Limerick

Five anapestic lines, AABBA, built for wit's shortest deliverable — and, since Lear, for nonsense.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Light verse form

origin

18th-century English verse; named for the Irish city

originator

Edward Lear popularized it

meter

AABBA anapestic lines

lines count

5

Core Principles & Analysis

• Five lines rhyming AABBA with a rolling anapestic beat.
• Edward Lear's 1846 Book of Nonsense fixed the modern form.
• Its comic compression makes it the verse form of the setup and payoff.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Limerick (poetry)