A limerick is a form of verse that appeared in England in the early years of the 18th century. In combination with a refrain, it forms a limerick song, a traditional humorous drinking song often with obscene verses. It is written in five-line, predominantly anapestic and amphibrach trimeter with a strict rhyme scheme of AABBA, in which the first, second and fifth line rhyme, while the third and fourth lines are shorter and share a different rhyme.
A limerick displayed on a plaque in the city of Limerick, Ireland
An illustration of the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner by Walter Crane in the limerick collection "Baby's Own Aesop" (1887)
A Book of Nonsense (ca. 1875 James Miller edition) by Edward Lear
Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
Lear in 1866
Lear by Wilhelm Marstrand
Masada on the Dead Sea, Edward Lear, 1858
Temple of Venus and Roma, Rome