OEDILF Limericks!

[cherydactyl]

tlatoani recently mentioned the OEDILF (Omnificent Englidh Dictionary in Limerick Form): http://www.oedilf.com/. I was quite intrigued.

I've submitted two limericks so far. Here they are.

This one has undergone a bit of workshopping and got some comlimentary mentions "for a first contribution." At least one workshopper thinks it's RFA (ready for approval) :)

Bel canto’s a style operatic
For those who like music dramatic.
A diva will sing,
Using clear tones that ring,
With technique that you'll find quite emphatic.

This one I just submitted today and I think it will need more work:

Searching archives, the bibilotist
Found papers that others had missed.
Through bibliotics he showed,
By dissection of mode,
That Brahms’ Lullaby was not written by Liszt.

Bolded words are words being defined in the limerick (hopefully, anyway).

Any comments or suggestions you care to make?

Comments

[beginnermind.livejournal.com]

Ha! Very good. Especially the first one. Can one stretch the syllables a tad like that in limerick? I'd fight for it: it sounds very good like it is, I wouldn't change it a bit or it'll SOUND more like stretching.:)

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, unlike Haiku it is not the syllables that one counts, but the metric feet. Metric as in "meter," the cadence of an utterance, not the measurement system.

Metric feet vary depending on stressed and unstressed syllables and have two or three syllables each, depending on the pattern. (At least I don't think there are any with 4 syllables...hm) I used to be able to spout out the different varieties of metric feet by name. Ah, high school English class.

I can remember a few. Iambs are Da Dum (unstressed, stressed). Shakespeare wrote in blank verse, aka unrhymed iambic pentameter (= 5 iambs per line) for the most part. Spondees are two stressed syllables (DUM DUM), and I can't think of a good example. I believe there are S-U, U-U-S, S-U-U and other metric feet, but don't remember their names. I would have to look it up in my Oxford Anthology of English Lit to get them all.

Limericks have an AABBA rhyme scheme, and have 3 feet in lines 1,2, and 5, two feet in lines 3 and 4. So, line 1 of a limerick can have between 6 and 9 syllables, depending on the type or types of metric feet used.

Actually, the first poem already has 3 out of 5 needed approvals to be accepted. All the comments have said it has strong R&M (Rhyme and Meter). The second one is weaker and needs work. Probably a complete re-write to be honest.

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

Whoops. that was me. Who changed my options to log me out??? ;-)

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

I've just submitted one, so I can stop thinking about it:

Have you antlers of bone, rich in phosphorous?
Horns of compacted hair, like rhinoceros?
Pointed prongs? Or a rack?
Well, if all these you lack,
Then, my deer, you are akeratophorous!

The rhyme scheme is a slight stretch, I realize, but hey...

Maybe I should try to make Contributing Editor status on 10 limericks for akeratophorous...

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

OOhhhh-Kaaayyy. 10 on akeratophorous? Yeah.

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

Do not you dare me...

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

I don't see why I shouldn't dare you. You probably could do it. I suppose you might curse me while you were working on it, but maybe I should risk it. ;-)

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

Um, there is already an approved Limerick on this word other than yours, btw.

[tlatoani.livejournal.com]

I know. That's what inspired it. (It isn't unusual for them to have multiple approved limericks for a word.)

And you know how I feel about... antlers.