Why are limericks called so?

Question

Is it anything to do with the place?

Answer 1

I like anonymous poems

I read them in the sun

I like the really long ones

That go on and on

Anon.

;-)

Answer 2

A light humorous, nonsensical, or bawdy verse of five anapestic lines usually with the rhyme scheme aabba.

Literary Dictionary: limerick

limerick [limm‐ĕ‐rik], an English verse form consisting of five anapaestic lines rhyming aabba, the third and fourth lines having two stresses and the others three. Early examples, notably those of Edward Lear in his Book of Nonsense (1846), use the same rhyming word at the end of the first and last lines, but most modern limericks avoid such repetition. The limerick is almost always a self‐contained, humorous poem, and usually plays on rhymes involving the names of people or places. First found in the 1820s, it was popularized by Lear, and soon became a favourite form for the witty obscenities of anonymous versifiers. The following is one of the less offensive examples of the coarse limerick tradition:

There was a young fellow named Menzies

Whose kissing sent girls into frenzies;

 But a virgin one night 

Crossed her legs in a fright

And fractured his bi‐focal lenses.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: limerick

Popular form of short, humorous verse, often nonsensical and frequently ribald. It consists of five lines, rhyming aabba, and the dominant metre is anapestic, with two feet in the third and fourth lines and three feet in the others. The origin of the term is obscure, but a group of poets in County Limerick, Ire., wrote limericks in Irish in the 18th century. The first collections in English date from c. 1820. Among the most famous are those in Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (1846).

Columbia Encyclopedia: limerick,

type of humorous verse. It is always short, often nonsensical, and sometimes ribald. Of unknown origin, the limerick is popular rather than literary and has even been used in advertising. The rhyme scheme of most limericks is usually aabba, as in the following example:

There was an old man from Peru,

Who dreamed he was eating his shoe.

[U+00A0][U+00A0]He woke in a fright

[U+00A0][U+00A0]In the middle of the night

And found it was perfectly true.

The most famous collection of limericks is Edward Lear's Book of Nonsense (1846).

Grammar Dictionary: limerick

A form of humorous five-line verse, such as:

There once was a young man from Kew

Who found a dead mouse in his stew.

Said the waiter, “Don't shout

Or wave it about,

Or the rest will be wanting one too!”

Poetry Glossary: Limerick

A light or humorous verse form of five chiefly anapestic verses of which lines one, two and five are of three feet and lines three and four are of two feet, with a rhyme scheme of aabba. The limerick, named for a town in Ireland of that name, was popularized by Edward Lear in his Book of Nonsense published in 1846.

A funny poem of five lines with a specific rhyme and rhythm.

There was a contest to see who could write the funniest limerick.

http://www.answers.com/limericks

Answer 3

When poems ye do enjoy

Whether from girl or boy

It's that Irish wit

Made up oh so quick

Played like a favorite toy

Origin: circa 1600's Ireland, witty & entertaining poems.

Answer 4

Limerick Ireland is famous for the doggerel poetry called limericks.