Crafting Creative Limericks: The Art of Humor and Wordplay

Photo by Melody Zimmerman

Across history, limericks tend to get a bad rap for being either childish or lowbrow. Yet if one is truly serious about mastering wordplay, then crafting creative limericks is a great first step. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to be a poet, a script writer or a novelist. Learning how to pen a decent limerick will be your first step towards thinking more creatively about the way words mean, sound and work together. 

That’s why any writer is lucky to have gotten their childhood reading start with books for laughing and learning. Children’s books that tend to use cute little rhyming schemes actually borrow the same AABBA structure found in limericks. This, in turn, shows how beginner-friendly the structure can be with any particular topic. 

Sure, one might argue that the creative themes for limericks might be better off in ‘higher’ forms of poetry or even in nice, long reflective essays. In reality though, that’s putting the cart before the horse. Picking topics for your limericks, filtering out a topic’s many ideas and then helping them fit a simple template is a good introductory exercise to grasping wordplay fundamentals. 

And when you’ve gotten the hand of that, every other kind of writing starts to feel more natural.

Choosing a Theme and Getting Witty with It. 

Now, whatever theme you decide, make sure you’re not just picking it because it’s a theme you think you can write deeply about. It’s always best to still try and keep your first attempts fun. 

Because when you write about something you find fun, then chances are you know more about that topic than most people. The very idea of it can give you more energy, which makes crafting creative limericks all the more engaging. 

One incredible example was featured on the game show QI with Stephen Fry. It featured a mathematical equation that could also be read as a limerick! For those not good with numbers, it may have been quite a headspinner. 

Yet for those with even just a passion for mathematics, this limerick was pure genius. It perfectly demonstrated how one can take any subject, get witty with it and start rhyming. 

The theme doesn’t have to be too broad or too vague. It can be specific and simple. 

It can even be about just a really boring or tiresome part of your day. Channeling your frustration into a limerick is the sort of thing that helps tremendously in the long run. Think of it as practice for expressing such emotions through an exercise of words.

Crafting Creative Limericks is a Game of Rhymes and Syllables

Photo by John Benitez

Of course, keeping track of rhymes and syllables can be a bit tedious for some people (especially when they have so much to express with their chosen theme).

A good way to overcome this is to just simply treat the art of limericks like a game. Plenty of children’s books and writing exercises make games out of finding words that rhyme. Consider limericks as just a slightly more advanced version of that.

You can also look up other limericks to find tricks for finding rhymes. And along the way, you’ll also get the added benefit of picking up new words that you never knew could be used to express ideas you had.

Sure, having to expand one’s vocabulary might seem tiring, but that’s like saying you’d like to shoot an arrow with an empty quiver! The more words you know, the wider the choices you have when finding the ones that rhyme (as well as the right number of syllables).

Besides that, this will give you the foundation that you’ll need when you want to learn more advanced rhyme generation techniques and wordplay methods. This is not something that can simply be taught. It is best learned from example and regular practice!

The Final Polish to Your Fine Limericks

Photo by Sear Greyson

It is certainly unrealistic to expect any award-winners from your first batch of limericks. However, you should also be careful not to edit your work before it is even finished! 

Editing your limericks should be the final stop. This doesn’t mean instantly going at it as soon as the last line is written. Take a moment (at least an hour) to not dwell on your work, because a clear head is what you will need most to put it through its final polishes. 

For example, you might think that you had followed the rhyming scheme to the letter. Yet when you get back to it, you have a better time recalling wittier alternatives to your first choices. Other times, you might notice that you have actually gone one syllable over the correct count. 

In any case, all the best limerick revision tips would be meaningless if you do not even allow yourself to complete a single draft. Incidentally, that applies to other forms of writing as well. 

To sum it up, mastering the creative wordplay and humor in limericks isn’t necessarily about making cheap, petty rhymes. On the contrary, the playfulness of such rhyming poems belie a strong writing foundation that could easily be applicable in other forms. Don’t hesitate to use it for practice to either improve your poetry or prose! 

Don’t forget, you can also find a nice collection of examples in Wordle Limericks, available on Amazon!