Limerick
A five-line comic poem that rhymes AABBA. The long first, second and fifth lines have three beats; the short third and fourth lines have two, and the last line lands the joke.
- Lines 1, 2 and 5
- Three beats, rhyme A
- Lines 3 and 4
- Two beats, rhyme B
In practice
A limerick is a five-line poem, almost always funny, with the rhyme scheme AABBA. The first, second and fifth lines are long, with three strong beats each. The third and fourth lines are short, with two beats, and rhyme with each other. The bouncing rhythm comes from anapests, two light syllables before a stressed one: da-da-DUM.
Edward Lear made the form famous with A Book of Nonsense in 1846. His limericks often open by naming a person and a place, "There was an Old Man with a beard", and end by returning to the first line with a small twist. Later writers moved the surprise into the last line, so that it works like the punch line of a joke.
Limericks are short, so every word carries rhythm. The rhymes do most of the comedy: the further the third rhyme seems to stretch, the bigger the laugh when it lands. Wordplay, absurd situations and a straight face suit the form.
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Limerick examples
Edward Lear, from A Book of Nonsense (1846): "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 their nests in my beard!'" The short lines speed up the list of birds, and the last line brings back the beard.
An anonymous limerick that plays on its own rhyme: "A flea and a fly in a flue / Were imprisoned, so what could they do? / Said the fly, 'Let us flee!' / 'Let us fly!' said the flea. / So they flew through a flaw in the flue." The joke is all sound: flee, fly, flew, flue and flaw.
How to write a limerick
Pick a character and a place you can rhyme, then write the first line: "There once was a writer from Leeds." Find at least three rhymes for its last word before you go on, because lines two and five will need two of them.
Use line two to set up the situation and lines three and four, short and quick, to complicate it. Save the funniest rhyme for line five. Read it aloud and tap the beats: three, three, two, two, three. If a line stumbles, swap a word rather than forcing the stress.
Common limerick mistakes
Letting the rhythm slip is the most common problem. A limerick that rhymes but does not bounce reads like prose. Count the stresses, not the syllables, and keep the light syllables light.
The other mistake is giving the joke away early. If line two or three already holds the punch line, the last line has nothing left to do. Keep the surprise for the end, and avoid reusing the same word as a rhyme unless the repetition is the joke.
Common questions
What is a limerick?
A limerick is a five-line comic poem with the rhyme scheme AABBA. The first, second and fifth lines have three beats, and the third and fourth have two.
What is the rhyme scheme of a limerick?
AABBA. Lines one, two and five rhyme with each other, and lines three and four share a second rhyme.
Who made limericks famous?
Edward Lear, whose A Book of Nonsense (1846) is full of them. The form is older, but Lear made it popular.
Do limericks have to be funny?
Almost always. The bouncing rhythm and the stretched rhymes push toward comedy, and a serious limerick usually reads as a deliberate parody of the form.
How many syllables are in a limerick?
There is no fixed count. Long lines usually have eight or nine syllables and short lines five or six, but the three and two beats matter more than the exact number.