Limericks, Lear and Nonsense
Limericks are gloriously simple. Five lines long. Lines one and two rhyme with the fifth, while the third and fourth have a separate rhyme. Popularized by Edward Lear (1812-1888), limericks are the best known variety of nonsense verse and are adored by school children, stand-up comedians and fans of word-play. There is a certain train of thought that the only good limerick is a bawdy one but that would exclude a lot of clever verse.
Born on 12 May (National Limerick Day in some parts), Lear is a fascinating figure who travelled widely despite suffering from ill health throughout his life. An accomplished artist (especially in ornithology and landscapes), illustrator and author, he will always be most famous for his Book of Nonsense from 1846. It’s time to rhyme.
"There was an old man of Calcutta,
Who perpetually ate bread and butter;
Till a great bit of muffin on which he was stuffing,
Choked that horrid old man of Calcutta."
-- Book of Nonsense
Five Books From Edward Lear
Book of Nonsense
Edward Lear
The book that started it all, first published in 1846 and republished many times since.
Nonsense Songs & Stories
Edward Lear
First published in 1871, subsequent publications continued to add material.
The Jumblies
Edward Lear
Edward Gorey loved Lear’s work and provided illustrations for this 1968 book.
Lots of Limerick Collections
The Penguin Book of Limericks
Rhymes, many indecent, from Twain, Kipling, Auden and plenty by Anon too.
Great Green Limericks
Jonathon Porritt
Selected limericks from The Observer newspaper’s Great Green Limerick Competition.
A Person From Britain Whose Head Was the Shape of a Mitten
N.M. Bodecker
A short collection of this Danish poet's nonsense poems and drawings.
The Bookman's Limericks
John Dunning
“There was an old man from Nantucket, who found an old book in a bucke...”
Liquid Limericks: Titillation for Tipplers
Oliver Preston
A collection limericks for all boozy endeavours.
Lots of Limericks
Lewis Untermeyer
A collection featuring many famous names – Lear, Carroll, Nash, Kipling.
Limericks: Too Gross or Two Dozen Dirty Stanzas
Isaac Asimov & John Ciardi
A witty collection of more than 550 limericks from two world-famous writers.
The World's Best Limericks
The best printable limericks, as well as some which in their original form were not.
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