Writing: Marking Period 5 & The Limerick

Today we will be writing in the lab. There are a variety of choices for you. No limits. The only rule today is that you use your time in the lab to write. Keep writing. (or read The Madonnas of Leningrad).

What to write:
1. Continue your haiku writing. Haiku for the contest is due this week! See Ms. Gamzon or myself for details about how to enter. If you enter, you will receive extra participation credit.
2. Write your Bradbury style short story.
3. Rewrite any piece you workshopped.
4. Rewrite any piece you wrote before this marking period.
5. Write a limerick (see below)

SPOTLIGHT on: The Limerick

A limerick is a humorous poem originating in Ireland. All limericks have five lines and are written in what we call a rhyme scheme. A rhyme scheme is a pattern that indicates (shows) how the line in a poem ends.  A rhyme scheme starts with the letter "A", for example, and if the next line doesn't rhyme with the first, it is labeled "B" and so on throughout the alphabet. As creative writing majors, we expect you to be able to determine rhyme scheme for any given poem. For the limerick, that means the following:

For example:       

I once knew a man named Matt     A

Who always used to wear a hat      A

to cover his hair                              B

which was not there                        B

He was really as bald as a bat         A

The rhyme scheme for a limerick is AABBA.  Which means the first two lines will end with an exact rhyme and rhyme with each other. The third and fourth lines will rhyme with each other and the last line will rhyme with the first two lines.

In a limerick, the first two lines and the last line are generally longer than the third and fourth lines. To be absolutely accurate the meter for a limerick is 8 syllables in the first, second and fifth lines and 5 syllables in the third and fourth lines. Some poets will disregard the meter by a syllable or two as they deem necessary.

Most limericks begin with the phrase:  There once was a...

Example:   There once was a tuna named Lee

                  Who was scared to swim and float free.

                  He tried, till he choked.

                  While his friends all joked

                  And called him "Chicken of the Sea."

Shhh. Okay. And now the real truth about Limericks. They were originally written to be dirty and crass (to make people laugh). Their subject matter was usually, if not always, sexual. If you must see some of these, take a look here: but check this link at your own risk. For mature students only. You may also consult the hard-covered book in the front of the room for more examples of this sort of poem. Read at your own risk!

Activity:  Try writing a humorous limerick or two.  Follow the pattern above to create your poem.  It may help you to make a list of rhyming words in your journal before you begin so that you have a lot of choices to pick from.