Thursday 12 May 2016

International Limerick Day

I'm using this as my post for BEDM Day 12 but I couldn't let International Limerick Day pass without trying my hand at writing one.

Limericks have had a chequered past. Some well repected poets turned out many of them, poets like Edward Lear and Ogden Nash. But more recently it has been seem as a verse form for children. In my previous life as a secondary school teacher I came across many poetry schemes of work which asked childre to 'write a limerick about ...' yet at no time expected that they would be taught about syllables, rhythm or the structure of the limerick! Presumably they were born knowing what a limerick is? Many children found it really hard to craft a limerick and this assumption that it's a 'childish' form of verse is one I came across a lot. But like most types of poetry it has a set form and it's often difficult to force what you want to say into 5 lines of verse with an AABBA rhyme scheme and shorter 3rd and 4th lines.

So in honour of International Limerick Day I've had a go myself. This will be the nth attempt as I know I'll have to wrestle with it before it conforms, something else that was never taught to those poor kids who had to 'write a limerick about ...'



Everytime I go into the Town
I wish I was part of the Gown.
They're clever, you see,
Not ditsy like me.
They's never cock up the last line! Sorry, rhyme. 

7 comments:

  1. I thought this was great. Really bouncy and fun. I think writing a limerick is a real challenge and one that you've met fantastically (I wouldn't know where to start!) #Prose4T

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    1. Thank you so much! I find writing to a set poetry form really difficult, I'm much happier with a bit of free verse.

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  2. Love it. Especially the cocked up last line. Well done for hitting limerick day too.

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    1. Cheers Cara! I thought it needed a bit of humour as it was never going to be great poetry!

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  3. Ha! Love it :) I think Limericks are really hard, you've done a brilliant job x #prose4t

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  4. Limericks are definitely one of my favourite forms of poetry - and I haven't written one in ages! I think yours is superb as it is written as you and who you are :) Thank you for linking to Prose for Thought x

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    1. Thanks Victoria. What a lovely comment that you could see me in the limerick. Sometimes that's all we need to be told, that our writing has come from the heart and reflects ourself.

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