Here are neatly turned odes of small span, Much concerned with our bodily plan. And the intercorporeal Highly sensorial Lovelife of woman and man.The New Limerick, edited by G. Legman, is a delightful compendium of over 2,700 limericks, many of which had never been widely published. Even the limericks everyone knows (There once was a girl from Nantucket...") are freshly enjoyable in this context.
LITTLE ROMANCES A delighted, incredulous bride Remarked to her groom at her side: I never could quite Believe till tonight Our anatomies would coincide.The Introduction is a scholarly treatise that discusses the art and artistry of the limerick, and wonders why this is usually (though not exclusively) an English form. Although a similar Italian canto treating the lewder aspects of the lives of the saints is cited, it seems obvious to the editor that the terse character and abundant homonyms of English lend themselves to the limerick form.
ORGANS There was a young lady from Byer Whose hemlines got higher and higher. But the size of her thighs Provoked merely surprise, And extinguished the flames of desire.What makes this catalog of limericks even more impressive is that it is the second such volume. The first, The Limerick, included "only" 1,700 examples of the verse form, but generated such a stream of new examples that the editor was compelled to create this larger sequel.
STRANGE INTERCOURSES There was a young girl with a bust Which roused a French cavalier's lust She was since heard to say, About midnight: "Touché!— I didn't quite parry that thrust."Isaac Asimov once introduced a book of limericks by saying, "Limericks come in many forms, dirty, lewd, obscene and otherwise. None of the limericks in this collection are otherwise." Like the pun, the limerick relies on the surprise of the wry twist in the terminal line. And for many limericks, as for puns, the sincerest applause is a resounding groan from the audience.
ZOOPHILY A libidinous peasant named Jack One time with a spider did shack. You may get oddball kids Sleeping with arachnids But oh! those eight legs round your back!There may also be a charm to the limerick beyond the rhythm and the rhyme. So many limericks build from a personal or geographical name, cleverly rhymed but never used again, that the editor contends this may be one of the draws of the craft. However, this does not explain my own personal favorite:
To barbarity man said adieu As brilliant inventions accrue. To create wheel and lever Was really quite clever, But divinely inspired was the screw.And while a large majority of limericks insist on the youth of the main character, a substantial percentage rely equally on venerable age and experience:
A learnèd old justice of Trent Defined what obscenity meant: He said, "Duck is not clean, But three-quarters obscene; And fudge is foul forty percent.Limericks in the U.S. became as common as filk songs for the science fiction aficionado (hence Asimov's entry into the field). An entire category of science-fiction limericks refers to space opera topics, and widens even further the list of person- and place-names available to lampoon.
Flash Gordon, when looking for fun, Poked Dale with his little space gun. Murmured she, "I'm not shy, But, quick, button your fly— In comics, that just isn't done!There are 2750 limericks in this book, including the execrable in the "Chamber of Horrors", the unquotable in "Buggery" and "Abuses of the Clergy," and the simply over-the-top in "Virginity." I have had to work hard to select those that do not contain one of Carlin's infamous Seven Words.
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Article comments
1 - Aaman
Nice one, DrPat - limericks are a constant source of pleasure. You miss out Edward Lear in your limeick-ology - with his Victorian sensisbilities.
2 - DrPat
I had originally intended to post a new limerick each day, as an opening to my blog entry. I quickly found that most limericks, if clean, repeat a rhyme-word (as Lear does) or are flat, un-punny and not worth the Web-space. If clever, they're usually dirty. lewd or obscene.
But I still read a limerick every day before beginning work, hence the review. I had simply forgotten how few were the postable ones!
I have edited my click-through list to include some of Asimov's limerick books, which he co-edited with John Ciardi. A sample:
3 - DrPat
There once was a girl who intended
To keep herself morally splendid
...And ascend into Glory,
...Which is not a bad story,
Except that that's not how it ended.
4 - DrPat
Most think it is quite egotistic
To have sex that is just onanistic.
...Most people would choose
...To do it in twos,
Since our system should stay pluralistic.
5 - DrPat
A young lass from the far-off Laurentians
Once made love in a bed of fringed gentians,
...Where the deeds that she did
...Were so much better hid.
They're perversions, you see, no one mentions.
6 - DrPat
An intelligent lass named Jo Anne
Never lacked an admiring young man
...For her giant IQ
...(Giamt other things, too)
Was designed on a generous plan.
7 - DrPat
To moralists, sex is a sin,
Yet Nature suggests we begin.
...She arranged it, no doubt,
...That a fellow juts out
In the place where a damsel juts in.
8 - DrPat
There was an old lady of Brewster
Who would mutter, whenever I gewster,
.."You're losing the knack,
...Or you're missing the crack,
'Cause it don't feel as good as it yewster."
9 - DrPat
In a lane, in a blue Mini-Cooper,
A young man made a terrible blooper.
...He had his girl, bare
...In his car, unaware
Of a vigilant nearby state trooper.
10 - DrPat
A pert little lady named Bobbie
Used to stroll through the Fountainebleu lobby
...Attracting the stares
...Of chance millionaires
Not entirely, I think, as a hobby.
11 - DrPat
There once was a roguish young lass
Who excelled in Biology class.
...She thought it was fun
...To curl up with one,
But terrific to do it en masse.
12 - sfoo
Must find the book, sound interesting. (Found you from google)
A wily young gent named Kent
showed his girl what 'super' meant.
Amazed at his passion,
and vigorous thrashin',
she found that steel can't be bent!
13 - Fred Bortz
Glad this one popped up today. I hadn't been part of this group when the original posting appeared. I often include limericks in my book reviews (click my name link above). I also won bragging rights in the American Institute of Physics Brain Teaser Limerick contest back in 1999 with aquantum mechanics test question in five lines. And my book To the Young Scientist included limericks as chapter openers, including this one:
When the asteroid struck with a blast,
It created a dust cloud so vast
That the skies rained iridium.
Now the dinos, we pity 'em,
For it made them a thing of the past.
14 - DrPat
Both good ones! I reply:
There once was an artist who drew
Large crowds to blank canvasses. "Ooh!"
...Cried the critics, "the essence
...Of the post-incandescence
Of conceptualized dèjà vu!"
15 - Fred Bortz
Ooh! Good one. I love a limerick fight. Take these, Dr. Pat!
Click my name above to find one of my all time favorite book review limericks in my recent BlogCritics review of The Hole in the Universe (http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/04/10/143854.php).
And here's one from my review of a book called Strange Matters: Undiscovered Ideas at the Frontiers of Space and Time by Tom Siegfried (case sensitive URL: www.scienceshelf.com/StrangeMatters.htm)
Dark matter exists, we suspect,
And dimensions we cannot detect.
Universes abound,
Say some theories, profound,
Are they -- only God knows -- correct?
16 - DrPat
A creature once lived on an asteroid,
A strangely de-sexed little basteroid,
...He might have been Her
...But you couldn't be sher --
For if She was a He, he'd been casteroid.
17 - Bennett Dawson
Wonderfully fun DrPat!
To moralists, sex is a sin,
Yet Nature suggests we begin.
...She arranged it, no doubt,
...That a fellow juts out
In the place where a damsel juts in.
THAT's MY FAVORITE!
18 - Fred Bortz
My joke-ometer clearly detects
Dr. Pat is acquanted with sex,
But that alien's gender
Might be a pretend-her.
On asteroids, things are complex.
19 - Genni
sex is bad
sex is a sin
sins are forgiven
so stick it in
20 - DrPat
sins are forgiven
so stick it in
While not in the limerick form, Genni, your effort is still appropos of the topic...
Thanks!
21 - Bencze Imre
Dear Sir, I am a limerick-lover,especially the
famous English ones.I would like to get foreign
language variants of the Rigan lady (on the ti-
ger!) and the plumber of Leigh.Please,send it or
tell where can I search them.
Best regards
Imre Bencze