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
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.