“Good Heavens Mr. Tubb, what are you playing at?” Writing about a poetic form, normally associated with puerile content
involving old men and old ladies found within various locations. A bit of
decorum, please.
But,
truth is, I love Limericks. I love reading them. I enjoy writing them. Well,
it’s probably more truthful to say, I enjoy finishing them. I do have a feeling
of complete satisfaction when I finish one; but, I do find their composition
exceptionally hard, and occasionally frustrating. So my enjoyment of writing them, is dependent
on how infuriating I found the writing process. The Limerick as a poetic form,
I find unassuming, graceful, wonderful, and hopefully, hilarious. A five-line verse of anapaestic meter, with
a: a a b b a rhyme scheme. What is not to love?I consider myself a Comic-Poet and a Limericist two distinct titles for two very similar things. Now, you’re probably wondering, “Why use two titles when Limerick’s are Comic Poems?” You see I normally write my rhymes in couplets, occasionally cross-rhyme, which I can turn into poems of any number of lines I choose, change direction if a funnier rhyme presents itself, give myself the license to be completely nonsensical without the need of finding a punchline. It’s normally a freer process, whilst being formulaic; but the Limerick is rigid. I have to say something humourous in 5 lines, strict meter, and the last line has to be a punchline. Therefore I consider it a completely different process, and therefore it deserves a different title.
Limericks are often ribald and rude, but they do not have to be. I do hope that whatever anyone can say about my humour, “Coarse and Vulgar” will not be adjectives anyone chooses to use. Even in my Limericks I do hope that I am silly, funny, but never lavatorial. I shall let you be the judge. If you wish to compose your own Limericks of the more bawdy nature, go right ahead and don’t let my prudishness derail you at all.
2025 marks the 20th
anniversary of me reading my Comical Rhymes, to Children around Ireland. It all
began in Cork City Libraries as part of the European City of Culture in
2005. For these sessions I wanted some
audience interaction so they weren’t just watching me read poems. I decided to explain Limerick’s to them, read
them some of my Limericks and then ask them to break off into groups of about 5;
within those groups compose a Limerick which begins with the line, “There was
an old man from Tralee” or “There was an old lady from Spain”. The object is simply to have fun with words
and rhymes and I do hope that was achieved.
Who knows, hopefully I’ve inspired a few rhyming humorists down the
years.
I have just released a new collection of Limericks to celebrate my 20 years of doing this. Available here: https://paulhtubb.com/poetry
Further recommendations are, the Limerick’s of Ogden Nash, Michael Palin, Edward
Gorey, Spike Milligan and, of course, the Godfather of Limericists, Edward
Lear.
