Limerick (poetry) - Variations

Variations

The idiosyncratic link between spelling and pronunciation in the English language is explored in this Scottish example (the name Menzies is pronounced /ˈmɪŋɪs/ MING-iss).

A lively young damsel named Menzies

Inquired: "Do you know what this thenzies?"

Her aunt, with a gasp,

Replied: "It's a wasp,

And you're holding the end where the stenzies."

Punning limericks feature complex wordplay, as in this example:

A flea and a fly in a flue,

Were trapped and knew not what to do,

'Let us flee', said the fly,

'Let us fly', said the flea,

So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

The limerick form is so well known that it can be parodied in fairly subtle ways. These parodies are sometimes called anti-limericks. The following example, of unknown origin, subverts the structure of the true limerick by changing the number of syllables in the lines.

There was a young man from Japan

Whose limericks never would scan.

When asked why this was,

He replied "It's because

I always try to fit as many syllables into the last line as ever I possibly can."

The following example subverts the structure of the true limerick by changing the number of lines.

There once was a man from the sticks

Who liked to compose limericks.

But he failed at the sport,

For he wrote 'em too short.

Other anti-limericks follow the meter of a limerick but deliberately break the rhyme scheme, like the following example, attributed to W.S. Gilbert, in a parody of a limerick by Lear:

There was an old man of St. Bees,

Who was stung in the arm by a wasp,

When asked, "Does it hurt?"

He replied, "No, it doesn't,

I'm so glad it wasn't a hornet."

Comedian John Clarke has also parodied Lear's style:

There was an old man with a beard,

A funny old man with a beard

He had a big beard

A great big old beard

That amusing old man with a beard.