 Comedy: March 15, 2017 Issue [#8177] |
  Comedy
This week: A Laugh A Limerick Edited by: eyestar~*  
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 Limericks 
If you like to laugh or at least smile, Limericks may be just what you need to put a shine in your day! They are just FUN!
A limerick is simple, short poem with bawdy or nonsensical themes. It can be traced back to the 14th century in Ireland and England and may have originated in the Irish County of Limerick. It's origin is still debated. It was a form that was easy to write and remember in the times of oral traditions and they were often repeated in pubs and taverns by beggars and lower classes of the 15th -17th centuries. It might be said some of the poets were drunkards and so the poems were often bawdy or dirty for more cultured society. They made people laugh as they made fun of life.
Some experts think that the only true limericks are the obscene and bawdy ones and yet the form itself was made popular in its less crude form.
"The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical."
Edward Lear wrote 212 limericks, 72 of which were published in his Book Of Nonsense in 1846 after Punch magazine had published examples of his poems. It was he who gave popularity to the form. Many of them were popular with children.
"There was an old man with a beard
who said it is just as I feared
two owls and a hen
four larks and a wren
have all built nests in my beard."
Lear
Limerick form was often used in nursery rhymes like Mother Goose Classics.
"Hickory Dickory Dock
the mouse ran up the clock
the clock struck one
and down he did run
Hickory dickory dock."
Many writers like Kipling, Lewis Carrol, Ogden Nash, Alfred Lord Tennyson and of course, Shakespeare enjoyed writing limericks. In 1564, Shakespeare used the form in King Lear and Othello. The Irish, with their love for poetry, made it their own.
"There was a young man from Killarney
who was chockfull of what is called blarney
He would sit in a stile
and tell lies by the mile
would this dreadful young man of Killarney."
~Lear
In 1880 the first use of the name Limerick referring to a short funny lyric was used in a New Brunswick newspaper that went with the tune of the parlour game, "Will (or Won't) you come up to Limerick?"
In 1898 the term 'Limerick" was officially termed in the New England Dictionary but the form is much older.
The Format
This fun to read form has 5 lines with anapaestic meter (da da DUM)
From historic samples: Lines 1, 2, 5 have 7-10 syllables and rhyme with one another
Lines 3 and 4 have 5-7 syllables and rhyme with each other
The most common tradition in syllabication though is 8, 8, 5, 5, 8 or 9, 9, 6 ,6, 9.
Limericks also have a twist that may occur with the last line, serving to evoke more laughter.
Many show instances of assonance, alliteration and even internal rhyme or a word play. Getting a laugh is the purpose!
Many of the popular Limericks like Lear's "Man from Killarney" above, did not necessarily use the punch line as the humour. They use a variant of the first line in the final line and the humour is in the tension between the meaning and its lack. This style creates a circle and adds to the nonsensical effect. Others have the twist line at the end.
"There was a young lady named Harris,
Whom nothing could ever embarrass,
Till the bath salts one day
In the tub where she lay
Turned out to be plaster of Paris"
Themes in Limericks are varied now as well, from the bawdy insult, to the scientific!
"When astronomers shared Earth was lowly
not Heaven;s sweet center most holy
Philosophers grumbled
at theories crumbled
As one said, "I wish someone had Ptolemy."
I was amazed to find out that Leigh Mercer (1993-1977}, a word play and math expert, even created a parody of limerick using math equations--with the numbers!  Check it out here! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Mercer
Summary
So... 5 lines of fun
AAbbA rhyme, 9,9,6,6,9 syllable counts
a twist or nonsense image to make us laugh.
Add some word play or wizardry to flow for fun.
Simple, short, comment and play!
"Have fun and laugh.
A limerick should brighten your day
Be witty, perceptive and gay.
A neat little verse
Will do nothing worse
Than banish your bad blues away!
Hey, why not add a line here:
Cool sources I for these funny finds:
If you like a light bawdy Irish good time:
http://st-patricks-day.com/irish-jokes/aboutireland_jokes_bawdy_irish_limericks-...
http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/explore_famous_limerick_examples.html
http://pun.me/pages/funny-limericks.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_(poetry)
History bits:
http://www.thehypertexts.com/The%20Best%20Limericks%20of%20All%20Time.htm
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Wow! Here is a Limerick Line up for Laughs!
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Now, your challenge and I will join you as I am no comic.
My little study showed me that maybe even I could have a little fun here.
It is the Ides of March so you have til March 20 to write a limerick and send it in the response box.
I will gift a Celtic Spirit Mb to the one that makes me laugh the most and get it highlighted in a newsletter too.
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Hiya comedy lovers! Here I am as guest editor and while I do not have a writer's funny bone, I appreciate those who do and love to laugh with them! With St. Patrick's Day close by, my muse leaped to Limericks, a humourous poetry form associated with Ireland.
