Earlier in this National Poetry Month of April, I posted about book spine haiku. Besides haiku, two other poetry forms you might remember from your childhood are limericks and concrete poems. While the Tarleton Libraries have many books with adult versions of these poetic forms, this post focuses on a few children's books in our Curriculum Collection, used by future teachers, on the lower level of the Dick Smith Library on the Stephenville campus.
Limericks usually tell a story about a person, in an exaggerated way meant to make the limerick funny. A limerick must have five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 must rhyme with each other. Lines 3 and 4 must rhyme with each other, as well. Limericks are also written in anapestic meter, which means that in each three-syllable word or phrase, the emphasis is always on the third syllable. Lines 1, 2, and 5 each contain three anapestics, or eight to ten syllables, and lines 3 and 4 contain two anapestics, or five to seven syllables.1
These poems often start out with "There was an old [someone] of [somewhere]."
Edward Lear, of course, is the master of limericks, particularly nonsense for children. Edward Lear from the Poetry for Young People series, edited by Edward Mendelson and illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith, contains a number of his limericks.
Another fun book is Grimericks, written by Susan Pearson and illustrated by Gus Grimly, contains 20 "grim limericks" (hence the title) with ghoulish characters pictured throughout.
More examples of limericks in the library's collections are here: https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&bquery=limerick&type=1&site=eds-live.
In concrete poetry, the words of a poem are arranged on the page to form a visual image that relates to the subject of the poem.2
Sometimes the poems clearly forms shapes. Joan Bransfield Graham's Flicker Flash, with illustrations by Nancy Davis, has poetry about light. The arrangement of words in the poem “Firefly” is in the shape of a firefly.
The first poem in the book A Poke in the I is called "A Seeing Poem," and the words in the poem create an image of a light bulb above a person's head. In later poems in this book, selected by Paul Janeczko with illustrations by Chris Raschka, the imagery is even more subtle.
More examples of concrete poetry in the library's collections are here: https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&bquery=%26quot%3bconcrete+poetry%26quot%3b+OR+%26quot%3bconcrete+poems%26quot%3b&cli0=FC&clv0=Y&type=0&site=eds-live.
1Comstock, Nancy. "Limerick." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2014. EBSCOhost, https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=98402281&site=eds-live.
2Fuller, Melynda. "Concrete Poetry." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2017. EBSCOhost, https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=87321587&site=eds-live.
Limericks usually tell a story about a person, in an exaggerated way meant to make the limerick funny. A limerick must have five lines. Lines 1, 2, and 5 must rhyme with each other. Lines 3 and 4 must rhyme with each other, as well. Limericks are also written in anapestic meter, which means that in each three-syllable word or phrase, the emphasis is always on the third syllable. Lines 1, 2, and 5 each contain three anapestics, or eight to ten syllables, and lines 3 and 4 contain two anapestics, or five to seven syllables.1
These poems often start out with "There was an old [someone] of [somewhere]."
Edward Lear, of course, is the master of limericks, particularly nonsense for children. Edward Lear from the Poetry for Young People series, edited by Edward Mendelson and illustrated by Laura Huliska-Beith, contains a number of his limericks.
Another fun book is Grimericks, written by Susan Pearson and illustrated by Gus Grimly, contains 20 "grim limericks" (hence the title) with ghoulish characters pictured throughout.
More examples of limericks in the library's collections are here: https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&bquery=limerick&type=1&site=eds-live.
Sometimes the poems clearly forms shapes. Joan Bransfield Graham's Flicker Flash, with illustrations by Nancy Davis, has poetry about light. The arrangement of words in the poem “Firefly” is in the shape of a firefly.
The first poem in the book A Poke in the I is called "A Seeing Poem," and the words in the poem create an image of a light bulb above a person's head. In later poems in this book, selected by Paul Janeczko with illustrations by Chris Raschka, the imagery is even more subtle.More examples of concrete poetry in the library's collections are here: https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&bquery=%26quot%3bconcrete+poetry%26quot%3b+OR+%26quot%3bconcrete+poems%26quot%3b&cli0=FC&clv0=Y&type=0&site=eds-live.
1Comstock, Nancy. "Limerick." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2014. EBSCOhost, https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=98402281&site=eds-live.
2Fuller, Melynda. "Concrete Poetry." Salem Press Encyclopedia of Literature, 2017. EBSCOhost, https://zeus.tarleton.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=87321587&site=eds-live.
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