The limerick consists of five anapestic lines rhymed aabba. The first, second, and fifth lines are trimeter; the third and fourth lines are dimeter. The form dates back at least to the fourteenth century. In its modern form, it is often, though not always, bawdy.
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Sites 23
- Limerick o' the Day A daily (ribald) limerick, with an archive of previously featured limericks.
- Alien Limerick Generator This interactive 'net artifact is an exercise in computer glossolalia that allows users to randomly generate metrically perfect nonsense-limericks--in an "alien" (that is, not spoken, now nor ever, on Earth) language.
- Bibliography of Limericks List of print books of and on limericks, compiled by Karl Dilcher.
- The Limerick A brief but insightful description of the limerick form.
- Meskhi lines Limericks and short lines by Slava Meskhi. English, Russian and Georgian languages.
- Loony Limericks Huge and still growing collection of limericks both naughty and nice. Visitors can also add a line to the mass limerick.
- OEDILF - The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form A project to write at least one limerick for every word in the English language.
- There Was a Young Man Who Sent E-mails The incomplete collected limericks of Richard C. Long.
- Limerick Books of the 1820s The two earliest known books of limericks, with a link to a third. Part of an Edward Lear home page.
- Giggle Poetry - The Limerick Limerick writing for kids. By Bruce Lansky.
- Limerick Poetry A limerick page for children, with a simple explanation and some family-friendly examples, including the option to print out limericks in color. Be warned: the site generates pop-up and new-browser-window ads.
- Limericks Limericks by teachers in England. Includes suggestions for classroom activities.
- Polish Limericks Translations of English and Polish limericks (English-Polish and Polish-English).
- The Classic Nantucket Limerick The original Nantucket limerick published in the Princeton Tiger in 1924, with various extensions that appeared in other publications.
- The "L" Blog A limerick blog. The limericks, however, are not in the classic form, and the rhymes are often not exact.
- Limericks by Brownielocks Clean and funny limericks.
- Limerick Poems Invites visitors to write and rate limericks. Includes a "how to" section and a description of the form.
- Funny Limericks For Everyone A limerick blog, with a clean, humorous limerick posted each day. Includes a limerick generator and accepts submissions.
- Limericks A brief history and explanation along with numerous examples from "A Book of Nonsense" by Edward Lear.
- Smithsonian Magazine - "The Limerick is Furtive and Mean..." From the Maigue poets to Ogden Nash, witty wordsmiths have delighted in composing the oft-risqué five-line verses. Introductory article.
- Tomastic Limericks An article with commentary from The Pentatette concerning early limerick-like prayers written by St. Thomas Aquinas.
- A Blog of Bosh: Edward Lear and Nonsense Literature A blog that collects a number of sites relating to Edward Lear, the creator of the limerick.
- Limericks A discussion of the form by Joel D. Ash, a writer of serious limericks, with examples of serious limerick poetry, including one of his own. However, beware: the two links to books of and about limericks do not work.