Poetic Terms Dictionary
Poetic Form

Limerick

Named after the Irish county (via a convivial song refrain). Edward Lear popularised the form in A Book of Nonsense (1846); it became the vehicle for English comic verse.

Definition

A five-line comic verse with an AABBA rhyme scheme, typically in anapestic meter, associated with bawdy wit.

Example

'There was an old man of Nantucket / Who kept all his cash in a bucket…'

Related Terms