Whimsical Limericks: Playful Poetry with Rhythm and Rhyme

1. Poetry Vocabulary

2. Allusion: • A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art • Ballad: • A song-like poem that tells a story 3. BlankVerse: • Poetry written in unrhymed, ten-syllable lines

3. 4. ConcretePoem: • A poem with a shape that suggests its subject • FreeVerse: • Poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern or meter 6. Haiku: • A three-lined Japanese verse

4. 7. Image: • A word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses 8. LyricPoem: • Highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker

5. 9. Mood: • The feeling created in the reader by a literary work 10. NarrativePoem: • A story told in verse 11. Refrain: • A regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem 12. Repetition: • The use, more than once, of any element of language

6. Refrain: • A regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem • Repetition: • The use, more than once, of any element of language • Rhyme: • Repetition of sounds at the end of words • Rhyme Scheme: • A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem

7. Rhythm: • Pattern of beats or stresses in spoken or written language • Stanza: • A formal division of lines in a poem considered as a unit

8. Poetry Humor & Poetry

9. Humor • Humor in poetry can arise from a number of sources: • Surprise • Exaggeration • Bringing together of unrelated things • Most funny poems have two things in common: • Rhythm • Rhyme

10. Rhythm & Rhyme “The Porcupine” By Ogden Nash Any hound a porcupine nudges Can’t be blamed for harboring grudges. I know one hound that laughed all winter At a porcupine that sat on a splinter. • Using more spirited language makes humorous situations even more humorous

11. If you take away the rhythm and rhyme, the humor vanishes. Any hound that touches a porcupine Can’t be blamed for holding a grudge I know one hound that laughed all winter long At a porcupine that sat on a piece of wood

12. Limericks • A limerick is a poem of five lines • The first, second, and fifth lines have three rhythmic beats and rhyme with one another. • The third and fourth lines have two beats and rhyme with one another. • They are always light-hearted, humorous poems.

13. Limericks There once was a man with no hair. He gave everyone quite a scare. He got some Rogaine, Grew out a mane, And now he resembles a bear!

14. Limerick About a Bee I wish that my room had a floor, I don’t care so much for a door. But this walking around Without touching the ground Is getting to be quite a bore.

15. Another Limerick There once was a very small mouse Who lived in a very small house, The ocean’s spray Washed it away, All that was left was her blouse!

16. You will create a limerick similar to this one… There once was a man from Beijing. All his life he hoped to be King. So he put on a crown, Which quickly fell down. That small silly man from Beijing.

17. Fill in the blanks and create your own Limerick. There once was a _____ from _____. All the while she/he hoped ________. So she/he ____________________, And ________________________, That _________ from ___________.

18. Mrs. Evans’ Limerick: There once was a man from Japan. All the while he hoped for a tan. So he lay on the beach, And ate a ripe peach, That came from a Georgia van.