In Defense of Limericks--Guest post

The following post was contributed by Mark Berkeland (aka Wassamatta_U), friend (I certainly wouldn't want him as an enemy), pun master, and all around good egg (Did I just call Wassa an egg?).

I really feel like the Lowly Limerick often gets short shrift, and feel it is my duty to defend this form of poetry as being more than meets (or meters) the eye. And so, without further ado, here is my post:

"The assignment for today is simple. Write a limerick."

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. Limericks, when done well, are NOT "simple." Allow me to pontificate about one of my favorite forms of writing... the lowly Limerick.

I love limericks. What other form of poetry depends almost solely on the use of a "punch line?" Bad puns or twists are almost a requirement of a good limerick, and those are the sorts of things I really enjoy doing. But to successfully pull off a really top-notch limerick takes a lot of effort, for what one would THINK is a simple poetic form. Heck, the meter is well-defined, there's only 5 little lines, it uses a standard AABBA scheme... what could be so hard?

Aye, but there's the rub.

As any writer of short stories knows, the limited length limits your ability to "build" the story. One must be succinct, and choose very carefully what elements to include so that the story can build without exceeding it's natural size limitations. The same is true, only magnified, with a good limerick. It is DARN HARD to set up a good joke in 5 lines!!! And SHORT lines, to boot! You really have to work at stuffing your thoughts into such a limited space, especially when there is the further restriction of meter and rhyme. You have to choose your words very carefully, and you don't have the luxury of wasting a single syllable.

Which brings us to the NEXT challenge for the limerick writer... the rhyme scheme. Remember how I said the limerick has a punch line? I misspoke. More often, it is a punch WORD. In other words, the REAL kicker rests solely on the very last word of the poem. Everything else is leading up to that ONE WORD. Naturally, there are always exceptions (as with any literary form: see "Kate DiCamillo"... but I digress). But mostly, one doesn't make the joke earlier in the last line. And heaven forbid trying to stick the joke in the AABB part! People would stop reading at that point! No... the final word is where the limerick gets it's true power. But wait.... that's not ALL! As with MOST jokes, the limerick punch depends on the UNEXPECTED. People shouldn't see it coming from a mile away, at least with a REALLY good limerick. Obfuscating the joke would be a lot easier if you could do it somewhere within that last line, but no... we have to do it as the last word. And since we are sticking to AABBA, that last punchline word has to rhyme. And it has to rhyme with not just ONE other line, but TWO other lines (the FIRST two). And since those other two WERE the first two lines, the reader has had time to anticipate "other words" that will rhyme with those. Thus making it VERY difficult to surprise them! It's gotta rhyme (though close-rhymes, or Tom Lehrer-type pseudo rhymes, in my opinion, are not only acceptable but preferred), and it's gotta be unexpected. And it has to fit in the meter. And you have to build to it. Put it all together, and it is an absolute WONDER that anyone can EVER write a really good limerick!

And so, Dear Stacy, I must take issue with your opening line: "The assignment for today is simple. Write a limerick." A truly good limerick, though easy to READ and to UNDERSTAND, can be darn HARD to craft!

End of Sermon.

I figured after my Limerick Rant, I should also include an appropriate
example of said poetry. Just tack it on the end of my rant:

A Limerick's the kind of a poem,
That makes you start scratching your dome.
'Cause it's hard to explain,
Why these rhymes are a pain,
But I think once you see 'em, you'll know 'em.