Friday, August 22, 2014

Furrendz on Friday - Guest post - The Great'n Powerful Oz the Terrier

Today I, the great and powerful Oz the Terrier, am going to give you a quick lesson in How to Write a Limerick.

First, you must understand how to arrange your limerick in meter (rhythm) and rhyme (rhyme).  The standard form is a stanza (poem) of 5 lines with the first, second and fifth lines rhyming with each other in three feet of three syllables while the third and fourth lines rhyme different than the others and are two feet of three syllables.  Got it?


Probably not.  Neither do I...I just know how to write the darn things.  Anyway, the rhyme scheme is AABBA - all As rhyme and all Bs rhyme.  Easy enough. 

The meter however, is a bit harder (and sometimes I toss the meter to the wind because I hate being constrained on a literary leash, so to speak).   It is an accented pattern of double weakly stressed syllables.  Still no help, right?  I know...I hate meter. 

Basically the meter is:
1  dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT
2  dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT
3  dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT
4  dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT
5  dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT-dah-dah-DUT

Now that we know the rhyme and the meter, we need to find a friend of which we can ridicule in verse...humorously or even rudely.  I think we can all agree the best limericks are funny and maybe a little rude (or crude...or lewd...or nude...you get the idea).

NOTE:  Though you may be tempted to start your limerick with "There once was a man/woman/dog/cat/etc from Nantucket", don't.  All the good rhymes for that have already been written.

 
OK...so now you should be ready to write your very own limerick.  I have taken the liberty to write one for Shiloh and Shasta since this is my guest post for them. 


A Limerick for Team Beaglebratz
by Oz the Terrier

There were Shiloh and Shasta the Beaglebratz Team
Who got a lofty idea and started to scheme.
Their plan is quite loopy,
To be a novelist like Snoopy,
By writing 1,000 blog posts by the end of 2014.


CHALLENGE to Shiloh and Shasta:  For one of your 1,000 posts, write a limerick using the process in this post.  You can write it about anyone (except if they are from Nantucket).

CHALLENGE #2 to everyone leaving a comment:  Can you leave your comment in the form of a limerick?  Even a bad one?  (And for Frankie & Ernie, no two lines of a limerick and giving up!  I know you CAN write a limerick!)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10 comments:

Two French Bulldogs said...

That Oz is a special little guy
Lily & Edward

MadSnapper said...

OK now my head hurts trying to understand. i must say the AABBA makes it easier to understand. i did not know about the 5 line thing... thanks for the info...

Anonymous said...

I will try it... There once was Easy the Weim,
who wrote a "rick" with "lime"
sadly the Weimi failed,
the limerick-project he nailed.

Cowspotdog said...

Oz is our favorite florida dude :)

Unknown said...

BOL Shasta and Shiloh! Now, are you gonna take me up on my challenge and write a limerick for one of your posts? Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger! How FUN! Happy Weekend.
Oz

Unknown said...

Oh dear we can't just think of one off hand. We'll try and come back. We love Oz.
Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly

Gail said...

There was a women At The Farm
Knowing her animals would come to no harm
She collected dogs
Like Lincoln logs
And her hubby became quite alarmed!

Julie said...

Oh dear, its a bit difficult for a baby pup like me.
Loves and licky kisses
Princess Leah xxx

Murphy said...

Oh shoot, we should have read this before we did our poem last week!!

Your Pals,

Murphy & Stanley
Mayorz For All Paws

Ruby said...

A limerick??? Shoot, Ma can barely write her name!!!! Maybe somethin' simpler, like the square root of...oh never mind.
Pawsome postie Oz!!! Loves the BeagleBratz Limerick!!!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥