Did you know that National Limerick Day is coming up soon? It is observed each year on May 12th and celebrates the birthday of English artist, illustrator, author, and poet Edward Lear (May 12, 1812 – January 29, 1888). Lear popularized the limerick poem in his “Book of Nonsense” in 1846. A limerick is a structured short, humorous, nonsense poem. There are always five lines. The first two lines rhyme with the fifth line, and the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other. Sometimes (often) they tend to be on the raunchy side:
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical
But the good ones I’ve seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical
(Wisely) unknown author
In honor of National Limerick Day, each year The Saturday Evening Post sponsors a limerick contest. This year, entries are due by April 25. The magazine will award $25 to the author of the winning limerick about a Norman Rockwell cover illustration from its April 25, 1936, issue, featuring a scarecrow. Below is the link, if you want to give it a try:
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/limerick-contest
The Siskiyou Writers Club members had fun with limericks at their March meeting. Here are some examples:
Bob Mason incorporated the scarecrow theme in three limericks:
Spring for Matilda
Matilda was tired of the snow,
And tired of not finding a beau,
But March brought spring flowers
And filled up her hours
Happily with her scarecrow.
Jozie & the Scarecrow
A scarecrow who dearly loved posies,
And also the neighbor girl Jozie,
Was jolted alive
When Jozie arrived
With flower and cheeks oh so rosy!
The Melancholy Scarecrow
A scarecrow that felt melancholy
His head filled with dust, straw, and folly,
Could not see the flowers
With their cheering powers
Obscured by his belly so jolly!
Bob Mason
Alan Eddy also made use of the scarecrow theme:
There once was a scarecrow named Sam
That had a great fondness for Spam.
A woman he met
A scarecrow vet
Said you’ll have to eat from the can.
Alan Eddy
Our Siskiyou Writers Club story theme for our last meeting was all about spring and the month of March. Mike Grifantini’s limerick adhered to that and the scarecrow theme:
Anne and Joe—A Limerick
Each year Spring shuffles in, feet dragging,
Days longer, but warmth still lagging.
Anne dresses old Joe,
Buttons his coat and provides a hoe,
Knowing their vegetables will be worth bragging.
Mike Grifantini
Bob Kaster contributed a couple of limericks that didn’t follow any rules:
A guy once rode on a log
Down river in very dense fog
His trip was cut short
And he had to abort
When his log got sucked up in a bog.
The knight climbed out of the wagon
Told the king how he’d slain the dragon
But the king lopped his head
And left him for dead
When he found out the knight was just braggin’
Bob Kaster
Go ahead. Give it a try. It’s good for the soul! And The Saturday Evening Post needs you!
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2 Comments
Dear Siskiyou News,
It’s always great to read articles about one of the greatest humorous verse forms ever invented – the humble Limerick! The article intrigued me for a number of reasons. Firstly, in 2017 I was honoured to be chosen as the second annual Siskiyou Writers Club Limerick Writing Contest winner. I seem to remember my entry and a brief bio being reported in your newspaper. The second reason is that you described a forthcoming Saturday Evening Post Limerick competition, which was to write a limerick about a young lady and a scarecrow. Well – astonishingly I actually won that competition! It’s a small world, isn’t it?! (Oh – the Saturday Evening Post’s limerick competition is normally held six times a year, there’s one every two months.)
It’s lovely to see that the Siskiyou Writers Club is still interested in limericks. A couple of comments though, if I may. Lear certainly popularised the limerick; but the first and second editions of his book did virtually nothing. It was the third edition of November, 1861, which caused the limerick to explode onto the world stage. Anyone interested in the early history and development of the Limerick may be interested in my book: “The Limerick. A History, 1820-1920”, published by McFarland and Co. Inc., NC, in 2024.
The second point is about the verse starting “The limerick packs laughs anatomical …” It is described as “(Wisely) unknown author.” It was actually written by Harry Silleck Grannatt. He wrote a daily verse for the Oregon Journal in the 1930s. The limerick was one of those that appeared in the paper. I don’t yet know the date it was published on, but you can find the limerick on page 43 of a book called The Pied Typer of Shrdlu-Etaoin, published by Binfords & Mort, Portland, Oregon, 1939. This collects verses written by Harry.
Right. Onwards and upwards! There are Limericks to write and cups of tea to be drunk!
Best regards,
Dr Bob Turvey
Bristol, UK
As another erstwhile Siskiyou and Sat Eve Post limerick contest entrant (with considerably less success than Bob Turvey I hasten to add), I can highly recommend all and any of Bob’s books. I will go as far as to say that “The Limerick. A History, 1820-1920” has become the go-to reference bible for anyone interested in this wonderful small verse form. And I can also heartily recommend his “Why are Limericks Called Limericks” by Waldegrave Publishing here in the UK.
Best wishes,
Doug Harris
Proprietor of The (as-yet embryonic) Museum of Limerick Verse and curator of the world’s largest collection of limerick books, postcards and all manner of ‘limeribilia’ in the world.