Five lines long and often nonsensical or bawdy, known as a "limerick" - everybody has heard one or two of these short poems. But do they have any connection to Limerick?
The Limerick
The classical limerick is a five-line, generally humorous poem with a strict meter. The rhyme scheme is A-A-B-B-A. As to the meter the first, second, and fifth lines are three metrical feet; the third and fourth two metrical feet. The foot used is usually the amphibrach. If this all sounds Greek to you look at the examples below. It really makes more sense in practice.
The contents of the limerick is also fairly regulated. The first line contains both a person and a location, ending with the name of the location. A limerick is also supposed to have a final line with a twist. Or a deliberate chance for a misunderstanding. If the composer can add internal rhymes or alliteration the better the limerick.
The Limerick Connection
There is none. Sorry to disappoint you, but that seems to be the truth. Poetry adhering to the rules laid out above first came to be called "limericks" at the close of the 19th century, with the Oxford English Dictionary listing the word first in 1898. Limerick-like poems have been known for centuries, however, with even Shakespeare using one in "Othello".
Some scholars insist that the name was borrowed from an earlier form of humorous poetry. This was written to a different meter and always ended in "…come all the way up to Limerick?" The connection to the modern limerick is disputed.
The Classic Limerick
Edward Lear wrote limericks before they were called thus, one being:
There was a Young Person of Smyrna
Whose grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the cat,
And said, "Granny, burn that!
You incongruous old woman of Smyrna!"
