Since St. Patrick's Day is on March 17th and March is Irish-American Heritage month we have been trying to do some Irish inspired things this month. Even though our family probably has no Irish lines we still love all things Irish. Instead of going straight to Ireland (which I would really love to do some day soon!); we have been cutting out shamrocks and reading limericks.
Last Friday at our co-op I did a mini-lesson on limericks and read some limericks to the group. According to this really neat poster I found at a local teaching-supply store:
A limerick is a humourous five-line poem. It is made up of 13 beats and has a rhyme scheme of aabba. The poem is named after the city of Limerick, Ireland, although no ones knows how or where the form originated.
Here is a sample from the poster:
There was a young boy from Caboo,
Who had trouble tying his shoe.
He said to his ox,
"I'll just walk in my socks."
Now all of his friends do that, too!
For those that are interested: Lines 1, 2 and 5 each have three beats. Lines 3 and 4 have two beats.
I have a series of books that I picked up at a thrift store called, Childcraft. Several of the limericks I read to the group came from that series of books. I learned that Edward Lear, was a famous writer of limericks. His first book of poems, A Book of Nonsense (1846) contained over two hundred limericks. Here is one limerick from Edward Lear:
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."
If you would like to write your own limerick:
The first line often includes the name of a place, you may wish to think of a verse that uses the name of your hometown, state or country.
This week's Poetry Round-up is being held at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
