Over the many centuries of the existence of poetry, many well-established poetic forms have formed. These are such forms as a sonnet, triolette, French ballad and many others, where a certain number of lines and a characteristic rhyming scheme are assumed. Limerick belongs to such forms.
Poetic form
Limerick form appeared in the British Isles. This is a poem consisting of only five lines. Anapaest is usually used, moreover, it is of different sizes. Odd lines are written in three-stop size, even - in double-foot. Sometimes there are limerics written in other three-part sizes, that is, dactyl or amphibrach. Limerick has a rather rigid rhyme scheme - AABBA. Moreover, in the most strict version, the first and fifth lines should have exactly the same endings.
Rhymed nonsense
Limerick differs from other poetic forms not only in rhyme and rhythm. It has semantic features. This poetic genre is sometimes called "rhymed nonsense." In Limerick, combinations of the most unexpected images, concepts and actions are allowed. This creates a humorous effect.
There is always a hero in the poem. He is called in the first line and indicate where he lives. In the second line, the author describes what his character has done, and in the remaining three - what happened as a result. As a rule, the result is funny and unexpected.
Limerick story
Limerick's date of birth is known more or less accurately. This is 1896, when the first collection of such poems appeared. According to one legend, Irish soldiers from a city called Limerick sang similar songs. However, there is another version of the origin of the name. At parties in the English province, a game song was popular, like ditties, the chorus of which was the phrase "Will you go to Limerick?" The song was also similar in form to a modern limerick. Verses were usually composed on the spot, they talked about funny or even fantastic cases. Sometimes these were teasers in which those present were ridiculed.
Famous masters of the genre
The most recognized master of limerick is the English poet Edward Lear. He was translated quite a lot into Russian. The most popular translations are Mark Freidkin and Grigory Kruzhkov. According to Kruzhkov, Lyme's limerics are not entirely comic works. In them, there are echoes of other poets, and semantic layers that are invisible at first glance. The master of limerick was also the famous mathematician, author of "Alice in Wonderland" Lewis Carroll. Other English poets paid tribute to this genre.
