A limerick is a particular kind of short poem. What makes it a limerick
is its unique physical structure:
2 long lines
2 short lines
1 long line.
When you hear one, you know it right away.
Example:
The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
. . . . . But the good ones I've seen
. . . . . So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.
A number of leading playwrights and authorities on language
have expressed the opinion that a true limerick is always dirty.
