Limerick Rules

What is a Limerick?
  • A humorous, bawdy, child-like rhyme
Rules
  • A limerick must be exactly 5 lines
  • The lines must follow the AABBA rhyme scheme
    • The 1st & 2nd lines must rhyme
    • The 3rd & 4th lines must rhyme
    • The 5th line must rhyme with the 1st
  • The A lines have more words and syllables than the B lines
    • The 1st, 2nd, & 5th lines usually have 7–9 syllables
    • The 3rd & 4th lines usually have 5–7 syllables

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Fun Fact
The word “happy” is used
three-times more than “sad.”

Examples

Old Man Limerick
There was an Old Man with a beard.
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
Young Lady Limerick
There once was a young lady named bright.
Whose speed was much faster than light.
She set out one day,
In a relative way,
And returned on the previous night.
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