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An illustration of the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner by Walter Crane in the limerick collection "Baby's Own Aesop" (1887). The standard form of a limerick is a stanza of five lines, with the first, second and fifth rhyming with one another and having three feet of three syllables each; and the shorter third and fourth lines also rhyming with each other, but having only two feet of three ...
The humor usually comes in the final line, with a sudden reversal or twist, wordplay, or twisted rhyme. When Lear was writing, the last line was often the same as the first apart from this twist ...
The first limerick in the collection is: There was a sweet girl of Decatur Who went to sea on a freighter. ... "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter", ...
Nonsense verse is a form of nonsense literature usually employing strong prosodic elements like rhythm and rhyme. It is often whimsical and humorous in tone and employs some of the techniques of nonsense literature.
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In Lear's limericks, the first and last lines usually end with the same word rather than rhyming. For the most part they are truly nonsensical and devoid of any punch line or point. They are completely free of the bawdiness with which the verse form is now associated. A typical thematic element is the presence of a callous and critical "they".
On the other hand, the women in the tales who do speak up are framed as wicked. Cinderella's stepsisters' language is decidedly more declarative than hers, and the woman at the center of the tale "The Lazy Spinner" is a slothful character who, to the Grimms' apparent chagrin, is "always ready with her tongue."
The lyrics for the Limerick Song are usually ribald and sometimes original. Here are some from the public domain book Sea Songs and Ditties: There was a young lady named Lou who said as the parson withdrew--"Now the Vicar is quicker, And thicker, and slicker, And two inches longer than you. [1] Chorus: That was a cute little rhyme