Esther Chilton

I recently came across a limerick writing competition. I haven’t written a limerick in ages so I thought I’d give the competition a miss. But the idea of writing a limerick keeps coming back.

Traditional limericks have five lines, where the first, second and fifth lines rhyme, with seven to ten syllables in each line. The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other and these lines have five to seven syllables in each line.

Here’s a couple I tried earlier just for fun:

There was a man who liked eating wood,

It didn’t do his insides much good

From his chin grew a rose

And acorns from his nose,

His wife left him as he knew she would.

There was a young writer called Sam

Who, as he typed, ate berries and ham,

He wrote about pigs

Wearing bright pink wigs,

Rolling in puddles of jam.