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May 12, 2012 – Limerick Day

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n‘Tisnthe birthday of Edward Lear 

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nWhosenlimericks brought us great cheer. 

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n   Henhad such a style 

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n   Henmakes us all smile 

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nSonlet’s honor him from far and near!

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nLimericksnare five-line poems with the rhyming scheme you see in my littlenattempt here: Lines 1,2, and 5 rhyme, and Lines 3 and 4 rhyme. Thesenshort poems usually have a bouncy rhythm that goes something likenthis: La-LA-la-la-LA-la-la-LA, and they are often funny or at leastnpunny. (Bad puns abound!)

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nEdwardnLear, born on this date in 1812, made limericks popular with his Booknof Nonsense, which featured bunches of the short poems. n

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nWhynare these poems called limericks? Apparently a popular limericknmentioned the third largest city in Ireland—which is namednLimerick—and somehow the name got applied to the poems themselves. n

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nReadn’em!

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nYouncan read one of Lear’s limericks here:

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n

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nTherenwas an Old Man with a beard, 

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n Whonsaid, “It is just as I feared!

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n   –TwonOwls and a Hen,

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n   FournLarks and a Wren,

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n Havenall built their nests in my beard!”

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n…andnmany more of them here and here.

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nAnmore modern poet who has published limericks is Ogden Nash. Here isnone of his:

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n Anjolly young fellow from Yuma

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n Toldnan elephant joke to a puma;

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n   Nownhis skeleton lies

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n   Beneathnhot western skies

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n –Thenpuma had no sense of huma.

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nMynfavorite limerick is this one by Graham Lester:

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n

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n IsnAlgebra a fruitless endeavor?

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n It seems they’ve been tryingnforever

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n   To find x, y, and z

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n   And it’s quite clear tonme:

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n If they’ve not found them yet, then they’ll never!

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nReadnmore of Lester’s limericks here.

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nBrownielocksnhas some limericks online. Here’s one that’s pretty cool:

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n Ancanner, exceedingly canny,

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n Onenmorning remarked to his granny,

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n   “Ancanner can can

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n   Anythingnthat he can;

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n Butna canner can’t can a can, can he?”

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nWriten’em!

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nTrynyour hand at writing a limerick. Author Bruce Lansky can help. 

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nAlsonon this date:

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nSt. Andrea’s Day in the nation of Georgia 

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nNurse Florence Nightingale’s birthday 

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nInternational Nurses Day 
Read more  March 17 - St. Patrick's Day

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