National Limerick Day arrives every May 12, paying tribute to Edward Lear, the English poet who popularized these short, humorous verses. Dive into the history of these five-line poems, master their unique rhyming scheme, and share your own clever creations. Challenge friends to a limerick contest or explore Lear’s delightful nonsense today!
National Limerick Day timeline
Many suggest that the name is derived from the chorus of an Irish soldiers’ song, “Will You Come Up to Limerick?”
The first collections of limericks date back to this time.
Poets and writers begin indulging in composing limericks.
Limerick contests rise in popularity, often hosted by business houses and magazines.
National Limerick Day FAQs
National Limerick Day Activities
Write your own limerick
The zanier, the better. Get together with a group of friends to see who can come up with the funniest, most nonsensical five-liner to pay homage to Edward Lear. When you come up with your best draft, make sure to share it with the world using #nationallimerickday. You could become a famous poet! Or, at the very least, get a retweet or two!
Take a poetry class
Try your hand at the limerick five lines, and then expand to other types of poetry. A sonnet is a rhyming poem with 14-lines, while a free verse poem doesn’t have any rules and lets the writer play around with lines, rhyming, and even punctuation. Many libraries offer community writing classes, along with city recreation centers. Check one out and get creative!
Take a trip to Limerick, Ireland
Only the most bold of limerick lovers will take this option. Book a flight to the poem’s country namesake, and spend some time in the land of Limerick! Take a boat tour along the River Shannon and visit St. John’s Cathedral. Visit the People’s Park and then stop by the Hunt Museum, where you can see original works from Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci.
Why We Love National Limerick Day
They let us be creative
Limericks are short and easy to write. It’s a great way to put pen to paper and bust out a few poems! Think up kooky characters and situations, and put them together in a quick poem. Impress your friends by writing a couple and see which ones they like best!
They are of the people
Not everyone loves poetry. Some can be hard to understand, or a little too humorless and emotional. Limericks offer a fun way to still be poetic, without taking themselves too seriously. Not every poem has to be 100 lines long without any rhyming. Limericks live a little and make you laugh!
They remind us of our youth
Remember English class and learning about poetry? We can still hear our English teacher’s voice reciting these melodic lines: “Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, and down he run. Hickory dickory dock.”
National Limerick Day dates
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | May 12 | Wednesday |
| 2028 | May 12 | Friday |
| 2029 | May 12 | Saturday |
| 2030 | May 12 | Sunday |
| 2031 | May 12 | Monday |
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