The Rodney Dangerfield of poetry.
A five line stanza in spondaic hexameter, alternating with amphibrachs and amphimacers. (huh?)
First seen in 1846, in London, in Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense.
Limericks proudly broke into what had been the one, unbroachable frontier in proper English society: smut.
They are the vehicle for what is unspeakable. The topics they embrace include: virginity, the clergy, organs (and not the musical kind), sexual substitutes, animal husbandry (rather aptly named, if you think about it), prostitution, excrement, and diseases.
This page does not break with that tradition. Although, we do try to make allowances where possible. We do ask one thing of you...
Limerick o' the Day
All material from The Limerick, edited by G. Legman, Bell Publishing Co., 1969