Q 01/05

In a much-quoted Edward Lear limerick, two owls, a hen, four larks and a wren have all built their nests where?

A) An Old Man's beard

B) A Young Lady's bonnet

C) A bishop's mitre

D) A judge's wig

Answer · why

A) An Old Man's beard

An Old Man's beard: 'It is just as I feared!' is all he says about it, a calm that the Spectator's reviewer admired as the verse's 'kindly fatalism'.

Q 02/05

What is the rhyme scheme of a limerick?

A) AABBA

B) ABABA

C) AABAB

D) ABBAA

Answer · why

A) AABBA

AABBA: the first, second and last lines share one rhyme and the other two a second, a pattern so fixed that parodists can get a laugh simply by refusi...

Q 03/05

What is the da-da-DUM foot of limericks, two unstressed syllables then a stressed one, called?

A) Anapaest

B) Trochee

C) Iamb

D) Spondee

Answer · why

A) Anapaest

Anapaest comes from the Greek for 'struck back', because it turns the dactyl's DUM-da-da back to front; strung together, the feet give the limerick it...

Q 04/05

What does the first line of a limerick traditionally introduce?

A) A moral and a warning

B) A person and a place

C) A date and a season

D) An animal and a colour

Answer · why

B) A person and a place

A person and a place: the place usually ends the line and sets the rhyme the second and last lines must match, which is why limerick writers go huntin...

Q 05/05

In early limericks, the last line was typically what?

A) A rhetorical question

B) A single nonsense word

C) A near-repeat of the opening

D) A moral in Latin

Answer · why

C) A near-repeat of the opening

A near-repeat of the opening was Edward Lear's habit: his last lines circle back to end on the first line's final word, so the joke lies in the absurd...