Examples of Limerick Poems

The Work of Limericist Edward Lear

In the unlikely event that you don't recall Lear's limericks, you almost certainly are familiar with The Owl and the Pussycat - a perennial nursery favorite pretty much drilled into every mother's brain.

BOOK OF NONSENSE

By Edward Lear1.

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!-
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

There was a Young Lady of Ryde,
Whose shoe-strings were seldom untied;
She purchased some clogs,
And some small spotty dogs,
And frequently walked about Ryde.

There was an Old Man with a nose,
Who said, "If you choose to suppose,
That my nose is too long,
You are certainly wrong!"
That remarkable Man with a nose.

There was an Old Man on a hill,
Who seldom, if ever, stood still;
He ran up and down,
In his Grandmother's gown,
Which adorned that Old Man on a hill.

There was a Young Lady whose bonnet,
Came untied when the birds sate upon it;
But she said, "I don't care!
All the birds in the air
Are welcome to sit on my bonnet!"

Before we get too far into Lear's work, a couple of things. First, this collection was originally written for and dedicated as follows:

TO THE GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN,
GRAND-NEPHEWS, AND GRAND-NIECES
OF EDWARD, 13th EARL OF DERBY,

THIS BOOK OF DRAWINGS AND VERSES

(The greater part of which were originally
made and composed for their parents,)

IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR,

EDWARD LEAR

...It seems that Edward had a patron to keep happy. That's not surprising, for nearly all creative minds of the time required a sponsor among the nobility. Note that no one mentions EDWARD, the 13th EARL OF DERBY, today, but Edward Lear is widely known and loved.

Secondly, these verses are reprinted from the Gutenberg Project under their license:

"This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License..."

...And I mention this because it is only polite to thank those who make life on this planet more pleasant, in this case, it is the volunteers who process public domain texts for Gutenberg and the organization itself.

There was a Young Person of Smyrna,
Whose Grandmother threatened to burn her;
But she seized on the Cat,
And said, "Granny, burn that!
"You incongruous Old Woman of Smyrna!"

There was an Old Person of Chili,
Whose conduct was painful and silly;
He sate on the stairs,
Eating apples and pears,
That imprudent Old Person of Chili.

There was an Old Man with a gong,
Who bumped at it all the day long;
But they called out, "O law!
You're a horrid old bore!"
So they smashed that Old Man with a gong.

There was an Old Lady of Chertsey,
Who made a remarkable curtsey;
She twirled round and round,
Till she sunk underground,
Which distressed all the people of Chertsey.

10.

There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, "Does it buzz?"
He replied, "Yes, it does!
"It's a regular brute of a Bee!"

...funny limerick poems to be continued.

For examples of limerick poems, you have come to the right place.