you have the correct beat/meter.

10. Vocabulary • Anapest- A metrical foot composed of two short syllables followed by one long one, as in the word seventeen • Couplet- two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme • Fixed form- any poem that must fit a strictly defined set of rules. For example see haiku, tanka, ballad, limerick, and cinquain • Foot- a combination of syllables constituting a metrical unit in verse • Hyperbole- any exaggeration used to express strong emotion or humor • Meter- a regular pattern of stressed (/) and unstressed (u) syllables • Pun- a play on the multiple meanings of words • Rhyme- when words close together have the same or similar sounding final syllables • Rhythm- musical quality or language, produced by repeating accents

11. Now, you try one… There once was a fire breathing dragon