Origin of The Name
The origin of the name limerick for this type of poem is debated. As of several years ago, its usage was first documented in England in 1898 (New English Dictionary) and in the United States in 1902, but in recent years several earlier uses have been documented. The name is generally taken to be a reference to the City or County of Limerick in Ireland sometimes particularly to the Maigue Poets, and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included "Will you come (up) to Limerick?" The earliest known use of the term limerick for this type poem is an 1880 reference, in a Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper, to an apparently well-known tune,
- :There was a young rustic named Mallory,
- who drew but a very small salary.
- When he went to the show,
- his purse made him go
- to a seat in the uppermost gallery.
- Tune: Wont you come to Limerick.
Read more about this topic: Limerick (poetry)
Famous quotes containing the words origin of and/or origin:
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“High treason, when it is resistance to tyranny here below, has its origin in, and is first committed by, the power that makes and forever re-creates man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)