What is exactly a limerick? Beyond the classical definition of short, humorous and sometimes over the top five-line poem with a distinctive rhythm, there is much more. Its structure says that the first, second and fifth lines are longer than the third and fourth lines. The rhyming pattern is AABBA. The longer A lines rhyme with each other and the shorter B lines rhyme with each other. Nine beats in line one, two and five, six beats in lines three and four…the third, sixth and ninth beats in lines one, two and five are accented: therefore it sounds like ditty-dum, ditty –dum, ditty-dum as described in the book The lure of the limerick.  But its story tells us much more. It’s a very old form of verse, practiced in different ages by many famous writers and artists. In facts we are probably talking about the only truly original verse form of the English language. There is a fun story about limericks, between many others.

“There once was a man from Nantucket…” is the famous initial verse of a limerick, something we’ve all heard. Fact is, sometimes limericks are connected in a sequence. This five-liner appeared in the Princeton Tiger in 1917
There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who kept all his cash in a bucket;
But his daughter, named Nan,
Ran away with a man,
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

And that bred through the years a huge quantity of all kind of imitations. Everybody, columnists, writers, magazines all tried their best: but it took quite a while to pick up a worthy heir. These two memorable limericks, published by Chicago Tribune and New York Press, made the ironic sequence finally complete!
…But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,
(The man and the girl with the bucket)
And he said to the man,
“You are welcome to Nan”
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.
…Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset,
Where he still held the cash as an asset;
And Nan and the man
Stole the money and ran,
And as for the bucket, Manhasset.
And finally look at the strange formula it appears in the picture reproduced here next... 

Believe it or not, this Is also a limerick. This is read as follows:
A dozen, a gross, and a score
Plus three times the square root of four
Divided by seven
Plus five times eleven
Is nine squared and not a bit more.