limericks
Funny five-liners
Limericks are short humorous poems with a distinctive bouncing rhythm and an AABBA rhyme scheme—the first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines form a shorter rhyming couplet.
The form traditionally opens by naming a person from a place: There once was a man from Nantucket.
Many limericks are bawdy or obscene, though the form also serves innocent wordplay and nonsense verse.
Metered poetic passage
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- quintainJousting practice apparatus
- meterDevice that measures usage
- anapesticMeter with galloping rhythm
stanza · couplet · triplet · scansion · syllable · prosody · cadence · foot
Massachusetts island resort
- young manMale in early adulthood
- old ladyElderly female, or mom
- peculiarStrangely unusual
- fellowMan or companion
maiden · place name · character sketch · tall tale · misadventure · unfortunate · eccentric
Humorous statement seeking laughter
- punWordplay using double meanings
- witClever, inventive humor
- funnyProvoking laughter or suspicion
- laughterVocal expression of amusement
bawdy · ribald · naughty · comical · amusing · silly · jocular · gag
Of the Emerald Isle
- nonsense verseIntentionally illogical poetry
- VictorianOf a prim era
- pubLicensed drinking establishment
- drinking songMusic for toasting together
folk poetry · oral tradition · recitation · bawdy house · music hall · light verse
Mental quickness and skill
- ingenuityClever, original thinking
- punsJokes using sound similarities
- double meaningOne phrase, two senses
- twist endingUnexpected narrative conclusion
surprise · absurdity · whimsy · incongruity · subversion · misdirection · setup · payoff
verse
Metered poetic passage
anapestic · stanza · couplet · triplet · scansion · syllable · prosody · cadence · foot · stressed
Nantucket
Massachusetts island resort
fellow · maiden · place name · character sketch · tall tale · misadventure · unfortunate · eccentric
joke
Humorous statement seeking laughter
laughter · bawdy · ribald · naughty · comical · amusing · silly · jocular · gag · quip
Irish
Of the Emerald Isle
- nonsense verseIntentionally illogical poetry
- VictorianOf a prim era
- pubLicensed drinking establishment
drinking song · folk poetry · oral tradition · recitation · bawdy house · music hall · light verse
cleverness
Mental quickness and skill
- ingenuityClever, original thinking
- punsJokes using sound similarities
- double meaningOne phrase, two senses
twist ending · surprise · absurdity · whimsy · incongruity · subversion · misdirection · setup · payoff · comic timing
- PoemsThe Raven, Ozymandias, Invictus, Paradise Lost, Beowulf
- humor booksjoke books, one-liners, wisecracks, roast jokes, punch lines
- rhymes & versesnursery rhymes, couplets, doggerel, children's verse, Mother Goose
- poetry formshaiku, sonnet, sonnets, tanka, ballad
- comedycomedy, jokes, humor, puns, sarcasm
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
limerickssonnets
Fourteen-line rhymed poems
epics · haikus · elegies · odes · blank verse
limericksepic poetry
Extended narrative in verse
sonnets · Paradise Lost · The Divine Comedy · Shakespearean sonnets · classical poetry
- dirty limerick
- Treaty of Limerick1691 Irish capitulation agreement
- County LimerickIrish administrative division