- is five lines long,
- is based on the rhythm “da-da-DAH” (anapest meter)
- has two different rhymes.
- Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three of those da-da-DAH “feet,” and rhyme with each other.
- Lines 3 and 4 have two, and rhyme with each other.
- drop the first “da” in a line, changing that foot to da-DAH (iamb).
- add an extra “da” or two at the end of a line IF it’s used for an extended rhyme, such as people and steeple or cannibal and Hannibal.
- use special fonts or characters to make a point,
Limericks can also be written in AMPHIBRACH meter
– two lines of amphibrachic trimeter, two lines of amphibrachic dimeter,
and a final line of amphibrachic trimeter.
The Lady and the Hat
The lady was well put together
with her tats and hat with a feather
I longed so to treasure
her feminine pleasure
at my place or hers, if she’d rather.
A limerick in amphibrach meter.
With a hat with a feather in place
and a corset constricting her waist
She said, nodding at me
“Take me home if you’re free
I so need a young man to embrace. “
A limerick in anapest meter
(c) Lawrencealot – 2013
_______________________________________________-
For most of three years, that is all I had to say about the subject. During which I a learned a great deal about the permitted mechanics and devices formally allow in writing a poem in a specific meter.
Note: The following explanation is the most correct I have seen, and shows that one FOOT can easily morph into another, because headless feet, and catalectic feet are always s permitted poetic devise which denies counting syllables any validity in defining metrics.
THE STRUCTURE OF A LIMERICK
Limericks are short poems of five lines having rhyme structure AABBA. It is officially described as a form of ‘anapestic trimeter’.
The ‘anapest’ is a foot of poetic verse consisting of three syllables, the third longer (or accentuated to a greater degree) than the first two: da-da-DA. The word ‘anapest’ shows it’s own metric: anaPEST.
Lines 1, 2 and 5 of a limerick should ideally consist of three anapests each, concluding with an identical or similar phoneme to create the rhyme.
Lines 3 and 4 are shorter, constructed of two anapests each and again rhyming with each other with the overall rhyme structure of AABBA.
The anapest metric must show the following pattern:
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
(da) da DA da da DA (da)
(da) da DA da da DA (da)
(da) da DA da da DA da da DA (da) (da)
Meaning that you can leave off the syllables in parentheses.
But 1, 2 and 5 should match each other, and 3 and 4 should match.
Pasted from
http://whvvugt.home.xs4all.nl/Archives_TCCMB/Limericks/Structure.htmlI
I would love to give attribution, but can do no better than the URL, which belongs to a private domain, but I do thank Andrea Detriech for bringing it to my attention.
But you will note, that by paying attention to these requirements our amphibrach limerick is indeed anapestic as well.