Limericks with very strict rules ..... 88558

Isnt it 99559?

There was a young lady from Riga..

Just interested. Willing to be corrected.

Sounds good, Illte but I don't mind if they're something like 9, 9, 6, 6, 9 or 10, 10, 5, 5, 10 as they still keep their basic rhythm.

There was a young lady from Riga
Whose diet was terribly meagre

I agree Miss Tree. Difficult sometimes to keep to the rhythm but yes, I agree it’s 88558 according to the following which I googled...

‘Limericks all follow the same structure and pattern which sets them apart from other poetic forms and makes them easily identifiable.

A limerick consists of five lines arranged in one stanza.
The first line, second line, and fifth lines end in rhyming words.
The third and fourth lines must rhyme.
The rhythm of a limerick is anapestic, which means two unstressed syllables are followed by a third stressed syllable.
The first, second, and final line each have three anapests—da dum da da dum da da dum.
The third and fourth lines have two anapests-—da dum da da dum.‘

There was a young lady from Riga
Whose diet was terribly meagre
She grew far too thin

Maybe we’re just sticklers for convention but I agree with you “MissTree”. It’s also much more of a challenge - good for those little grey cells!

There was a young lady from Riga
Whose diet was terribly meagre
She grew far too thin
From toes to her chin

Ah, I see. I've been putting an extra dum in?

We’ve all overdone ‘dum’ at times ?

I wonder if we have to be quite so exact Illte.
This is Edward Lear’s limerick no.91 from a book, which has differing numbers of syllables but still has a good rhythm when read aloud:

There was a Young Lady of Russia,
Who screamed so that no one could hush her;
Her screams were extreme,
No one heard such a scream,
As was screamed by that lady of Russia.

I’m sure gransnetters can do even better!

There was a young lady from Riga
Whose diet was terribly meagre
She grew far too thin
From toes to her chin
Her friends could not even see her
Ta da

Love it ! ???
Any publishers out there ?
I try to do mine with Humpty Dumpty in mind.
I might be just a bit too picky ?

Are you going to start the next one May7?

Here goes

The graveyard was dark and eerie

That would fit the rhythm better if it was ‘the graveyard was eerie and dark’

Ok Bathsheba, let’s go with yours .

The graveyard was eerie and dark
The lads went out for a lark

The graveyard was eerie and dark
The lads went out for a lark
They saw a weird shape

The graveyard was eerie and dark
The lads went out for a lark
They saw a weird shape
A floating black cape

The graveyard was eerie and dark
The lads went out for a lark
They saw a weird shape
Dressed in a black cape

The graveyard was eerie and dark
The lads went out for a lark
They saw a weird shape
Dressed in a black cape
Then Rover let out a loud bark!

I know it's not wise to eat sugar

Snap , Annum. Floating is better though. ?

Actually I preferred yours MissTree!

Ninarosa - is that 9 syllables ?
Would you like to eat sweets instead ? Or ?

Annum ☺️