Limericks!

[nitedula]

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

Comments

[subtle_eye]

There was a young girl called Lorraine
Whose ambition was driving a train...
A love of construction
proved a major obstruction
She's now training her drives on a crane.

[nitedula]

Interesting: you went from my anapaests to amphibrachs and back again! I like the reversal of "drive" and "train".

[originaluddite]

The funny thing is that I find reading over your instructional limericks somehow feels awkward in my mouth. This has nothing to do with the structure - which I trust you have right and feels right. But I think I am so accustomed to them telling a story and having stock phrases like "There was a..." that the limerick shaped hole in my mind resists them. Thanks nonetheless for the instructions. These things _need_ to be documented.

[nitedula]

I think limericks are too stuck in the "There was a..." pattern: it's quite restrictive. A friend and I have an on-and-off game where we have to use a specific word as the last word in the first line of a limerick - it's quite fun, but rarely ends up in that pattern, so I suppose I'm used to a looser style.

These ones were mainly technical challenges for me: could I illustrate each metre in a limerick describing it? I failed with the dactyl, I think: though it's metrically correct, it doesn't actually tell you what a dactyl is. I should try again.

[the_hatstand]

"There was a..." is indeed somewhat restrictive; I make a point of not using it if I can avoid it. Mostly because it means you've wasted a line you could've used on the story.

I don't think I'd ever seen a limerick entirely in dactyl form before this.

[boojumlol]

There was a young girl called Lorraine
Whose ambition was driving a train
She wrecked her career
When she just couldn't steer
And Lorraine became only a stain.

[nitedula]

I like that! Limericks with double rhymes in the last line always seem particularly clever to me.

[the_hatstand]

There was a young girl called Lorraine
Whose ambition was driving a train
I did hear some tales
That she went off the rails
Though I think they just mean she's insane

[nitedula]

Ooh, metaphors! I'm flattered by your new post, by the way.

What do you think of this? I'm not quite sure about the second line:

Dactyls are hard to manipulate
Into the form the rules stipulate:
Heavy then light, light, a
Pain to get quite right, a
Metre that threatens to trip you late!

Would it work better if I changed it to "Into what limericks stipulate"?

[the_hatstand]

Yep, I think that's a better (and more informative) line. Though I think this verse would work better in a slightly looser form (eg. carrying the "a"s) rather than sticking to pure dactyl. If it weren't for the fact that that was the whole point.

Think I did a good job on the Limerick instructions?